50th Anniversary of the Launch of Sputnik

While I know that this technically isn't Astronomy related, today is the 50th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik. Sputnik was definitely not an Astronomical satellite, though the famous radio "beeps" it emitted aren't that different from the Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) that can be used to test General Relativity, but starting the so-called "space race" or "space age" it is indirectly responsible for a lot of the wonderful Astronomical satellite that have been launched and will be launched, and without these facilities and investments our understanding of the Universe would be much, much smaller than it is today.

Since I wasn't alive when Sputnik was launched, I am very interested in hearing any stories any of you might have about it... Please leave them below, I'd be fascinated to read them.