That Sputnik moment

Our Sputnik moment? Oh, that’ll pull the young folks in, all right.

I remember it well, although I was just a little kid. It meant that big bad Russia had beaten us, or something like that. It meant we kids had to learn more math and science, faster and better than our elders, so it wouldn’t happen again. Sputnik was thrown in our faces for years, as though we were personally responsible. Down with Sputnik!