Sputnik I: How the First Soviet Artificial Satellite Caused an American Panic

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[@megaprojects9649]

Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/MEGAPROJECTS to get 50% off your first order of Keeps hair loss treatment.

[@karebu2]

Gotta love these sponsors! 🤣

[@executivesteps]

Worth adding, the word Sputnik translates to something like “little traveling companion”.

[@u0aol1]

#DontBeLikeSimon

[@dikkekater]

Suggestion for a episode: operation Mana, its an allied operation at the end of ww2 to relief the starving netherlands by airdropping humanitarian aid. As the war was closing to an end they arranged a truce with the nazis to bring a end to the famine which was ravaging the netherlands(nazis stole all the food). Strategic bombers were used to bring enormous amounts of aid to the ocupied country.

[@ivokantarski6220]

Could u make a vid about 9/11. Ive seen a vid by a YT guy from my country Bulgaria and his name is Цанов Напред и нагоре. Canov Napred i Nagore. He gives evidence that it would be impossible for these planes to flatten the twin towers. The third plane hitting the Pentagon is sus as hell too but the third building in the twin towers area which had collapsed from in office fires is also very suspecious. These buildings must have had termites imported and some may have been typical buildings demolition work. Explosives ofcourse. Some of the witnesses claim they have heared explosion sounds from the third building which had collapsed. Not that 15 levels of a twin tower can do much to another 85 below it. It's impossible according to the engineers that had designed the buildings.

[@CrazyTruckinS10]

Simon, you never lost your hair. It just migrated south slightly

[@maxpennacchini3261]

Booooooo 👎

[@HarryNicNicholas]

it's been "relocated"

[@CT5555_]

Are you telling him to use his manscaped ads to shave his ass?

[@CrazyTruckinS10]

@@alexander-mauricemillamlae4567 thank you! That was the point of my comment

[@oskarkaramba7369]

It could be in next Megaproject video 😂

[@mnsquatch1900]

Felix Baumgartner's 128,000 foot sky dive would be a great episode, he broke the sound barrier!

[@AnbuInDark]

GOOD INFO

[@Inkling777]

I remember Sputnik I well. Despite what the pundits say, there was no panic among the general population. There was nothing scary about it. The people it frightened are those who usually get frightened by the slightest upset-journalists and politicians. Don't blame us for their instabilities.

[@MistahBryan]

Sputnik.... I had an 'issue' in the military where a soldier at the Hanger I was working at decided to threaten me with a rubber hose "because it will leave no marks" was his reasoning. Five minutes later, he was on the ground with a broken nose and I had 2 Colt 45's pointed at my head. In the next heartbeat I had with handcuffs on me. I was sent to a Military Mental Ward for evaluation. The Officer in charge of my evaluation had a Russian accent and her name tag read Putnik. I chuckled She asked what's so funny? I said "You have a Russian accent, your names Putnik, which rhymes with Sputnik, the Russian Satellite." She scribbled something down on her clipboard. I rolled my eyes, "Oh boy...." I thought. Never DID find out what she wrote :)

[@zoologicalmilitia2241]

Sputnik Runaway Press Sputnik What really Happen by the inventor~Paul Gibson For my first birthday, I got 3 money gifts each $3,000.00 my blue eye mother said I can spend it on anything I want, since I had already made the first PLG Parallel Light Generation or nowadays called laser from other infringements. I wanted to put up a satellite, she said ok tried military contractors for help, but they laughed their heads off told me to come back when I'm 18. So, I went to 3 different custom toy companies each one would not know the other and just what they were making on this top-secret invention! I had also discovered in my combustion chemistry a propellent that could achieve orbit. So one toy company I ask for a vessel he came back with some turkey cooking pot that was a big let down for me. Well to my back yard in Sugar House, Zootah a successful launch. Sometime later turmoil rotten stuff happen became an orphan but found myself in Scottsdale, Arizona there with my hands controls repositioned my satellite front yard 2 cars pull up. One identified himself as a marine from Camp Pendleton, California, tracking down the first radio signal from space! The other two news reporters. He then ask what do I have in my hands and what am I'm doing? I answered repositioning my rusty old satellite. Then took a sip of a refreshment drink of Kool-Aid. He screams to the 2 reporters RUSSIAN OWNED SATELLITE! Q UICK, QUICK GET IT ON RADIO NEWS BROADCAST! That made me burst into a laugh when I was just swallowing choke on the drink spit down my neck as I wipe my neck with back of my hand mumble got spit on neck. The marine then screams to the reporters: RUSSIAN OWNED SATELLITE NAMED SPUTNIK QUICK GET IT OUT ON THE NEWS BEFORE SOMETHING HAPPENS I don't know maybe atomic blast or a war or space aliens..... Two weeks later black limousines pull up in front yard from the Russian Embassy they begin yelling screaming at me. Warmonger! one IDs himself as a KGB pulls his pistol out waves it at me, trying to start WW III huh, in my country you try this we take you out and just shoot you no talk! Well, I began to cry and said why is it so horrible to be accused of a fantastic scientific accomplishment and it's mine, not yours and I told you about the dumb marine who misquoted my words. That cool the hot discussion they left. Sometime later I get a private invite from Khrushchev to visit Russia to see who the world trouble maker is and I so did go to Russia for interviews with him and top generals on my views of starting WW III interviews!

