"But the Sputnik did one thing that was very much a plus: it woke us up and it concerned the American people very much that they [Soviet Union] beat us to the draw in getting the first satellite into orbit. But we at our level, with the information that we had, and what we were doing, knowing that we could easily put something up in space, and we did do that, including putting a reconnaissance satellite, because it was given much higher priority really because of the Sputnik."