(A) The Soviets’ development of the hydrogen bomb
(B) ** the Soviets’ successful launch of the world’s first satellite
(C) the United States’ loss of political power after World War II
(D) The United States’ successful use of the Marshall Plan
EXPLANATIONS BELOW
Concept note-1: -NASA was created in response to the Soviet Union’s October 4, 1957 launch of its first satellite, Sputnik I . The 183-pound, basketball-sized satellite orbited the earth in 98 minutes.
Concept note-2: -The driving force, of course, was the launch of Sputnik on Oct. 4, 1957, followed by its even weightier successors. In the midst of the Cold War, a country that aspired to global preeminence could not let that challenge pass.
Concept note-3: -A year after the launch of Sputnik, U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), formally launching the “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Concept note-4: -Officially, Sputnik was launched to correspond with the International Geophysical Year, a solar period that the International Council of Scientific Unions declared would be ideal for the launching of artificial satellites to study Earth and the solar system.
Concept note-5: -On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik-1. The successful launch came as a shock to experts and citizens in the United States, who had hoped that the United States would accomplish this scientific advancement first.