On October 4th, 1957, the Russians launched Sputnik, scaring the bejeebers out of the USA. The space race had begun and ended with the landing on the moon in 1969, with less technology than what is in an ordinary digital watch today.

We need events like this to mark progress, like the telegraph, the first crossing of the Atlantic by plane, splitting the atom, you get the point. The US had been the leader in all technology and all of a sudden with Sputnik, the Cuban missile crisis and the first man in space, panic caused some of the best technology to be developed that we still use today.

12 men have walked on the moon, all Americans. One day there might be a colony there with many countries participating. Maybe I watch too much Star Trek. Today’s news reports that Nasa predicts the Chinese to get back to the moon first before the US, Russians or the advanced North Korean space programs. I wonder if they will invent the new Velcro, or power supply or Tang?

Update: Sputnikmania, hat tip to Instapundit

Update 2: it was cobbled together?

Update3: Leave it to Beaver is 50 years old too. 

This entry was posted on Thursday, October 4th, 2007 at 10:29 am and is filed under history, technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.