Sputniks

Cultural  

1. A series of Soviet satellites launched in 1957 and in following years. These were the first artificial satellites.

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The appearance of Sputnik stimulated a great deal of effort in the education of scientists and engineers in the United States. This period is now referred to as the post-Sputnik boom.

Example Sentences

Sputniks and ICBMs aside, Russia is pushing ahead at flank speed in vast areas of science, and of all programs put through for the International Geophysical Year, its is the biggest and most ambitious.

From Time Magazine Archive

Here was Nikita Khrushchev, 64, racing through the statistics of his triumphs�Lunik, Sputniks, "mass-produced" ICBMs, new targets for industry, farming and education.

From Time Magazine Archive

Professor Evgeny Fedorov, an official spokesman, said that Sputnik III had been launched with "customary chemical fuels," not with atomic energy, and the launching technique was about the same as with the earlier Sputniks.

From Time Magazine Archive

Amid shouts of post-toasty laughter, he ridiculed the U.S. space satellites as apelsin-sputniks -orange-sized Sputniks.

From Time Magazine Archive

But fashions change, old loves return, and now that Sputniks clutter up the sky with new and unfamiliar moons, the readers of science-fiction are willing to wait for tomorrow to read tomorrow's headlines.

From The Door Through Space by Bradley, Marion Zimmer