Hvad to ting gjorde usa i 1958 i forhold til rumløbet?
Space Race
I 1955, da både USA og Sovjetunionen byggede ballistiske missiler, der kunne bruges til at sende objekter ud i rummet, blev "startlinjen" for rumkapløbet trukket op. I separate meddelelser med fire dages mellemrum meddelte begge nationer offentligt, at de ville opsende kunstige jordsatellitter i 1957 eller 1958. Den 29. juli 1955 meddelte James C. Hagerty, præsident Dwight D. Eisenhowers pressesekretær, at USA havde til hensigt at opsende "små jordomløbende satellitter" mellem den 1. juli 1957 og den 31. december 1958 som en del af deres bidrag til det internationale geofysiske år (IGY). Fire dage senere talte videnskabsmanden Leonid I. Sedov på den sjette kongres i Det Internationale Astronautiske Forbund i København til internationale journalister på den sovjetiske ambassade og meddelte, at hans land også havde til hensigt at opsende en satellit i en "nær fremtid". Den 30. august 1955 lykkedes det Korolev at få det sovjetiske videnskabsakademi til at nedsætte en kommission, hvis formål var at slå amerikanerne i kredsløb om Jorden: dette var de facto startdatoen for rumkapløbet. Sovjetunionens ministerråd indledte en politik, der gik ud på at behandle udviklingen af sit rumprogram som en hemmelig statshemmelighed.
In 1955, with both the United States and the Soviet Union building ballistic missiles that could be utilized to launch objects into space, the "starting line" was drawn for the Space Race. In separate announcements four days apart, both nations publicly announced that they would launch artificial Earth satellites by 1957 or 1958. On July 29, 1955, James C. Hagerty, president Dwight D. Eisenhower's press secretary, announced that the United States intended to launch "small Earth circling satellites" between July 1, 1957, and December 31, 1958, as part of their contribution to the International Geophysical Year (IGY). Four days later, at the Sixth Congress of International Astronautical Federation in Copenhagen, scientist Leonid I. Sedov spoke to international reporters at the Soviet embassy, and announced his country's intention to launch a satellite as well, in the "near future". On August 30, 1955, Korolev managed to get the Soviet Academy of Sciences to create a commission whose purpose was to beat the Americans into Earth orbit: this was the de facto start date for the Space Race. The Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union began a policy of treating development of its space program as a classified state secret.
Space Race