Fifty Years after Sputnik, Satellites are Everywhere

"What's your Sputnik moment?" is a very good look at what's happened in the last fifty years.

The author, Chris Rowan, points out that in the sixties New Zealand was on the other side of the world, as far as people back in England were concerned. Well, they still are, actually: the point is that communication was effectively limited to mail, and that could take weeks to months.

I remember Sputnik, and lived through the explosion of information technology: If you did, to, this post is a good review.

If you didn't, you really ought to read it: and learn how much a few few tin cans being launched into space changed the world.