Amateur radio operators worldwide could tune in to hear the steady, continuous beeping signal, making the Soviet technological triumph undeniably audible.

The 1958 National Defense Education Act poured over a billion dollars into STEM scholarships and school programs to ensure the US could catch up to Soviet technology.

A stray dog named Laika became the first animal to orbit Earth, proving that a living passenger could survive the immense physical stress of a rocket launch.

Derived from Russian roots for a fellow traveler, the term poetically described how the artificial moon accompanied Earth on its orbit around the sun.