On October 4, 1957, Russia laid down the gauntlet to the rest of the world.
That;’s when Sputnik was launched, the first satellite.
Backyard stargazers watched the shiny little object orbit the earth, and amateur radio operators were able to listen to its beeping signal.
The US responded the next year with a stroke of President Eisenhower’s pen.
On July 29, 1958, NASA was born.
Today’s FamilyFirst pick is the Wired magazine article on the historic moment.
NASA has enriched my own experience of growing up. Baby Boomers delighted to see images of man in space, and the ultimate that July night in 1969: to see man walk on the moon.
Since then, NASA has given us unimaginable returns on our tax dollars, really a pittance compared to, say, the money we spend on weapons.
The Hubble Telescope alone has completely changed the way we look at the universe.
Enjoy the article, which revisits the day NASA was born.
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2008/07/dayintech_0729
