Budget
Before Sputnik's launch, Secretary of Defense Charles Wilson imposed overall budget limitations on the armed forces and ordered a 170 million dollar decrease in money spent to produce and acquire items used for research and development purposes. Soon after Sputnik's launch, Wilson was replaced by Neil McElroy, who removed the limitations and ordered $9,000,000 to be added back to basic research programs. While it wouldn't completely fill the hole left by the 170 million dollars in cuts, it would help the U.S. start to
catch up to the Soviets.
catch up to the Soviets.
NASA
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The NACA Logo - Courtesy of NASA
The biggest effect brought about by the success of Sputnik was the National Aeronautics and Space Act, passed in July, 1958. It combined the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) with other government agencies to create the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Under the act the Department of Defense would handle all military aspects of space, while the rest would be NASA's territory, creating the first unified effort for United States space exploration. NASA didn't immediately catch up to the USSR, but did finally establish space dominance in July, 1969, by putting the first man on the moon as part of the Apollo missions.
Education & Defense
Along with the National Aeronautics and Space Act, several other acts were passed, a new committee was formed to advise the president, and new agencies were created within the Department of Defense. A startling gap between the United States and the USSR in the areas of math and science education had been revealed, with the Soviets clearly ahead. The National Defense Education Act invoked a closer look at American education and put more funding toward it in hope that the U.S. could catch up with the USSR.
"'We cannot continue to treat education as a second-rate enterprise and expect it do the job needed today... In the face of this extraordinary reality, how can responsible persons still ask whether we can afford to spend more money on education? ... A new multi-billion dollar tourist trade has sprung up. Yet we are only spending a fraction of our income for education. We still consider education a luxury rather than a necessity. The little satellite says that our schools are no longer a luxury, but are as important as the food we eat, the cars in which we ride, the clothes we buy."' - Dr. Franklin D. Murphy, from New York Times on October 12, 1957
The National Aeronautics and Space Council was created to advise the President on space policy. The Department of Defense created two new agencies, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) to handle things like space technology. Finally, directive NSC 5082/1 called for research in anti-satellite methods to destroy enemy satellites. This massive influx of government creations greatly differed from the pre-Sputnik era, when barely any space related acts were passed and some of the ones that were hindered the space and missile programs rather than promoting them.
Lasting Effects
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"Buzz" Aldrin on the Surface of the Moon - Courtesy of NASA
Sputnik’s launch had many short term as well as long term impacts. The U.S. and U.S.S.R.’s Space Race set out to determine the more technologically advanced country. And while both the U.S. and Soviet Union worked feverishly to improve their long-range missile capabilities, it was the creation of NASA and the eventual landing of a man on the moon that confirmed the technological superiority of the United States.