Dad loaded the family into the station wagon and drove west from Albuquerque across the Rio Grand into the desert where there was essentially no light. Along with half of the population of Albuquerque, we watched a 23” diameter sphere fly by with our naked eyes and a soundtrack playing on the car radio

On October 4, 1957, Russia placed the 1st artificial satellite in low earth orbit. Sputnik circumnavigated the earth every 96 minutes. Using a radio transmitter Sputnik broadcast a steady beeping signal back to Earth before its batteries died after 21 days. It eventually fell burning up in the atmosphere.

The public was both fascinated and fearful of this Russian satellite. It was both a weapon flying overhead and spaceship magic. The “Sputnik Crisis” created widespread anxiety in the United States. We perceived a sudden technological inferiority leading to creation of NASA and increased federal funding for science and education.

Today space stations, interstellar satellites, and lunar landers take off and return on what seems a monthly cycle. Sixty-nine years ago, this was a multi-day front page news event. My recollection was one of wonder. Sputnik launched, quite literally, a new world.