The Sputnik crisis was a turning point of the Cold War that begun on October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik 1 satellite. The USA had believed itself to be the leader of space technology and thus a leader of missile development. The Sputnik launch proved it was not so. After this, the Space Race began, leading up to the Apollo program and the moon landings in 1969, which eventually ended the Sputnik crisis.

The Sputnik crisis spurred a whole chain of strategic initiatives, from large to small. Many of them initiated by the United States Department of Defense.