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De-Stalinization
The political process initiated by Khrushchev after Stalin's death in 1953, involving the release of Gulag prisoners, rehabilitation of purge victims, partial relaxation of censorship (the Thaw), and the public denunciation of Stalin's crimes in the Secret Speech of February 1956. De-Stalinization had limits: Khrushchev maintained one-party rule and crushed the Hungarian Revolution in 1956. The term describes both specific policy changes and a broader shift in Soviet political culture away from mass terror.
Sputnik
The world's first artificial satellite, launched by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. An 83.6 kg aluminium sphere, it orbited Earth every 96 minutes and could be tracked by radio worldwide. Its primary significance was strategic: the R-7 rocket that launched it was the world's first ICBM, demonstrating Soviet capability to deliver nuclear warheads to the United States. In the USA, Sputnik triggered the "Sputnik shock," leading to the creation of NASA in 1958 and a dramatic increase in science education funding.