Max Baucus: “nearly 50 years ago I, like the rest of the world, was mesmerized by a small metal sphere, no bigger than a basketball…”

“nearly 50 years ago I, like the rest of the world, was mesmerized by a small metal sphere, no bigger than a basketball, no heavier than I or most of us. Hurtling through space at the speed of sound--I don't think it was faster than that, it goes about 18,000 miles an hour--this steel ball was Sputnik, the world's first satellite to circle the earth--in 98 minutes flat. It was a technological feat of the Soviet Union. Nikita Krushchev, the Soviet leader, had been intent on proving the Soviet Union's scientific superiority. He proved it that day in October 1957. News of Sputnik caught Americans off guard. We had been convinced of our own superiority, but here was undeniable evidence that others were leading the way. And of all people, it was the Soviet Union. Now we could only follow. We had been lulled into a slumber by past successes and had awoken to a harsh reality. Other shocking Soviet achievements followed. In 1959, Luna 2 became the first space probe to hit the moon. In 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit the Earth. But it was Sputnik that ultimately galvanized our great Nation. We came together to rediscover ourselves as a nation of thinkers, inventors, and dreamers. The shock of Sputnik caused us to not lower our expectations, but to raise them. Sputnik caused us to not ask less of ourselves but to demand more. Four years after Sputnik, President Kennedy summoned the spirit of America to banish the ghost of Sputnik.…”