Why Did The Sputnik Launch

Sean Chen
Ms. Magnotte
History
2015/5/14
How did the U.S. reacts when the USSR launched Sputnik 1? During World War II, the United states and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic were allies and fought against Nazi Germany. However, even before the war has ended, both countries identify each other as devil-incarnate. This “friendship” had and only could exist because of a mutual enemy, the Nazi Germany. After World War 2 had ended, there was no reason for the U.S. and the USSR to maintain their “friendship”, therefore the Cold War soon began. The phrase cold war describes countries that aren’t fighting each other in armed battle, but they fight for their beliefs. This was seen when the U.S. supported South Vietnam, an anticommunist country,
Therefore the USSR launched the sputnik | and caused the Sputnik Crisis and The Space Race in U.S. Also in order to countervail the sputnik1 The U.S. created new law, act, and organization. Russia on October 4, 1957, successfully launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite launched (Sputnik). This stunned the whole world and sent citizen in United States into panic because Americans thought that this meant the USSR will be able to shoot their missiles from Russia to America. Therefore the United States had several responses toward the USSR’s launching of satellite. Surprised by the USSR’s launch of Sputnik | and Sputnik ||, the citizen in America were sent into shock and anxiety, this period of time is called the Sputnik crisis. Although Sputnik | did not have any function besides giving out random radio signals and temperature data to the USSR, it symbolized the victory of the USSR. It shows that the
One of the main acts was created In September 2, 1958, The National Defense Education Act (NDEA) was passed by the congress . The act was a four-year program that funded billions of dollars into U.S educational system (National Defense Education Act of 1958 ). This act was signed because President Dwight Eisenhower saw the lack of mathematicians in 1957 because other industry were absorbing many mathematicians at that time, businesses such as defense. Also, college enrollment had been boosted from half a million in 1940 to 3.6 million in 1960, therefore the demand for more mathematicians to pass on the knowledge to the next generation was needed (National Defense Education Act). The last reason why the U.S. signed the act is because of its need of support for education in order to compete with the USSR in the area of science and technology. The funding of U.S education in 1953 was around 153 billion. However, after the NDEA was signed in to the law, on 1960 the funding on the education system of U.S had increased six fold. Another act that had been created by U.S is the National Aeronautics and Space Act (NASA), this act ensured that any space activity would be peaceful and all non-military action. The National Aeronautics and Space Act also created The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, it’s created so that America could catch up with USSR