David Weldon: “I rise today to take the opportunity to recognize the importance to our Nation of what happened 50 years ago today. On…”

“I rise today to take the opportunity to recognize the importance to our Nation of what happened 50 years ago today. On October 4, 1957, Russia launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite to successfully be placed in orbit around the Earth. On that day, Americans were shocked, and many believed that we were no longer the technological leader of the world. On that day Americans realized that, like never before, our homeland was threatened. This was significant, because the leader of the Nation that launched Sputnik, Nikita Khrushchev, less than a year earlier had aggressively delivered to America the now-famous threat, 'We will bury you.' To many Americans, Sputnik was a major step showing how the Russians were starting to make good on their promise, and it was a promise that America had to counter and nullify before it was too late. The reverberations of Sputnik and its launch were felt many years thereafter. Thankfully, our Nation got busy after October 4, 1957, to ensure that our space program became second to none.”