Sputnik: The Shock of the Century (Science Matters) Book

On October 4, 1957, America looked up at the sky and caught its breath. Soaring through space was the Soviet satellite Sputnik. With its launch, the Soviets had won the space race, demonstrated their unsurpassed technology-and struck fear in the heart of a complacent post-war America. Although Sputnik was unmanned, its story is intensely human. Here, an investigative reporter recounts it all, from the satellite's top-secret creation to the strategic positioning of Soviet spokesmen around the world, which made this the biggest breaking-news event in history. Using declassified documents, Dickson reveals buried Soviet state secrets-and the reason Eisenhower was secretly pleased about the launch. From Cold War bomb raid drills to today's science in the classroom, from the 1960s race to the moon to the birth of the Internet, Sputnik helped shape American life foreverRead More