Nasa: Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age

How does gravity affect the life cycle of a butterfly? Learn first-hand what types of investigations astronauts perform in space by following along with one of NASA's experiments. Create butterfly habitats in the classroom with specific...

Can we use the stars to navigate if we're actually among them? Space-age scholars explore the precise planning that goes into long-distance exploratory missions using a video from THNKR's Why with Bill Nye! playlist. Bill Nye explains...

NASA provides a paper providing a background to the Sputnik launch and the U.S. response.

NASA provides a paper that "deals with the politics, planning and technology of the period 1946-1958" in the Sputnik program.

Featuring various multimedia resources, NASA provides a comprehensive overview of America's first space satellite, Explorer 1, that launched the United States into space exploration.

The launch of Sputnik began the Space Race. Scholars learn the importance of the Russian launch of Sputnik and how it impacted the United States. The video also explores how Sputnik launched the Space Race and how the fear of Russian...

Students study the pioneers of space exploration and travel; identify some of the early astronauts who prepared the way for others; examine the social and political conditions at the dawn of the Space Age; and differentiate among space...

NASA provides pictures of various Sputnik program satellites, including Sputnik 1. Also has pictures of key officials involved in the Sputnik program.

Some common items that help save lives every day or make lives a little easier are compliments of NASA technologies. This article features ten of these developments

NASA provides the full text from the tersely worded "Pravda," the Russian national newspaper, that announced the successful launch of Sputnik.