In 1957, the Soviet Union launched a metal sphere the size of a beach ball into orbit — and the panic it triggered across the country was so severe that within a year Congress poured federal money into science, maths, and foreign-language education

It was about the size of a beach ball, weighed roughly as much as a grown man, and did almost nothing. Sputnik 1, launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 from the testing range near Tyuratam…