961. The Sputnik Moment: Historic Lessons for Our Hypersonic Age
- Author:
- Jerry Hendrix
- Publication Date:
- 03-2020
- Content Type:
- Special Report
- Institution:
- Hudson Institute
- Abstract:
- This paper seeks to both explore and understand the first “Sputnik Moment” in all of its facets. It will investigate its origins; how it came as such a surprise to so many outside of the White House and the intelligence community; and how various groups—to include leaders in the Soviet Union, the separate American military services, the scientific and engineering communities and, finally, opposing political forces within the United States—moved to leverage the “moment” to their own advantage. Because of this phenomenon, great investments were made in the U.S. military, the National Air and Space Administration was created, and the U.S. public educational system was overhauled to place greater emphasis on science and engineering within its curriculums. This study will also seek to distill lessons learned from the first “Sputnik Moment” and to examine the question of whether such an event could happen again and, if so, what would be the modern reactions?
- Topic:
- Foreign Policy, Defense Policy, National Security, Science and Technology, and Space
- Political Geography:
- Russia and United States of America