Human's First Steps into Space

The people of Earth have long had aspirations towards space travel, but it never actually became a reality until the Russians launched Earth’s first ever spacecraft and artificial satellite called Sputnik on October 4, 1957. At the time of the launch the leader of Russia (largest Earth country) was not particularly impressed by his scientists’ efforts, until the rest of his planet’s reaction became apparent. Nikita Khrushchev was very pleased by the shock and awe caused by his country’s scientific breakthrough. The United States of America (Earth’s richest country), Russia’s main political opponent at the time, had mixed feelings about the affair, ranging from amazement to panic and terror. The American nation had considered Russia its intellectual and technological inferior; the Russians had surprised them by displaying a knowledge of rocket science exceeding their own.

The Americans barely had time to get over the shock of Sputnik’s launch and prepare a response before the Russians launched Sputnik 2, a superior craft, less than a month later on November 2nd. Sputnik 2 carried a canine passenger called Laika in a pressurized cabin; the unsuspecting dog became Earth’s first ever live space traveller. Laika did live through the space flight but was unfortunate to die because the craft’s primitive environmental systems malfunctioned after a few days – the Russian leaders did not report this incident to the media. More worrying to the Americans than being beaten into space though, was the fact that the Russians had managed to launch such a heavy object (498 Earth kilograms) into space; if they could do that, what could stop them launching an atomic bomb onto American soil?

Before the launch of the Sputniks the USA had not considered launching a satellite to be a priority matter; after this event it became a top priority and the Human space race was under way.