50 years ago today, the USSR launched the first artificial Earth satellite.
I have a copy of Paul Dickson’s book, “Sputnik: The Shock of the Century”, but it isn’t at hand. There’s a decent companion website, however. It’s a good snapshot of the time and the impact of the what was basically the starter’s pistol for the space race, and an electric jolt to the American psyche.
You might find this odd to hear from a self-identified progressive born in the 80s, but I’m a little nostalgic for the 1950s. Such faith in technology, and fear of it at the same time. Rapid technological innovation: I’ve always been a bit sore that I missed most of the space age (the shuttle is neat and all, but it only goes to low earth orbit…). Comforting voices of authority vs. the journalism of Edward Murrow and his ilk, the likes of which America has not seen since. As an example of both, I quote Dickson’s book:
“Listen now,” said the NBC radio network announcer on the night of October 4, 1957, “for the sound that forevermore separates the old from the new.”
I’ll leave it to you to imagine how the same thing would be reported on the 24-hour news channels today.
Nostalgia is probably the wrong word. I think the 50s are fascinating though, perhaps the most interesting decade of the 20th century. The world went “well, the war is over, what do we do now?” and in that decade set the tone for everything we’re still living in 50 odd years on. Sputnik itself was a key trigger of our eventual technological development (computers owe a lot to the space race, after all).
Starting this week is Ron Howard’s documentary, “In the Shadow of the Moon”. As I’m a total Apollo geek, I can’t wait.