In the 1960s there was a Christian song in the songbook, “Youth Praise” which commenced with the words, ‘We are in a great race to put rockets in space’. It certainly reflected the reality of the times. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 from Kazakhstan and though it was hardly bigger than a large beach ball it was the first man-made object to orbit the earth. It was hailed as a great victory for Russia and communism, though the Americans pretended it was of little consequence with President Eisenhower claiming it as ‘a small ball in the air’. Yet the Americans knew they had lost that initial race as Sputnik 1 travelled overhead every ninety minutes, every day for three months. The US government’s reaction was to increase the budget of its space programme from $0.5 Billion to $10.5 Billion.
Later the Soviets launched Sputnik 2 with a dog inside named Laila and that was the first animal in space but it did not survive. America’s attempt two months after Sputnik 1 to send a rocket into space managed to reach just one metre before it fell back and exploded. It was sometimes referred to as ‘Flopnik’. In 1959 the Soviets again got a first by sending Luna 2 to the surface of the moon. That was the first spaceship from earth to reach the moon, though it crashed on landing. In 1960 with America trying to catch up with space exploration they launched a satellite to study weather patterns. The Soviets launched Sputknik 5 carried two dogs, Belka and Strelka and they both survived the experience.
