On 4 October 1957 the Soviet Union put a 58-centimeter metal sphere into orbit. Sputnik did nothing but transmit a radio signal, but anyone could hear it, and the rocket that launched it was a modified intercontinental missile. If Moscow could put a satellite over America, it could put a warhead there too. [1]
The Soviet program was run by Sergei Korolev, whose name was a state secret during his life. His team would go on to fly the first man, the first woman and the first spacewalk. [2]
Washington answered with money and new institutions. In July 1958 Eisenhower signed the law creating NASA, a civilian agency, so that the American space effort could be shown openly to the world while military rockets stayed with the armed forces. [3]
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