341 



EFFECT ON NATIONAL DEFENSE 



As previously discussed, the size of the initial orbiting sputniks 

 (180 pounds for Sputnik I and 1,120 pounds for Sputnik II) made 

 it immediately evident that the Soviets possessed rockets capable 

 of traversing intercontinental distances with quite heavy payloads. 

 Concern was expressed that this Soviet capability might lead to a 

 race to produce military space vehicles at the expense of scientific 

 space research. 157 Although research did not flag, U.S. efforts to 

 develop long-range missiles were greatly speeded up, no doubt leading 

 to further efforts on the part of the Soviets. To promote U.S. efforts, 

 the position of Director of Research and Engineering was established 

 within the Department of Defense, ranking above the Assistant 

 Secretaries of Defense and possessing the authority to manage in- 

 terservice projects without following the normal military chain of 

 command. He was supported by an Office of the Director of Defense 

 Research and Engineering, as well as by the Advanced Research 

 Projects Agency. In addition, some parts of the DOD were reor- 

 ganized to permit "a more intelligent treatment of some of our most 

 urgent and difficult defense problems." 158 



Sputnik I also led to a revoking of the initial decision to use only 

 nonmilitary rockets in the American IGY artificial satellite program. 

 The great weights of the Sputnik satellites made it clear that Soviet 

 IGY scientists, far from being required to develop their own rocketry, 

 were being furnished with the U.S.S.R.'s most powerful military hard- 

 ware. The effect of this knowledge, coupled with a succession of 

 failures of the Vanguard program, was to establish a parallel satellite 

 program in which the U.S. Army took responsibility for the launchings. 

 This decision resulted in the successful orbiting of the highly useful 

 Explorer satellites. 



EFFECT ON FOREIGN POLICY 



The IGY, according to Atwood, "further demonstrated the signifi- 

 cance of scientific factors in formulating and executing foreign policy," 

 particularly as evidenced in the daily activities of the State Depart- 

 ment and pronouncements of other Federal agencies. With its asso- 

 ciated scientific and technological achievements, the IGY "clearly 

 indicated that science could facilitate the attainment of peaceful 

 objectives of foreign policy." 159 Certainly the IGY engendered un- 

 precedented international cooperation and good will, at least on the 

 part of scientists. The extent to which this rapprochement was 

 effectively utilized as a tool of U.S. foreign policy is difficult to assess 

 and is discussed later. 



International Impacts 



International impacts of the IGY and the orbiting of the first 

 sputniks were every bit as spectacular as were the impacts upon 

 the United States and would be difficult to exaggerate. Foremost 

 was the impact upon the cold war. Tensions heightened in East- 

 West relations as the Soviet leadership sought to use its success in 

 space to further its goals in foreign and military policy and as the 

 United States countered Soviet thrusts with crash programs in space 



•" Sullivan, "Scientific Alliance," p. 72. As noted earlier in The Evolution of International Technology, 

 the Soviet achievement "erased the issue of the 'Bomber Gap' [and] created a 'Missile Gap' " (p. 24). 

 us NSF-NAS Hearinos: IGY Report, p. 192. 

 "• Atwood, "The IGY in Retrospect," p. 689. 



