ABSTRACT
In ... The Heavens and the Earth, a seminal contribution to the under standing of the political history of the space era, author Walter A. McDougall creates a masterful tapestry of the political dynamics between the two superpowers both before and after the launch of Sputnik. But the event itself is consigned to a three-page account constructed from Western sources which themselves were based on hearsay and speculation.' Thus, even the mythology of Sputnik was at best a skeleton of a story. We knew when it was launched, what it looked like, and possibly who built it, but not much else. Thus, almost by default, in the historiography of space exploration, the Soviet space
program, and indeed the so-called "space race," was said to have begun on October 4, 1957. One of the most entrenched paradigms of this history was that Sputnik was a political tool to demonstrate Soviet superiority in a new domain. James E. Oberg, one of the more ubiquitous followers of the former Soviet space program, wrote in his landmark 1981 book Red Star In Orbit:
In the light of ... domestic and international problems [the] proposal for a Soviet artificial satellite ... suddenly became much more attractive to Khrushchev. First, it would signal to dissident political forces within the Soviet Union that Khrushchev was really leading the country to a glorious future; second, it would overawe the traditionalist "artillery generals" in the Red Army and allow a reorganization of the armed forces, including a reduction in obsolete ground forces ...; last, it would demonstrate in an unequivocal manner the existence of the long-range missile system, which was intended to discourage potential attack from the United States. Under these circumstances, what had first appeared to be a pointless diversion of technical resources suddenly became-as far as Khrushchev personally was concerned-a powerful idea ... "in the summer of 1957, the Central Committee ... finally endorsed the project." It should be noted that neither science nor world opinion seems to have entered into consideration.^
With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of the archives, there has been an undue eagerness to engage in revisionism, especially vis-a-vis the view from the Soviet side. But in looking at the genesis of Sputnik, the "old" paradigms require a second look. Was Khrushchev personally involved in seeing the project through completion? If so, what were his motives? Did the International Geophysical Year play a role in the launch of Sputnik? On a larger level, did the space race really begin on October 4, 1957? Why did the Soviets launch Sputnik when they did? In looking at Sputnik's birth, was mythology the same as history?
