xen84 commented at 2012-04-09 11:46:49 » #1044849

Fun fact: The USA could have beat Sputnik to space with the Explorer satellite, but were worried about the political implications of launching something that would fly over other countries' airspace. They also wanted to try to use a completely non-military launch vehicle rather than the Redstone-derived Juno (related to an ICBM rocket), but Project Vanguard failed spectacularly on its first attempt. They also wanted the satellite to actually do something useful (Sputnik did nothing but send beeps over radio to prove it had been launched) and underestimated the PR importance of being first.

If you get the chance, watch the Nova special "Sputnik Declassified". It's really amazing, if you're into this kind of stuff.

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