Today is the Sputnik Anniversary, the 50th year to the day since the small satellite was launched into orbit around the earth. Of course, it wasn’t something completely new: it was building on the work of people like Tsiolkovsky and Robert Goddard, even of the Nazis and their various rockets such as the V1 and the V2. But it was the first time anything had been put into orbit by man so for that reason the Sputnik anniversary is worth remembering.

One of the best pieces I’ve seen on Sputnik comes from my (occasional) employer, Madsen Pirie:

When Sputnik 1 was launched into orbit half a century ago, the space
age began and the earth acquired its first artificial moon. The world’s
reaction to it effectively started the space race as well, since the
Soviet Union trumpeted the feat as proof of the superiority of
communism and soviet science. What it did establish was the weight of
Soviet military power, and what can be done if a nation single-mindedly
devotes so huge a proportion of its national product to its military.

The Soviets could not sustain their early successes, lacking both the
wealth and the scientific sophistication, especially in electronics, of
the US. In retrospect it seems astonishing what within 12 years of that
first sputnik launch, Americans were walking on the moon.

Exactly, at the time Sputnik was seen as the expression of th superiority of he planned Soviet system. It was subsequent events in the space race which showed its flaws: for economic development is a marathon, not a sprint.

The Russians are using the anniversary as a booster for their current space plans:

In 1957 the first man-made satellite, Sputnik, was launched by what was then the Soviet Union.

The launch is considered one of the most significant
moments in history and began the space race with the US, which
eventually sent men to the Moon.

After years of decline the Russians are now back in the space game with highly ambitious plans.

But I have to say that the lack of electronics still hampers them: I know, I’ve supplied chips from the US to the Russian space program.

Some Americans are using the same Sputnik anniversary to argue for boosts in science spending today:

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first space
satellite, called Sputnik 1. It weighed only 184 pounds, but it
demonstrated technology and rocket power that few thought the Russians
had. By contrast, the first planned US satellite was the
grapefruit-sized Vanguard, weighing three pounds.

A month later, the Russians sent a dog into orbit in a satellite weighing 1,121 pounds. The space race was on, and the United
         States was losing.
      

The
American people were shocked by Sputnik, as were many political
leaders. Republican Sen. Styles Bridges of New Hampshire warned, "The
time has clearly come to be less concerned with the depth of the pile
on the new broadloom rug or the height of the tail fin on the car and
to be more prepared to shed blood, sweat, and tears if this country and
the free world are to survive."

At first, the politicians played their usual
games, with Democrats holding hearings to expose delays and
mismanagement in US programs and with Republicans trying to reassure
the American people that the United States was still strong. But very
soon, leaders from both parties came together in a measured,
deliberate, yet broad response.

To be honest, I’m really not sure about that. All of the interesting things being done in space science these days are coming from the private sector. We really don’t need another International Space Station swallowing all the available cash.

Here’s the Reuters report on the anniversary:

And the CBS one:

A concern that Russia might make a similar leap forward today:

And an interesting memoir from Kruschev’s son:

And finally, a look at Sputnik’s legacy: