Sputnik moment figment of imagination

After the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite Sputnik-1 on Oct 4, 1957, shocking many in the United States who assumed that it would be the first nation to achieve that historic feat, the US passed its National Defense Education Act on Sept 2, 1958, to try to do all it could to catch up.

On Monday, two days after China's Tianwen 1 spaceship carrying a rover successfully landed on Mars, the US Senate voted 86-11 to move forward on the Endless Frontier Act to increase the country's input in technology, industry and security to counter what Washington views as a technological challenge from China.

Introduced by the Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Senator Todd Young, two hawks in the anti-China vanguard, the act is likely to pass the Senate by June.