03 October 2009

SPUTNIK




you know how certain events are so earth-shifting that everyone remembers where they were at the time? e.g. the JFK assassination, or the 9/11 terrorist attacks. here's another: on this day in 1957, the soviet union launched sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. after so many years of being dismissed as "mere" science fiction (a genre which frequently accurately predicts scientific and cultural developments), the space age had arrived. i was ten years old, living on a farm west of conrad, montana, and like everyone else, was filled with wonder and uncertainty and a vague excitement over what might happen next. (click on images to enlarge.)




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