[@vustvaleo8068]

probably hilarious if Sputnik played the Soviet national anthem instead of beeps.

[@kokomo9764]

Yeah, buy it was not sophisticated enough to do that. But that would have really set us off.

[@mihan2d]

Sputnik-1 was merely a backup 'placeholder' for a more sophisticated research satellite (much like US' first satellite), so as the original Sputnik was delayed this little ball was launched just so there could be something, so really it was too much effort to rig the tape recording of the anthem in it.

[@Stale_Mahoney]

i imagina a 8 bit soundtrack of the anthem now xD

[@wolfvontyr2266]

Say it with me. Ma-jest-ic... comrade kzbin.info/www/bejne/g2euomWXpZ6sr9U

[@Jayjay-qe6um]

I imagined that will only motivated the Americans to accelerate their space program.

[@earlyriser8998]

as a child of the 50's we listened to Sputnik on the radio and watched it fly overhead the impact of Sputnik is hard to imagine now but was a clear indication that the world was changing and that the Soviets and in fact 'anyone' could and would launch satellites and even nuclear weapons into space in the 'near future'. This was terrifying and lead to all of those drills you see in film but I had to do. However, no nuclear bombs have rained down yet and i still watch satellites fly overhead with awe and wonder

[@beyondrecall9446]

Everyone had to do them, not only Americans, people feared US ICBM's too

[@ipenguin3918]

Kids today live in total boredom compared to the excitement of our generation.

[@RogueWraith909]

@@ipenguin3918 Elon and co are trying to change that. I wish them all luck!

[@Megalomaniakaal]

@@RogueWraith909 Different kind of excitement though, hopefully.

[@brucebartman4782]

I remember watching Sputnik fly over head while standing on the roof of the tenement house where I lived with my parents. All the people in rows of tenement houses were out watching Sputnik fly. It was just incredible! Everyone came out 90 minutes later to watch Sputnik again!

[@jsl151850b]

Were they disappointed not to see it twice in one night? I don't think that it would go over the same place every 90 minutes. The Earth is rotating under it. NYC this time, Chicago next time for instance.

[@alibby99]

Sputnik itself was not what alarmed the US back then. It was the technology that Sputnik represented. At that time, the only way to deliver a nuclear weapon was by bomber aircraft. When the Soviets put Sputnik into orbit, they demonstrated that they possessed a rocket that could potentially deliver a payload anywhere on the planet. No bomber aircraft needed. Delivery in less than an hour. The booster that put Sputnik into orbit was actually a repurposed R-7 Semyorka ICBM. That was what freaked everyone out.

[@phuet514]

Sputnik woke up a sleeping giant: the USA.

[@saccorhytus]

@@phuet514 they weren’t sleeping and they weren’t that threatening to the USSR, they were a giant too

[@maynardhogg]

One immediate effect of the Sputnik Panic was a rapid revamping of science teaching in North American high schools. I was an early victim of the New Math, although it didn't dissuade me from getting a B.Sc. in the subject in 1970. New Chemistry and New Physics soon followed. One only had to view the old textbooks to see how antiquated (and irrelevant) the teaching of these two key subjects had become.

