9781422281420

Sputnik Changes Everything ▲ In 1957, after many years of secret testing, the Soviet Union (USSR) successfully launched the first satellite , Sputnik . The news that the United States’ fierce rival had become the first to reach space shocked the world. The “space race” was on. Both nations quickly ramped up programs to send human beings, not just satellites, into space.

Explorer 1 In response to Sputnik , the US launched Explorer 1 in early 1958. It was the first satellite successfully launched by the US. It carried sci- entific instruments that radioed back information about space radiation. Though it was in space for only about five months, it was a breakthrough. Many satellites would follow.

Mercury Seven ▲ On April 9, 1959, the US intro- duced the Mercury 7 to the world. Carefully chosen from among military pilots for fitness and bravery, they were to be- come America’s first astronauts. Their test flights into the lower atmosphere and eventually into space were the first organized program to reach the heavens. The as- tronauts themselves became icons of courage—men who had, in a phrase from a later book, “The Right Stuff.”

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