When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit in 1957, the first satellite generated an existential panic across the United States. Scientist Edward Teller said it was “a greater defeat for our country than Pearl Harbor.” Sen. Mike Mansfield said, “What is at stake is nothing less than our survival.”
At that time, the United States was only four months away from launching a satellite of our own. When the Soviet Union put a man in space a few years later, the United States was right behind them and ready to snatch the lead in the race to the moon.
Today, the United States is for the first time in the modern era potentially a decade behind in deploying a transformative technology with serious national security implications. China is establishing dominance in 5G — fifth-generation wireless technology for digital cellular networks — in global markets with massive subsidies for its national champions, telecom giants Huawei and ZTE.
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