For the united states, how could the successful launch of sputnik best be summarized?

For the United States, the Russia launch of the satellite Sputnik was a "shock" and a "wake up call", since this meant that the USSR was officially ahead of the United States in terms of space exploration, which was considered vital for national security. 

The way this small state - large state compromise guards against tyranny is that small states and large states have one note: i am sorry but i was not able to give you the full answer. but i got this answer from