On this Date- James Jones

 On October 4th, 1957 the space race began when SPUTNIK was launched by the Soviet Union. SPUTNIK was the first satellite to launched into earth's orbit, and was a milestone in the technological advances of the time. After the satellite was launched the U.S. suffered a period of fear and worry referred to as the SPUTNIK crisis. Over time the crisis would persist and the U.S. and the Soviet Union would battle each other with new developments until finally man set on the moon. In the end the launching of SPUTNIK was a problem for the U.S. considering they didn't have the ability to claim the first successful satellite launch and the space race had been officially started, but it was an overall accomplishment for science. Though as a U.S. citizen I should probably be patriotic and have an issue with the Soviets doing this before the U.S. overall I think it's cool that people were able to launch this satellite in the first place, and it was a great accomplishment.