Thought Patterns
by Emanuel
October 15, 2007 at 21:08
filed under art+design+technology
Tagged history
Sputnik, which means ‘Fellow Traveler’, was launched just over 50 years ago (October 4th, 1957) and ignited the US-USSR Space Race. The successful launch of history’s first artificial satellite shocked the Americans as it demonstrated the Russians technological superiority, and more importantly also showed that they had ballistic missile capacity to deliver nuclear warheads to US soil. It wasn’t until 1958 that the Americans managed a successful launch and later that year created NASA.
Think of what our lives would be without satellites: no cell phones, no GPS enabled devices, etc. There are currently around 3,200 operating satellites orbiting the earth, and if you have enough money you too can orbit the earth. Prices have gone down to (only) 30 Million but places are fully booked through 2009.
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