The Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite, Sputnik 1, on October 4th 1957.

ECONOMIST: The race to the moon

The launch of Sputnik 1 generated fear across the US - and a quiet realisation that the country had fallen technologically behind the Soviet Union.

BBC: What if the Soviet Union had beaten the US to the Moon?

For 1, the science had been done since Newton, the basic feasibility had been demonstrated (V2s, Sputnik), and it was a matter of money.

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