One response to what the Americans termed the Sputnik crisis was to invest money and expertise towards a re-invigoration of the country's science and technological educational system.

The U.S. Congress, alarmed by the perceived threat to national security and technological leadership (known as the "Sputnik crisis"), urged immediate and swift action; President Dwight D. Eisenhower and his advisers counseled more deliberate measures.

(See Sputnik crisis, "New Math")

The US public shock over Sputnik 1 became known as the Sputnik crisis.

Calandra presented the incident as a real-life, first-person experience that occurred during the Sputnik crisis.

The surprise success precipitated the American Sputnik crisis, began the Space Age and triggered the Space Race, a part of the larger Cold War.

The Sputnik crisis was America's reaction to the success of the Sputnik program.

With the successful launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the United States entered into the Sputnik crisis and, more generally, the Space Race with the Soviet Union.

Hall took advantage of the launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 and the ensuing Sputnik crisis in the United States to seek greatly increased federal funding for the Observatory.

This coincided with the Sputnik crisis.