50th Anniversary of Sputnik Launch

Last Thursday marked the 50th anniversary of the Russian launch of the satellite Sputnik, responsible for creating the ‘Space Race’ between the superpowers of the Cold War. On October 4th 1957 Moscow announced that Russia had officially launched the first artificial satellite into Earth’s orbit. In tribute to this accomplishment 50 years ago, a monument was recently erected in near Moscow and President Vladimir Putin thanked Russian space scientists and remembered the truly historic launch of Sputnik.

Sputnik was so important because it had such an influential role in the propaganda and rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States. This streak of competitiveness still exists today, as the two countries rival each other in their accomplishments in outer space.

In response to Sputnik, a panicked US launched a disastrous satellite in December of 1957, but it was too late, Russians had already launched Sputnik 2 which carried a dog, Laika, into orbit, (the dog died). Sputnik and Sputnik 2 were the first of several early achievements for the Soviet Space Program, including sending the first human into orbit, Yury Gagarin in 1961, causing the US additional embarrassment. The US finally made its mark with the first manned mission to the moon in 1969.

By 1991 Soviets and Americans began to cooperate and coordinate their activities in Space. Recently Russian and US space agencies signed agreements in Moscow that Russia provide technology for US missions to scan the surface of Mars and the Moon in search of traces of water. Currently, Russia plans to send a manned mission to the Moon by 2025.