Sputnik 50th anniversary on October 4, 2007

I saw this article, Sputnik 50th anniversary on October 4, 2007, on Earth and Sky's website.
According to this article, Sputnik 2 carried a dog named Laika into orbit one month
after Sputnik 1 was launched.
The USA created NASA on October 1958.
And Soviet cosmonaut named Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961.
American astronaut Alan Shepard, Jr became the first American in space on May 5, 1961.
On May 5, 1961 President Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress and said basically the USA was going to send a man to the Moon and bring him back safely to Earth.
On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.

I grew up during these years in the 1960s and 1970s.
I saw science fiction become science fact.
I saw new science fiction based on the science that was being done in the 1960s and 1970s.
Star Trek The Original Series is my favorite example of the new science fiction of the 1960s in a television series.
Journey to the Far Side of the Sun(Doppelgänger), Marooned Planet of the Apes and 2001: A Space Odyssey are my favorite examples of the new science fiction of the 1960s in the form of movies.
Star Trek: The Animated Series, UFO and Space 1999 is my favorite examples of the new science fiction of the 1970s in the form of television series.
Star Trek: The Motion Picture, Silent Running, The Andromeda Strain Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Solaris and Capricorn One is my favorite examples of the new science fiction of the 1970s in the form of movies.