What effect do you think the launch of spuntnick 1 had?

Sputnik one kicked off the space race between US and Russia.

Explanation:

Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite launched out of earth. This achievement went to the Soviets who were well ahead of Us by then in terms of sending their satellite up into space as they eventually would send multiple such satellites to space.

This prompted the US to try harder to achieve what they had done and then over top them and reach greater heights kicking off the space race.

The space race was a public view of the sinister cold war by which the two countries looked to establish their dominance over one another.