[@wrightmf]

Exactly. The National Defense Education Act provided schools with serious money and resources. I read this is when they started teaching evolution in schools.

[@QueenetBowie]

My middle school history teacher once referred to Sputnik as a floating trash can, my Russian wife doesn’t find the story amusing, however both can be true, it was simplistic but still a major achievement, arguably responsible the space race and the catalyst for us (the US) putting humans on the moon.

[@mihan2d]

Wow 60 years later and still salty 😂😂 (I mean the teacher)

[@jefferynelson]

Bet your teacher never put a trash can in orbit.

[@DanSlotea]

I wouldn't trust the history that teacher taught you. Bias has no place in history.

[@Правосудие-и3к]

she is not Russian, she is Jewish

[@spacelinx]

I suppose if you compare prototype technology vs the improved versions of that same technology that would come later,one could refer to a lot of experimental vehicles and prototypes as trash. Sputnik was certainly basic and crude by the technology of now, and perhaps even then, but that’s not the point. The world was learning how to shoot things into space, plus Sputnik was simply meant to be a middle finger to the US, like haha we beat you capitalist dogs! And along those lines, of the process of trial and error to success, and making your political points, Sputnik was a huge achievement for that time. I would hardly call it a flying trash can, but a great achievement towards avians engineering progress. I am American, but I can respect the scientific achievements of anyone, regardless of political differences, even if those achievements bring understandable fear of what those achievements may bring in the future.

[@lasentinal]

Sputnik caused education to change in Australia in the 1960s. there was an increased emphasis on mathematics and science, because governments were interested in seeking capable people for the future. Education became more egalitarian.

[@MRXi0]

I think the USSR won the space race beacuse they got the first man to space and america won the moon race

[@ErickSoares3]

I remember a guy telling that the Space Race "started" with Kennedy haha

[@rachel_sj]

I’ve always been fascinated by the Soviet Space Program. I feel like we Americans, are obviously inundated with more education about our achievements (and less about our failures) than the Soviet’s successes (and more about their failures). Also, poor Laika, her story always makes me tear up, it’s so sad…

[@fedomandez]

Soviets worked so hard for their space program. And their rocket engines are still used nowadays even on some American launch systems

[@altergreenhorn]

@@fedomandez Like rocket engines RD 180

[@okankyoto]

One of the key elements of the US space program has been that they've been extremely open about their failures. You can find books about them, documentaries even. This was deliberately a slam against the soviet's extreme secrecy. The Soviet info is whatever has leaked over the years, the 90s were a great exchange of information but it shut down fairly quickly.

[@SEAZNDragon]

@@okankyoto good point. A few weeks ago the channel Renegade Cut posted a video praising the Soviet Space program. While I give him credit for pointing out a number of Soviet firsts he really went out of his way to dismiss the moon landings as propaganda. Never mind the Soviets didn’t hesitate to turn any victory into propaganda. Among other things RC criticized the US program for the number of fatalities vs Soviet deaths. All the while glossing over the fact the Soviets never admitted to the fatalities until the iron Curtain fell.

[@ressljs]

I grew up in the tail end of the Cold War. Schools actually taught quite a bit about the Soviet's success in space. Of course there was no shortage of bragging over us getting to the moon and the Space Shuttles, which at the time, we thought were going to totally change everything. But back the the Soviets, schools at the time actually did give them credit for their accomplishments in space and their military might. And that's because they wanted us to fear the USSR. They wanted us to be inspired to study hard in math and science, or join the military to do our part to keep the country safe from the Soviet menace. Playing down their achievements would have actually run counter to that goal.

[@MrTexasDan]

"the uber-trusted New York Times" hahahahahahaha Simon, you're a hoot!

[@wrightmf]

didn't you see the movie? American President asked source the Soviet Ambassador got his information on US military, "the NY Times."

[@БабайАлибабаев]

@@wrightmf gentlemen, no fighting in the War Room!!!

