Why Did The Sputnik Launch

The Soviet Union’s successful Sputnik launch on October 4th, 1957 created a political and emotional uproar in America. People in the United States were at times angered, dismayed, intrigued, fearful, humiliated, fascinated, distraught, and anxious at the thought of the Soviet satellite orbiting the planet. What Americans wanted most of all was for the U.S. to catch up to the Soviets as quickly as possible. They wanted reassurance and a definite closure of the perceived missile gap.
Prior to the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958, America’s space efforts were divided among the armed services with the Army, Navy and Air Force all running missile and satellite development projects. President Eisenhower, mindful of the complications of the Cold War, also divided space exploration efforts between military
Congress and President Eisenhower had both received briefings from Vanguard’s director John P. Hagan and Defense Department’s director of guided missiles William Holaday on Vanguard’s progress. During the briefings the two emphasized that Vanguard’s launch vehicle was still being tested and the project’s engineers were close, but not quite ready for launch.
However, soon after Eisenhower’s briefing the White House issued a press release telling reporters that a test satellite launch would take place early in December, 1957 at Cape Canaveral. Although the White House press release cautioned that Vanguard’s launch was to be a test flight not a satellite launch, the press took it as a definite launch date. The subsequent media frenzy focused America’s attention on Cape Canaveral. With the intense media attention on Vanguard, its director, engineers and ground crew had no choice but to turn what should have been a low-key test flight into an actual satellite