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Dwight D. Eisenhower

Eisenhower and the CIA had known that Russia had the capability to launch a small payload into orbit and was likely to do so within a year

Jan, 1957
U.S.

Eisenhower and the CIA had known since at least January 1957, nine months before Sputnik, that Russia had the capability to launch a small payload into orbit and was likely to do so within a year. He may also privately have welcomed the Soviet satellite for its legal implications: By launching a satellite, the Soviet Union had in effect acknowledged that space was open to anyone who could access it, without needing permission from other nations.


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