Question

Was the launch of Sputnik a threat on the Cold War and the United States? Explain

Answer 1

One milestone in a series of technical achievements was the Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite. None had expected it in the United States, and even those who did were not sure of how remarkable it would be. The Russian satellite was much heavier at 184 pounds than anything the United States was designing at the time, and immediately preceded its successful launch with the launch of two other satellites, including one that took a dog into orbit. Together, they orbited the earth every 90 minutes, raising concern that the technical potential of the United States lagged far behind. When the United States heard that the Soviet Union had tested the first intercontinental ballistic missile that year, these worries were compounded.

Sputnik 's popularity had a significant effect on the Cold War and on the United States. Fear that they have fallen behind prompted U.S. decision makers to ramp up programmes for space and arms. Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev boasted of Soviet technical dominance and increasing stockpiles of ICBMs in the late 1950s, so the United States worked at the same time to build its own ICBMs to fight what it thought was an increasing arsenal of Soviet missiles targeted at the United States. For many years, with both countries exploring new technologies, talk of establishing a deal prohibiting nuclear testing has faded away. In this way, in addition to growing Cold War tensions, Sputnik 's launch fueled both the space race and the nuclear race, as each nation sought to prepare new means of fighting the other.

Eventually, in the 1960 presidential election, politicians and democratic campaigners in the United States successfully used the threat of a "missile divide" emerging between U.S. and Soviet nuclear arsenals, which took John F. Kennedy to power over Richard Nixon, Eisenhower's vice president. The 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis helped to warn both sides of the consequences of the missiles they produced.