• HauntedBySpectacle [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    edit-2
    2 years ago

    They dont seem that terrified tbh it's pretty levelheaded like "ah well they beat us this time, but we'll get someone up there"

    I would expect the reaction today to be much more hysterical if say, China landed a man on Mars.

    edit: :matt: has basically the exact same take as the last guy, that every generation thinks it's the final, apocalyptic one

  • StarShip [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    One of the biggest fumbles by Eisenhower. The US had all the pieces in place (big rockets, Nazi scientists) but in fighting among the military branches absolutely fucked any chance of getting to space first. Another fun fact is that Sputnik weighed 184 lb and America's first satellite, Explorer 1 was a tiny 30.8 lb.

      • Sphere [he/him, they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        I actually took a bit of time yesterday to zoom way in and scroll through all the emojis, and noticed that one in particular, so I didn't either until just then lol

  • Fishroot [none/use name]
    ·
    2 years ago

    I mean sputnik was a glorified radio in orbit, no wonder a 12$ ballon with a radio transmitter on it made the angloid shit their pants