As a kid in 1957, I remember lying awake at night, convinced that I could faintly hear the sounds of the Soviet-launched Sputnik satellite as it passed hundreds of miles overhead.

Irrational, yes. But I was only nine years old. And in the days following its launch, there was talk of how Sputnik--the first manmade, earth satellite--proved that the communist Soviet regime had jumped ahead of America in the race for space. It was a startling and ominous development, one that some feared could mark the beginning of the end for democracy, and for the American way of life. Scary stuff!