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Nature 449, 538 (4 October 2007) | doi:10.1038/449538a; Published online 3 October 2007

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Russian science: A celebration of Sputnik's fiftieth birthday

William E. Burrows1

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The launch of the first satellite sparked rejoicing worldwide but frayed some nerves in the West.

BOOK REVIEWEDRed Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ignited the Space Age

by Matthew Brzezinski

Times Books/Bloomsbury: 2007. 336 pp. $26/£17.99

The flight of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, like the discoveries of electricity and nuclear energy, gave little hint of the leap it would start in civilization's development — except perhaps to a handful of rocket pioneers and science-fiction aficionados. Its successors would carry people to the Moon, orbit Earth as many hundreds of manned and unmanned mechanical servants, and conduct the otherwise unimaginable exploration of the Solar System.