The effect of sputnik 1 could best be described in what way?

The launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite created by the USSR, generated a big reaction from the United States. The United States wanted to get a technological advance to the Soviet Union, as they were currently in a period of the Cold War where the arms races and space race was heavy. It also created the effect across the United States that the US was not the most technologically advanced country and that the Soviet Union was not as backwards as it had been stated as being.