More than half a century ago the USSR accelerated the space race with the launch of Sputnik 1. | National Geographic UK

Sixty years ago this week, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik, beginning the Space Age. | Space.com

8.2K views · 159 reactions | America launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, #OTD in 1958, a mere four months after the Soviets launched Sputnik. But what if the Navy's December 1957 launch of Vanguard had been successful? Would NASA have been created? Travel back to the 1950s with this Explorer 1 documentary on NASA+ ▶️ https://go.nasa.gov/4hcf5Kk | NASA History | Facebook

🗓#OTD in 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1, beating the US to launch the first man-made satellite into space. Learn about the space race and the trials of the Cold War in Atomic Age Declassified: Spies in Space tonight at 11 pm. #SpaceWeek #WorldSpaceWeek | Smithsonian Channel Aviation Nation

On December 6 1957 the United States made its first attempt to launch a satellite which ended in a fiery explosion on the Cape Canaveral launch pad The Vanguard TV3 rocket was meant to counter Soviet Sputnik successes but it rose only four feet before losing thrust and exploding in a massive fireball The media dubbed it Kaputnik and Flopnik and the failure forced a change in strategy that led to the US Army program launching Explorer 1 on January 31 1958 and marking a turning point in the space