[@LMacNeill]

One thing many people don't appreciate is that, by being first to successfully launch a satellite into space -- one which would fly, uncontrollably, over most countries on Earth -- the Soviets lost their ability to protest against the Americans' satellite when it would fly over Soviet territory. Had the Americans been first, the Soviets could have (and almost certainly would have) initiated an action in the United Nations against the U.S., preventing us from launching any further spacecraft, as they might again fly over Soviet territory. With the Soviets doing it first -- they lost all ability to object to that very thing. So, really, it's a good thing that they launched Sputnik first -- at least in the long run.

[@mugglescakesniffer3943]

If you have not seen For All Mankind. It deals with this in a sort of alternate reality of what if Russians went to the moon first first. Great show

[@garychurch9740]

American and Russian jet fighter pilots dueled over Korea and America was also effectively at war with China in Korea. We don't like to talk about it much.

[@torg1]

Man… 10 years!! 10!!!! Between Sputnik and Apollo landings. That’s nuts.

[@torg1]

@Rebel N Trains I mean it is a giant step backwards If we elect people who don’t want government to work. It won’t work. Same goes with NASA. NASA was decided to be a secondary priority. So it is. Or perhaps even a tertiary one. I don’t want the future of space to be in the hands of Bezos and Musk so we need to elect people for whom space is a priority again

[@AMR_k400]

@Rebel N Trains well no one is going to say it but the us being alone in the top is dragging back the human race in regards to technological advances if there is no competition there is no evolution thats very true especially in our modernworld

[@MrWibbley]

@@AMR_k400 There is plenty of compitition. Look what other nations are doing, especially the Chinese

[@AMR_k400]

@@MrWibbley well are the Chinese ideology ruling the world , is the Chinese currency the world currency,do the Chinese have half the military might that the us has , does the Chinese control world media is their pop culture the most prominent honestly i can go all day its just the facts

[@HarryNicNicholas]

and who could've predicted that far into the future in every car park in the northern hemispere the steady beep-beep-beep of cars reversing would be heard.

[@DanSlotea]

Maybe where you're from. Here nobody uses that shit except JCBs and CATs

[@krystalbrooks6869]

I would love to see the history of Sputnik from the Russians side. We always hear what life is or was like from a U.S. point of view but never the other side. I want to feel like a Russian and my country is the first to put an object in space. How many people watched? How many people showed up to watch the launch? How did the country feel as a whole?

[@locoporelcine1]

Clearly celebration. Simon said it.

[@originalusername121]

The launch was only known about by Soviet government officials, anything about the launch was only released after the fact.

[@jeast417]

We want the other 12 5 year plans from the ussr

[@user-dg9pu4pe9d]

It is always seems strange the amount of fear produced by the cold war. Panic caused by Sputnik, duck and cover drills, and Mcarthyism all seem so remote in time. At some level those events are far away and inexplicable. Yet at the opposite end of the spectrum, the moon landing is a fact of life. I may have missed out on the fear but also some of the wonder.

[@Warmaster_24]

We all still absolutely love this channel.

[@dianapennepacker6854]

I do. Has he ever compared about what missiles each county? I know the US is behind.

[@RbkARI]

Am I crazy or does Simon read the exact same script whenever he's sponsored by Keeps? Lol

[@Taylor-nc1qt]

Someone parked in my space. Spilled coffee on my pants. But hey, at least I can start the morning with a megaproject!

[@rachel_sj]

I hope you have a better rest of your Monday today!

[@popstars4444]

The Russians called their vaccine Sputnik in its honor

[@hullinstruments]

You lost your hair, but your hair never lost you! Many men would gladly give up their scraggly head cap… For a luscious face face-mullet such as yours! It’s hard on the body to maintain such a lustful & opulent mane of a beard😂😂😂….Give it the respect it deserves! (i’m straight by the way, not that it matters…..but complementing another dude doesn’t threaten my sexuality. But i’m a bit salty I can’t grow great beard)😁👍

[@noahmead4652]

Another satellite Megaproject could be on GPS.

[@andersjjensen]

"If it doesn't make it go faster, steer or stop... pull it out!"... The simple recipe of racing.

[@Inkling777]

You might want to do a documentary on the steps Eisenhower took to keep the Army's Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville from beating the Russians into space. He sent inspectors around to make sure they couldn't slip one past him. On one occasion some of the satellite team had to hurriedly carry a satellite they had built out to the parking lot and hide it in the trunk of a car. And the Arsenal kept a fully assembled Redstone rocket ready for the purpose. They stored it intact, claiming they were doing a study of how dampness affected the missile. That explains why they could ready and launch one so quickly once Ike gave them the go-ahead. And Ike did have a reason. He wanted to use satellites to spy and that meant that they could overfly countries. If we let their satellite fly over us, they couldn't complain when our satellites overflew them.

