The Soviet Union's Oct. 4, 1957, launch of the first-ever artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, created quite a stir, to be sure.It did kick off the space age, after all. But Americans' concerns about ...

North Korea's nuclear and missile threats have parallels with Americans' shock when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the Earth's first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957.

The USSR leapfrogged the USA in the space race with Sputnik, and the student-loan industry was meant to fix that. Now, it's a $1.7 trillion crisis.

Unfortunately, the first U.S. response to Sputnik, using the Vanguard launch vehicle being built by the Navy, was a nationally televised failure, exploding on the pad Dec. 6, 1957.

Sputnik's legacy. On 8 December 1957 the International Herald Tribune newspaper ran one of the most memorable headlines in the history of space exploration. The single word “Kaputnik!” emblazoned ...

Footage from a 1957 newsreel covering the launch of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite. Report Video Issue Javascript must be enabled in order to access C-SPAN videos.

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union jumped out to the lead in the blossoming space race with the U.S. by launching humanity's first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit.

Half a century on, the October 4th 1957 launch of Sputnik 1 still resonates as a momentous achievement in the history of human endeavor. October 4, 2007 Today marks the 50th anniversary of the ...

On a fall Friday afternoon in 1957, five bells rang ominously on noisy teletype machines in newsrooms across Washington, D.C., as a news wire brought word of Sputnik's launch. LONDON, OCT. 4 (AP ...

On Nov. 3, 1957, the Soviet Union sent up Sputnik 2, a satellite that carried a dog named Laika. ... Unlike the Russians, we put our launch on television, so the whole world could see it.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik, the first satellite into outer space. A video clip was shown of a Universal newsreel from October 7, 1957, about Sputnik that ...

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first Earth-orbiting satellite, Sputnik. It was a clear sign to President Dwight Eisenhower that the US needed to be producing more scientists and ...