Question by Heather H: How did the Soviet launch of the Sputnik create more fear of Communist domination of the world?
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Answer by MrV
It came as a complete shock to the United States and other democracies. Our leaders did not think the Soviet Union was at the point in satellite development that they could launch Sputnik when they did. The fact that we could see it fly bye at night only led many to fear that the Soviets may be ahead of us in other areas. Schools were blamed for not teaching enough math and science. So in the 60s and 70s the government and schools were playing a catch-up game with the Soviets. As it turned out, the US far surpassed the Soviet Union in space exploration. But, when Sputnik beeped by us every night, it was a chilling reminder of a powerful adversary out there. Another clink in the Cold War.
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dragonslair says
Our leaders were totally surprised and caught off guard. For the next 25 years, our government was influenced by this and some other space achievements by the Soviets. The whole space program in the U.S. was mainly to get ahead of the Russians. Was all of this worth it? Hard to say, but their technology was never ahead of the U.S. They had far more casualties and failures in their space program; most of which has been kept secret.