Sputnik

Before October 4, 1957, humankind had always conducted its affairs below this boundary. On that date, the Space Age began with the orbit­ing of the artificial earth satellite known as “Sputnik,” which was launched by the Soviet Union (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, or U. S.S. R.) on a military rocket. This accomplish­ment, while heralded by the scientific commu­nity, caused considerable distress in the nations of the West.

After World War II, the Soviet Union had asserted dominion over the countries of Eastern

Europe, and it was the titular head of the Com­munist World. The People’s Republic of China, the name of the communist government that controlled that country beginning in 1949, and the People’s Republic of North Korea also fell into this camp. Communist-controlled gov­ernments, considered by the West to be bent on world domination, extended from North­ern Europe to the Pacific Ocean. The hostile relationship that emerged after World War II between the nations of the West and the Com­munist Bloc countries had been termed the “Cold War” by Winston Churchill in 1948, but there had been a shooting war on the Korean Peninsula between these factions from 1950 to 1953, and millions of people, both civilians and combatants, had died.

The Soviet Union had perfected nuclear weapon capability well before 1957, and with the launch of Sputnik, it was clear that the U. S.S. R. now had the capability to deliver these weapons on intercontinental ballistic missiles. Now also, for the first time since Roman law had estab­lished that national sovereignty extended from the ground upward to infinity, the sovereign skies of the Western countries were being violated every 90 minutes by the unauthorized passage overhead of the Russian satellite. Its “beeping” radio signal every few seconds only punctuated their helplessness.

The geopolitical contest between the West­ern powers and the Communist Bloc countries was one of brutal competition, and it was con­sidered a philosophical, social and, if necessary, a military fight to the death. But in the midst of this perilous world scene, there was some precedent for cooperation and good will among nations, based on scientific inquiry. Worldwide cooperative endeavors known as the International Polar Year in 1884, the Second International Polar Year in 1934, and the International Geo­physical Year beginning in 1957 stood as hope­ful examples of the advancement of humankind through peaceful cooperation.

People worried which way the Space Age would take them.