![]() Headlines in American newspapers screamed, "U.S. Now, all of a sudden, a missile traveling at 15,000 miles per hour over twice as fast as a bomber could attack America with only 15 to 30 minutes warning. Americans knew we had our own atomic and hydrogen bombs on bombers and that radar would give us hours of warning if the Russians decided to attack. But jet bombers carried those weapons, and they traveled at 600 miles an hour. Russia had joined the nuclear club when it exploded its first atomic bomb in 1949 and the more-powerful hydrogen bomb in 1953. ![]() One Russian scientist told reporters, "Americans design better automobile tailfins, but we design the best intercontinental ballistic missiles and earth satellites." Those were frightening words for Americans because rockets that could launch satellites could also deliver atomic bombs. The Russians confirmed the report and said the satellite was named Sputnik. Within hours the news broke that the signal was coming from a Soviet satellite in orbit around the earth. Some of the ham operators recorded the signal. were surprised to hear a mechanical "beep beep beep" on a lower frequency of the radio band. On October 4, 1957, amateur radio operators in the eastern U.S. ![]() Living at Ground Zero during the 1950s and 60s ![]()
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