ABSTRACT
The development of Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles had qualita tively transformed the vulnerability of the U.S. and the Soviet Union to nuclear attack and new methods of surveillance and of rapid warning were imperative to enhance security. By being the first to penetrate the "new high ground," Sputnik severely undermined that security and dealt a major political and ideological blow to presumed U.S. leader ship. It created the illusion that there was a significant technological gap with the Soviet Union, and it spawned a climate of national anxiety which was translated into a massive acceleration and expansion of the civilian and military space programs. Sputnik was not simply a Soviet scientific and technological first. It was also a warning that "the evil empire" would soon be technologically capable of striking American targets directly from Soviet launching pads. It was seen too as a sign of the economic strength and even political superiority of state socialism, the triumph of rational planning over laissez-faire liberal democracy. Space became synonymous with superpower rivalry, and a major battlefield in the technological cold war.'
