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 launched under the Navy’s -/ program. However, the military services did not cease working on their boosters and continued to attempt to launch them. When the Navy’s Vanguard program ebbed, the secretary of defense turned too late to the Air Force in hopes of launching a satellite during the IGY program. Who Would Be First in Space? Some have concluded that the USSR was first in space by default because of Eisenhower’s “ambivalence” and his secretary of defense’s penchant for fiscal conservatism regarding space programs. These factors might partially explain why the United States failed to be first in space. Other factors explain why the USSR was first in space with Sputnik. First, Eisenhower had been assured that physics precluded dropping a bomb from a satellite in orbit; therefore, he was not concerned about a surprise attack from outer space. Second, the Eisenhoweradministration did not fully appreciate the “psychological shock value” of a successful Sputnik launch or the reaction of the American people to having Sputnik overhead. Third, Eisenhower’s administration did not appreciate fully the propaganda and prestige value of being “first in space,” despite warnings to this effect by the National Security Council, the scientific community’s TCP, and RAND. Finally, and probably most importantly, the US was not first in space because the USheld a significant lead over the USSR in miniaturizing its hydrogen bomb devices.