IFP x FAI Sputnik Party

​The Institute for Progress and the Foundation for American Innovation invite you to our ongoing happy hour series, Moonshots. This series convenes policy thinkers, founders, researchers, and builders to connect and explore the future of innovation.

​In October of 1957, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev had reason to celebrate. Sputnik 1 had launched and was orbiting the Earth. Within four years, Yuri Gagarin would become the first human in space. For the moment, state-owned Stolichnaya tasted sweet, and the Party line was the only one that mattered.

​This Soviet achievement jolted America into action, setting off the greatest technological competition in history—a rivalry we’d like to mark with friends over vodka martinis, space-age appetizers, and conversation with those committed to reviving the urgent, competitive spirit that turned national shock into the first man on the Moon.