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Today we begin with the official start of the Space Race, the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the event that changed history forever. But first we will try to understand how the Soviets, who had barely gained access to Nazi missile technology, managed in a very short time and without outside help to surpass von Braun’s designs and his team from Peenemünde. We will get to know the mysterious character of the “Chief Designer”, the alias that hid the true identity of the great Sergei Korolyov, who would not be known in the West or in the Soviet Union itself until his death in 1966 and the process of creating his R-7, the first rocket to place an artificial object in orbit. And of course, Sputnik. That glowing sphere with antennae that just beeped, but changed the world while creating widespread hysteria in the West. See you up there! Acknowledgements: Mercedes Pullman |