Sputnik and the Space Race

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Station 1 Sputnik in the Media
The newspapers really headlined the story of
Sputniks launch. Some military persons were
quoted as saying that controlling space gives
Russia military advantages. They regarded it as a
threat to our security. Connie Bimber, math
teacher living in Ohio during the 1950s
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Station 1 Sputnik in the Media
John Gunther, Inside Russia Today, Harper
Brothers, 1958 For a generation, it has been
part of the American folklore to think that
Russians are hardly capable of operating a
tractor. Not since Pearl Harbor has the United
States suffered such a jolt. Perhaps it may turn
out to be a salutary jolt. Obviously if the
Russians are capable of creating a multi-section
rocket that could shoot anything so heavy as
Sputnik II into the sky, with delicate accuracy
and precision, they can perform similar wonders
in the realm of missiles Even so, Soviet work
on Sputniks and missiles has changed irremediably
the world strategic picture. American prestige
has gone down what is much more telling, the
United States can no longer claim with reason to
be the worlds first scientific power, in an era
when science, as well as prestige, counts for so
much. At the moment the United States is, for
the first time in its recent history, being
forced to pursue its international affairs from a
position of relative weakness and inferiority,
not from one of undisputed strength. This
position may, of course, be soon redressed. But,
thinking strictly in terms of today, consider the
fact that American policy toward the Soviet Union
is largely based on two elements, containment and
the deterrent power of massive retaliation.
Neither is out of the window yetwe still seek to
contain the USSR and the Strategic Air Command
certainly still has the capacity for massive
retaliationbut both concepts seem, late in 1957,
to be somewhat out of date and a little sour.
What good is containment if the Russians have
reached, not merely the Middle East, but are
exploring the way to the moon? What good is
massive retaliation, if the Russians have a
capacity for massive retaliation equivalent to
ours? American policy toward Russia and Russian
policy toward America have both been based to a
degree on fear in the first case, American fear
of Soviet subversion in the second, Soviet fear
of direct American attack. This equilibrium has
been substantially altered by the Sputniks the
USSR has somethingsomething importantthat the
USA hasnt got For us merely to build bigger and
better Sputniks will not be enough.
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Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 25, 1957
Station 1 Sputnik in the Media
Chicago Daily Tribune, Nov. 4, 1957
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Station 2 Sputnik for Kids
I was born in 1953, so I would have been fairly
young when the first Sputnik satellite was
launched.  However, I do remember discussion by
my parents about Sputnik Sputnik caused concern
that the Russians were beating us in space and
science and technology.  I do remember when I was
about six or seven one evening my father pointed
out a satellite in the night sky. When I was in
elementary school there was a general concern in
the country that the Russians were getting ahead
of the US technologically and militarily and
concern about a nuclear attack.  I can remember
my mother listening to news She was worried and
expressed concern that we could be involved in a
nuclear war at any time.  As a child, I did not
understand the full significance of this.
Fred Bimber, a child living in Ohio during the
1950s
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Station 2 Sputnik for Kids
I was six years old when the Russians launched
Sputnik in October of 1957.  I remember clearly
the excitement surrounding Sputnik.  My family
and the rest of the neighborhood stood on our
front lawns eager to see Sputnik pass
overhead.Everyone talked about space.  People
bought telescopes.  Children's pajamas had rocket
ships, suns and moons on them instead of teddy
bears and kittens.  Toy rockets replaced kites as
a favorite summer toy Boys were encouraged to
consider careers in science and dreamt of
exploring space.  We girls were not so
encouraged.  We continued to get dolls, toy
dishes, paper dolls and girlie things..The
launch of Sputnik also created a lot of anxiety.
 When the Russians launched Sputnik, my parents
and many other adults thought that if the
Russians could launch a satellite they could also
launch nuclear bombs.  America had to be ready.
The U.S. had to catch-up to the Russians.  We had
to catch up and soon, or else. -- Karen
Nielsen, a child living in Michigan during the
1950s
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Station 2 Sputnik for Kids
Like many boys of their generation, these lads of
the early 1960s are showing off their model
rocket.
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Station 3 Sputnik for Kids
We were told when to look at the sky at night to
see it traveling across.And we did see what we
thought was Sputnik. It was a light that looked
like a star but it traveled slowly and steadily
across the sky while the stars did not seem to
move. Constance Bimber, a math teacher and
mother of three living in Ohio during the 1950s
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Station 3 Growing up Cold War
I do not remember discussion of the Cold War as
such during elementary school (for me, 1959-
1965).  I do remember hearing news reports that
Russian children were better educated in science
and more physically fit.  After news of that both
phys ed and science were beefed up in school.In
my earliest years in elementary school (about
1960-1962) we had bomb drills.  These were to
prepare us students on what we should do in case
of nuclear attack.  Several times a year a
special alarm would sound.  Everyone went to the
central hall of the school (the most protected
part of the building).  Girls sat down facing the
walls of the hallway and bent down toward the
walls, sheltering their heads with their hands. 
Boys sat down in a row behind them, doing the
same.  We students knew this was preparation for
a nuclear attack.  As a 6 -8 year old I do not
remember being disturbed by this.In the early
1960s, and probably earlier, there was a concern
in the country about nuclear attack and preparing
for it.  There were news stories and magazine
articles about building bomb shelters or storing
food, water and supplies in your basement as
preparation for nuclear attack.  In the early
1960s my family had some supplies like that in
our basement As a child in the early 1960s, I
did not appreciate the concern about nuclear war
like adults did.  I understood that a war with
atomic bombs was always possible, but I did not
understand the real significance of that.
Fred Bimber, a child living in Ohio during the
1950s
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Station 3 Growing up Cold War
The threat of an atomic attack felt like a real
possibility and was taken seriously by everyone.
We saw pictures of mushroom clouds in newspapers
and in magazines.  Popular magazines had articles
about the enormous size of an atomic blast.  We
saw pictures of Nagasaki.  We knew the atomic
bomb could level whole cities.   Fear of a
nuclear attack was great enough that Popular
Science and other magazines even printed plans
for how to build a bomb shelter in your backyard.
 I knew some families who actually did this.
 Other magazines printed lists of the supplies
every well stocked bomb shelter should carry.
Communities established nuclear attack bomb
shelters.  The basement of my high school was
designated as one such site.  A janitor took me
on a tour of the bomb shelter.  There were racks
and racks full of canned goods, blankets and
other supplies.In addition to fire drills, my
school started holding nuclear bomb drills.
 During such a drill my first grade class was
told to climb under our little wooden desks,
cover our heads with our arms and close our eyes
tight so we wouldn't be covered with fallout and
the flash of a nuclear bomb wouldn't blind
us. --Karen Nielsen, a child living in Michigan
during the 1950s
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Station 3 Growing up Cold War
Question What do you remember about how the Cold
War was talked about in school? Answer The
Russians were the bad guys.  Americans were the
good guys.  American had to keep Communism from
spreading, by force if necessary.  It was pretty
black and white.  Teachers spoke of an Iron
Curtain, the Red Army, the Commies The Soviet
Union was spoken of as a country not to be
trusted.  It was the country America feared most.
 The Russians wanted to take over the world.
 Americans had to stop them. --Karen
Nielsen Answer Though I do not remember any
specific lecture or discussion on it, we accepted
it as a given that the Russians were the bad
guys.  This was just the common understanding. 
We probably got it from our parents, the news and
reinforced it with each other.  The Soviet Union
was in its prime then, but we always called them
the Russians. --Fred Bimber