60 years ago, on October 4, 1957, radio operators all around the globe picked up a strange ‘beep’ sound from space. It was not aliens or any extraterrestrial being or civilization. It was Russia.

The USSR had successfully launched the Sputnik 1 satellite into orbit, beating it’s cold war rival the United States of America to it.

The U.S.A. attempted to launch a satellite before. It was called the ‘Vanguard’ and it crashed on take off.

The launch of Sputnik 1 caused a stir across the globe almost immediately.

“Sputnik was the 9/11 of the day,” noted former astronaut Mike Mullane on the 50th anniversary of the launch. “America was scared.”

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