[@vanodne]

The Soviets got to orbit first, not because Sputnik was simple but because Korolev's R7 was HUGE and extremely powerful for the time (while American rocketry was hampered by politics, wanting the navy and not Von Braun to lead the way). Sputnik itself was just payload and had little to do with the success.

[@TairnKA]

A silver lining U.S. gained from Sputnik was the Soviet Union couldn't claim their extended airspace (border) couldn't be flown over. ;-)

[@WildStar2002]

Sputnik (Спутник) means "Satellite" in Russian. 🚀

[@derjaeger3321]

The irony of the whole thing is an American satellite could have been launched much earlier by Von Braun and his team but Ike insisted on using the doomed Vanguard platform. Ike did not fully grasp the impact the first satellite launch would have on the world. If it was the US it would have been viewed as a ho-hum the Americans are at it again event , but as it was the USSR, a country that could not make a an acceptable refrigerator, the launch gobsmacked the West.

[@jaytoppo1670]

lol Mankind took a step forward? hahaha I gotta admit, I find you funny Simon.

[@hagerty1952]

8:01 "...a fire developed in one of its engines before it was even off the launch pad." Um, isn't that how they work?

[@ErickSoares3]

1-) The R7-Semyorka wasn't made to launch Sputnik. It was made to attack or counterattack the USA with a nuke. 2-) The gulag thing stopped with Stalin.

[@k1dicarus]

1) Its the same

[@owenshebbeare2999]

You think gulags ended with Stalin's death? Definitely not truel

[@СОМЯАДЕАИЇМЕ]

@@owenshebbeare2999 last one closed in 1960, but almost all were closed before 1957.

[@wally81000]

Maybe a MegaProjects on the Sanford Underground Research Facility?

[@Luscious3174]

Chrome dome doing a video about a more famous chrome dome LOL As for the hair part, just photoshop your beard to the top of your skull - done!

[@Robochuck]

I'd like an in-depth look at the Apollo Moon Lander. oh and maybe the "canadian arm" of the space shuttle and international Space Station

[@douglashaus1820]

Simon - can you do a Mega Projects on the International Geophysical Year??

[@kingsrook9866]

would you do videos on the Confederation Bridge and SNOLAB please?

[@StevenLockey]

Simon is getting better at not laughing in keeps adverts 🤣

[@JoeCensored]

"FDA approved" isn't as reassuring a claim as it used to be. I'm not sure why.....

[@daveschmarder-1950]

I can remember Sputnik. I was 7 years old in New York State. Not sure if my dad or neighbors heard it or not. They may have because both had shortwave receivers that would tune to the 20 MHz frequency Anyway, a good video, Simon. Your sponsor picked the right person. I had premature Kojakulation years ago too.

[@c.l.7525]

I rode in Sputnik.

[@DavidKutzler]

I was born in 1951, so we are similar in age. I also remember how big a deal it was when the Soviets launched the first Sputnik a couple months before I turned seven. I remember that the local CBS affiliate in Saint Paul did some "man-in-the-street" interviews. Some of the women were tearful, saying they were afraid that the Soviets would launch atomic bombs at them. I was also a "beneficiary" of the New Math as the US beefed up their STEM curricula.

[@sjdtmv]

As a side note as a child we had a family black cat his name was Sputnik and he arrived the same day as when Sputnik was launch, I was born 2 years later so he was fully grown by then

[@saccorhytus]

I love how Soviets put a small beepy sphere in space and America loses it’s shit

[@adammcinnes5615]

According to some accounts, the USA could have beat the Soviets with a satellite launch. It's well documented that there was a Redstone rocket that was prepared and ready to launch a satellite a full year before the launch of Sputnik, but due to bureaucracy and one-upmanship between the Army and Navy, they had to say they were constructing and storing the rocket as a test of long-term storage of rockets. The accounts go that part of the bureaucracy was due to the Cold War and surveillance. The USA had approached the Soviets to discuss reconnaissance flights over each other's countries, but the Soviets wouldn't hear of it. However, by launching Sputnik, the Soviets set a precedent for satellites flying over other countries regardless of borders, so Eisenhower was able to argue that reconnaissance satellites were fair game. Basically, by not launching a satellite until the Soviets put Sputnik it orbit, they were able to get the Soviets to play into their hands.

