For three months in 1957, the Soviets ruled outer space. That was about the time it took for the original Sputnik—which circled Earth more than 1,400 times, orbiting every 98 minutes—to burn up in the atmosphere … and for America to garner its first space success. A half century after the fact, old Soviet scientists recount the backstory that went into the design and implementation of humanity’s first man-made moon.