Part Three: The First (and Worst) Satellite - Sputnik Panic

Failure To Launch

English - July 08, 2022 01:14 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MB
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Previous Episode: Part 2: The First (And Worst) Satellite

Next Episode: Sputnik 2, Laika, and the Soviet Space Dog Program

This episode, we finish our three-part series on Sputnik 1 and the people, politics, and egos that launched the Space Race. Topics covered include:

- The decisions that made Sputnik 1 the perfect propaganda tool and worthless as a scientific instrument

- Khrushchev chopping up the Red Army and purging its top general

- How media and politicians in the West fanned the flames of Sputnik Panic

- How a beeping ball made the Soviet Union into a true superpower