Sputnik crisis
Two days later, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. This fired fears and imaginations around the world and demonstrated that the Soviet Union had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons over intercontinental distances, and undermined American notions of military, economic and technological superiority. This precipitated the Sputnik crisis, and triggered the Space Race, a new area of competition in the Cold War. Anderson wanted to give responsibility for the US space program to the AEC, but US President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which absorbed NACA.