[@iKvetch558]

Indeed...and there were very few people who were talking about "beating" the Soviets, Von Braun was one of the loudest and most prominent of that small crowd. It is not hugely surprising that Ike would not be listening to what a former...um...German would have to say on the subject of space. 💯✌

[@DarthVader-ig6ci]

Megaprojects suggestion:- Simon's Beard

[@marsgal42]

There are only a handful of audio recordings of Sputnik 1. When I was a starving grad student doing work with satellite data in the late '90s my office wall included a print from microfilm of the front page of Pravda for 5 October 1957. The launch was late in the evening on the 4th, and the Soviets never announced anything until it was a done deal.

[@ErickSoares3]

The Soviets only announced in a more public way after the world started to going crazy - the Soviet Government didn't really cared about the satellites - if wasn't guys like Korolev, they would just have focused in the military side of the R7.

[@alancranford3398]

I was born at the beginning of the Space Race and watched with rapt attention while growing up. When the joint Apollo-Soyuz project happened I was in boot camp training at Camp Pendleton. I remember what a big deal the Space Race was at the time even though I was a child. Good Megaproject subject!

[@davidvoinier6008]

I remember at this time most people had never heard of satellites. Our science class in school told us and we had to educate out parents.

[@EAcapuccino]

where it all began! A historical turning point! 😁👍🚀

[@MirageGSM]

"While reaching our fiery atmosphere"?

[@owenshebbeare2999]

Ignorant American scriptwriters and editors are to blame for that, though it did burn up, so...

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

Why just a beep? Why not a recording saying something like "In your face USA, we beat you" in both Russian and English or something similar to really rub American noses in it?

[@ErickSoares3]

It was made in a hurry.

[@altergreenhorn]

Too complicate for tech back in 1956 and not necessary all US politicians knew what beep, beep meant

[@ivannadtochiev1849]

Communism VS capitalism, not democracy. There were democractic socialist goverments. Afghan one, or Chilean. Unfortunately, they didnt last. Non-totalitarian socialist goverments had an odd habit of being violently ovethrown.

[@ErickSoares3]

And 7 years later the US supported the overthrown of the democratic elect Brazilian government for a Military Dictatorship (because they thought that a millionaire capitalist president was a communist for just being a decent human being) with tortures and violations of human rights (also teached by the CIA/FBI) that would have made Hitler proud.

[@jamesricker3997]

Explorer was ready to go in 1956 , it would have beaten Sputnik into space if the Air Force has been willing to cough up a booster

[@fvckyoutubescensorshipandt2718]

Lemme know when Keeps can regrow hair already lost. Maybe after that happens and I actually need it in 20 years I will buy some.

[@wrightmf]

Jim Dawsons, science writer for the Star Tribune, wrote about how his third grade teacher was very nervous at the time. His school at Omaha, Neb., was just a few miles from the Air Force's Strategic Air Command headquarters. A fleet of F-100 fighters appeared in the sky coming right for the school. "MiGs!" the teacher shrieked. "MiGs!" She ran, hysterical, from the classroom, convinced they were about to be nuked by Russian fighter jets. The kids, mostly Air Force brats, ran to the windows to admire the F-100s, the coolest jet of its day. Old guy I met said he was stationed at Johnston Island, everyone were issued sidearms to carry at all times in case Soviet space troopers were to launch a space/airborne assault on this little speck of land in middle of Pacific, just big enough for a runway and a few buildings.

[@ceoanw]

Ahh Sputnik, the ultimate space trolling from the USSR. :)

[@kerlyenai]

If anyone is interested "Sputnik" (спу́тник) can be roughly translated as "fellow traveller". "Putnik" meaning traveller ans the "S" (c) meaning "with" or "together" (more or less).

[@M0PO3]

The very first man-made object in space has been German V2 missile launched to 188km in 1944 October. So Americans have bombed first mankind cosmodrome Panemunde.

