oct 4, 1957 - Sputnik Launched

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The launch of Sputnik spurred the Space Race, which was a Cold War competition between America and Russia to lead space exploration. As part of the Space Race, STEM Education was given more funds and became a focus in schools. The response from the U.S. federal government was swift. In 1958, just a year after Sputnik, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), a $1-billion spending package to bolster high-quality teaching and learning in science, mathematics and foreign languages.

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