Playing Catch-Up

President Dwight D. Eisenhower immediately came under public criticism for failing to grasp the psychological significance of the space race. Eisenhower ordered a response to demonstrate that the United States was still the world’s technological powerhouse. Instead, what followed was one of the most humiliating moments in America’s space history. On December 6, 1957, a satellite-carrying Vanguard rocket was hurried to the launch pad. The missile climbed all of four feet before exploding, a disaster seen in broadcasts around the globe. To add insult to injury, the Soviet delegation to the United Nations solicitously asked their America counterparts if the U.S. space effort would like some help from the USSR’s Third World aid program.

Shortly afterwards, Eisenhower was brought the news that America's first nuclear-powered submarine, the USS Nautilus, had made a unique voyage under the Arctic ice cap.

Caption: The Arctic Ocean was still largely unknown in the early days of the Cold War despite centuries of exploration. While the Pole was not surrounded by islands, as this 1633 map shows, submariners had little idea about its underwater topography. Osher Map Library and Smith Center for Cartographic Education at the University of Southern Maine, OS-1633-2.