[@DavyRo]

Simon I'm positive I've just saw & heard you advertising an hairloss prevention product or was I mistaken because you like me are British & you know we aren't very gullible & we have a little intelligence

[@SkipFlem]

Imagine a Sputnik with hair...

[@nolarobert]

Wernher von Braun and the (Still German-led) ABMA Rocket Team had a booster ready to launch a small payload in 1956. Ike (allegedly) didn't want the American satellite launched by a former Nazi-built booster and the Navy was picked to build the Vanguard. Also, Ike wanted to distance the IGY-related launch to be divorced from its roots as a nuclear IRBM/ICBM. The von Braun team hid their Jupiter rocket from the prying eyes in Washington until the Army received approval to make the launch with Explorer I. The booster was dusted off and modified for the job which it pulled off brilliantly. Ike still wasn't enamored with space and didn't want to get into a race with the Soviets. It wasn't until JFK that NASA received a huge boost in funded and was given the task to land Americans on the moon and safely return them to Earth by the end of the 60s. The rest, as they say, is history.

[@AMR_k400]

They dont know that i rode on sputnik

[@pop5678eye]

13:52 Correction: Laika was the first living being in orbit around Earth but there have already been multiple living beings including bugs, mice and monkeys reaching space since 1947.

[@jacobzimmermann59]

The idea that Sputnik may carry weapons was only one aspect of the Sputnik Crisis, which ran much deeper than that. In the Cold War, the American public at large found hope in the idea that if it ever came to the worst, the USA had technological superiority over the USSR that would eventually guarantee its victory. But with Sputnik, that feeling was shaken at its core. It didn't matter that Sputnik was really totally harmless and did nothing apart from beeping. The Russians just achieved something that the USA seemingly didn't have the capability to do just yet (and the Vanguard fiasco - or the Stayputnik as the American press called it - didn't help).

[@argotera1]

Sputnik was 58 cm in diameter. That's pretty big for a beachball. I guess the video's writers had their mind stuck thinking in inches (23 inches). Then "conversion" to metric happened.

[@billinct860]

I was a month away from my 9th birthday when my mom, younger sister, older brother and I saw sputnik one early October evening in 1957. My dad wasn't interested at all and stayed inside. It was a tiny speck compared to seeing the ISS go over now. It was a bit scary but no panic that I remember.

[@reginaldmcnab3265]

The first man made object object to reach space was the German V2 rocket in 1943 and so the space age was born, Germany had fired a V2 rocket 109 miles straight up into space. If the truth hurts I take painkiller.

[@NyanCatHerder]

To be totally fair, it's hard to say whether Object D could have predated the first US launch. Sputnik achieving priority led the US to accelerate its own space program, and a desire to launch Object D before the US could launch theirs might have meant its launch date being pushed up as far as possible. It bothers me more, personally, that the USSR wanted so badly to follow up on its achievement with something even more mind-blowing, and sent Laika into orbit well before they had any realistic chance of bringing her back. While 1957 was a very different time when it comes to public attitudes regarding animals rights and what constitutes cruelty, some of the scientists involved still came to regret that later in life. It wasn't scientifically necessary to launch an animal at that point, so it served almost solely as a topic for propaganda broadcasts. Later launches, starting in 1960, were generally intended to be survived by their canine passengers and returned far more information.

[@dwchen1]

Sputnik maybe just the size of a basketball with 4 metal sticks but in terms of Megaprojects it is no less important than other gigantic infrastructure megaproject ever constructed in history because Sputnik despite small contained thousands of years of human's knowledge, ability, know-how, and engineering put together to explore the space beyond Earth for the first time in the history of human civilization.

[@originalusername121]

For everyone saying they saw Sputnik 1, no. The little sphere itself was impossible to see from Earth. Instead, all people who have "seen Sputnik" actually saw its booster, orbiting on the same trajectory and was much bigger and easier to see.

[@roybixby6135]

During WW2 the Germans' claimed to have reached over 100 miles with their V2 rockets. I would love to know more.

[@JimBob-vb8oz]

But how did the Nazis get to their moon base?

[@Jthomsonhate7]

Imagine where humanity would be if all conflicts were fought in a "tech war" instead.

