On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the world’s first artificial satellite. (A replica at the US National Air and Space Museum is shown above.) Although the 84 kg gadget couldn’t do much more than orbit Earth and transmit radio pulses, its launch marked the beginning of the modern space age and spurred the space race between the US and the Soviet Union. Americans feared that the Soviet Union would use the technology for military purposes, such as the launching of ballistic missiles carrying nuclear weapons. As a result, the US ramped up its funding for science and technology, launched its own satellite in January 1958, and created NASA in October 1958. For more on US science during the cold war, see the article by John Rigden, Physics Today, June 2007, page 47.
