The Sputnik crisis was a period of public fear and uncertainty in the United States in the wake of the success of the Soviet Sputnik program and a perceived technological gap between the two superpowers.[1] It was a key Cold War event beginning with the launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite, by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. The Sputnik crisis led to the creation of NASA and the start of the Space Race. The term was coined by then-US President Dwight D. Eisenhower.[citation needed]
OK, You Got Me. ...satire.
The US already had a more sophisticated satellite that they were working on before Sputnik that actually worked as a sattelite and had a functional purpose.
I think the problem was the rocket engines to get it in space.
But who knows, we may have had already sent things into orbit, in secret that is before Sputnik.