Why was sputnik created

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Interactives Any interactives on this page can only be played while you are visiting our website. Related Resources. The History of Space Exploration. View leveled Article. Educational Resources in Your Inbox. Educational Resources in Your Inbox Join our community of educators and receive the latest information on National Geographic's resources for you and your students. Students Doing Tons of Homework. Officially, Sputnik was launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, a solar period that the International Council of Scientific Unions declared would be ideal for the launching of artificial satellites to study Earth and the solar system.

Sputnik was some 10 times the size of the first planned U. The U. The first U. By then, the Soviets had already achieved another ideological victory when they launched a dog into orbit aboard Sputnik 2. The Soviet space program went on to achieve a series of other space firsts in the late s and early s: first man in space, first woman, first three men, first space walk, first spacecraft to impact the moon, first to orbit the moon, first to impact Venus, and first craft to soft-land on the moon.

But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Open golf tournament, edging Willie Dunn and others with a hole total of at the Newport Rhode Island Golf Club, an oceanside course.

Rawlins worked at the Newport Golf Club as an assistant to The prosecutor in the case later was accused of withholding evidence indicating that Morton was innocent. Instead of focusing on the launch of Sputnik, which may have caused more panic, the newsreel focuses on the future launch of a U.

Animated films graphically show how a mighty three-stage rocket placed an artificial moon into an orbit around the earth—a feat that occasions Western re-appraisal of Red missile progress.

On January 31, , the United States launched its first satellite, Explorer 1. This newsreel also includes without sound : San Marino Crisis — The tiny republic of San Marino is claimed by two rival governments, one Communist, one Democratic, after a disputed election which saw the Red-dominated incumbents defeated in the vote.

Gromyko Meets Dulles — Soviet Foreign Minister Gromyko visits Secretary of State Dulles at his home for an informal talk on the world situation, on a wide range of subjects. National Archives Identifier: Return to Results Return. The rocket's foot-long 26 m core stage also reached orbit, and it was covered with reflective panels to make tracking it easier. This rocket body fell back to Earth on Dec. The launch of Sputnik 1 famously shook the United States.

In addition, the public feared that the Soviets' ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U. American officials took several measures to boost the nation's technological capabilities.

Sputnik 1's huge cultural impact can be seen in the spate of "nik" neologisms its launch spurred, a few of which remain in use today. And beatnik, in turn, sparked another coinage — "neatnik. The term "no-goodnik," for example, has been around since at least , according to Merriam-Webster.

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