What did the launch of the first space satellite concentrate attention on?
Actually there were two issues that where brought to the attention of the United States by the first successful launching of a satellite into orbit done by the Russians. One we were behind in the advanced technology needed to get to space which was more of an embarrassment than a issue. Second and far more important due to the cold war going on at the time if the Russians had a rocket that could put a satellite into orbit they had the lift capability to carry an atomic bomb to anywhere in the world.
