Letter of the day: The space race hits home (and the garage)

Updated: October 7, 2007 - 4:02 PM

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While the launching and successful orbiting of Sputnik scared America into focusing on math and science, it scared me and my family in a very personal way. Fifty years ago in Pittsburgh, a poor working-class family made their journey to a new home in the first-ring suburbs. My father was intrigued by a new product which recently had come on the market -- the electric garage door. We had one of the first ones in the neighborhood and enjoyed the freedom of not having to get out of our car to open the door. One night around 8 o'clock we were watching TV as a family when the garage door suddenly went up. We pushed the button to lower it only to find it went up again and then again at regular intervals throughout the night. We later found out it was the transmissions Sputnik sent that made our door go awry. Happy 50th, Sputnik.

JAMES V. GAMBONE, ORONO

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