Modern Era · Central Asia · Science

1957

Sputnik orbits Earth

October 4, 1957

A twenty-three-inch steel ball with four radio whiskers began beeping its way around the earth every ninety-six minutes. The Soviets had gotten there first. Americans looked up from their backyards and realized the Cold War now went over their heads. Within a year Washington had founded NASA and rewritten its science curricula.

Appears in

The Long Twentieth Century, chapter 7 The Cold War, chapter 3

More from 1957 Modern Era

In context

Also in 1957 (5 other events on record)

Ghana gains independence · Africa · Politics
Treaty of Rome creates Common Market · Europe · Politics
Little Rock Nine · North America · Politics
On the Road published · North America · Culture
Ford Edsel fails · North America · Technology

Before and after in Central Asia

Before: August 29, 1949: Soviets test an atom bomb
After: May 1, 1960: U-2 shot down over USSR

Before and after in Science

Before: April 12, 1955: Salk polio vaccine approved
After: 1960: The Pill approved

Era

Modern Era (1901–2000), one of 590 events from that era on Saeculum.