Etymology

Sputnik moment

Sput·nik mo·ment

Today it means: The moment when a country or a society realizes that it needs to catch up with apparent technological and scientific developments made by some other country or countries by increasing its investment into education, innovative research and development, etc. Full definition →

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The story

A reference to the Soviet Union's launch of the first Earth-orbiting artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 which caught the US unprepared. The event ignited the Space Race during the Cold War, and led to the US successfully launching Explorer 1 into space in 1958.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.