[@benhac]

Here's a suggestion for your next video, in June of 1981 israel bombed the nuclear reactior in Iraq. THAT was mega!

[@beckyowens2586]

50% of women experience hair loss and Keeps products can prove successful. I know the majority of your viewers are probably male, but as a woman who experiences hair loss and has had success with minoxidil, which Keeps provides, you can always add that to the add read! A lot of women have no clue how to combat their hair loss or are often too embarrassed to talk about it. Some women might not know Keeps can help them too.

[@GrinderCB]

To control the publicity if it failed, the Russians didn't announce Sputnik beforehand. However, they wanted the world to know of their technical superiority so they made the signal easily detectable by anyone, so it wasn't encrypted or on a strange frequency or anything. Ham radio hobbyists were able to hear it.

[@areamusicale]

ironically the idea to send something orbiting the Earth wasn't neither American nor Russian, but over 300 years old English, formulated by the famous Isaac Newton. So ... yeah!

[@harkbelial]

Stop pedaling this hack product. If this crap works it wouldnt have to be pedaled by youtubers.

[@probusthrax]

@Megaprojects we need a video about the new Status 6 Posidon Megaproject. For a 100 Megaton warhead, it's not getting much press.

[@patrickwalsh2086]

No doubt Sputnik compounded the “red scare” that was bandied about at the time.

[@JimBob-vb8oz]

It’s still going on in the US. Any mention of a socialist program like public health gets labelled “Communist”

[@PhenomRom]

@@JimBob-vb8oz Venezuela is thriving

[@ajstevens1652]

@@PhenomRom Venezuela was sabotaged by the US Gov with sanctions. I'd hardly call that communism's fault.

[@PhenomRom]

@@ajstevens1652 ah it's the US fault that venezuala decided to print money until it was worthless. I forgot that we can blame others for our failings.

[@JimBob-vb8oz]

@@PhenomRom so is China

[@VladislavGoranov]

The communists were also democratic party. So it's social democracy or socialism. Nowadays the trends are the same, but nearly all of the power is concentrated in the giant tech companies. Nowadays is called liberal democracy. Both have nothing in common with democracy.

[@dawnsredemptiongaming5567]

Buy keeps my fellow Bald kings it works I was as bald as Simon and I now have my full head of hair back… not near as thick but it’s full and perfect

[@WasabiSniffer]

Such a pivotal point in world history and the Cold War. Suggesting these Cold War projects again. The A10 and it’s beautiful song. The Bradley IFV, it’s development and effect on warfare. Ancient Roman project, the ramp to Masada

[@willswenson3169]

13:50 Laika wasn't the first living thing in space. She wasn't even the first dog. The only achievement she did accomplish was being the first living thing in _orbit._

[@king_ofdogeii268]

I have extremely thick hair, I got it from my grandmother. She’s 75, her hair looks like it did when she got married back in the 60s.

[@demonic477]

If you look around on You Tube you can find channels where they have rebuilt the broadcast module for Sputnik using the original schematics and the same or equivalent materials . considering how big the little satellite was it's not a surprise at how small the hand built boards where with the battery installed there wasn't a lot of room left

[@DavidKutzler]

You forgot to mention that the Fleet Street wags started referring to the Sputnik capsule containing Laika the dog as "Muttnick."

[@Vednier]

So handsome (i mean it!) bald man tells us how to stop losing hair and urge to try it? Yeah, sounds very convincing?

[@stephenhammond6962]

Yet another great video Nomis! 👌 I can’t wait to see what’s next! 😉 Another wall maybe 🤔😂😉

[@tag1462]

Thank you :) you provided alot of information that wasn't and probably still isn't taught in American schools. All I knew was that Sputnik was the first satellite to orbit and rarely was it mentioned as to who did it.

[@twocvbloke]

It's funny to think that the biggest mst terrorising sound americans heard back then was "beep, beep, beep"... :P

[@scruffysmokelvr6245]

Simon--no need to feel badly about your hair loss. Your baldness is really sexy; as is your intelligence...

[@davidchang5862]

Russia 2 and USA 0. Sounds interesting. Anyway, the World Cup is on its way…

[@johnpinckney4979]

How about a show about the "people's satellites": Project OSCAR?