Well, that's partly right. It had nothing to do with the development of nuclear weapons, though. (It did make it possible to deliver such weapons at intercontinental distances later on, but the weapons themselves were developed years earlier). It certainly did start the space race. The US was supposed to launch a satellite for the International Geophysical Year, but it didn't draw much attention outside the scientific community. When we woke up one morning to find that the Soviets had put a small beeping iron sphere into earth orbit, it was a real shock. There were immediate calls for better science and math education in schools, and as kids we soaked up everything we could find on the new subject of space and rocketry. A lot of us built rockets... See if you can locate a copy of the film OCTOBER SKIES. It captures the feeling of the time very well.