Essay On Sputnik

The launch of Sputnik I has been described as a "technological Pearl Harbor.” These words are from Sandra Mathison and E. Wayne Ross in their 2004 book, … Defending Public Schools, highlighting the space race between the United States and the USSR. At the end of World War II, the United and Russia remained the two major world powers. But upon the ending of the second World War, left the two, bitter enemies. From the time of the Cold War, there were tensions between Russia and the United States. This was due to the sense of nationalism that the American polity had gained through their victories in the second World War. And because of these successes, the American polity did not want Russia to encroach on their claims of supremacy. But Russia, nevertheless, sought to encroach on Americas claims.This was evidential in the series of launches that Russia launched in outer space during the 1950s. “On the morning of October 4, 1957, Sputnik I became the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. The Soviet satellite was approximately the size of a basketball and weighed just 184 pounds (83.6 kilograms).” Then “Just as Americans started to get used to the incessant "beep ... beep . beep: ' and just as they were getting accustomed to the idea that the Russians had beaten them to the punch, they were surprised again. Americans learned that Sputnik II, launched on November 3, 1957, weighed more than a thousand pounds, and actually carried a dog (named Laika, for Sputnik its breed) to …show more content…
By doing this, Russians challenged Americas claim to world supremacy, thus placing the American polity in a state, wherein they began to question themselves. The American public were stunned by the launching of Sputnik I, and Sputnik II. The response to these two launches brought about a fear within the American polity for national security, which American culture was not use