It was October 4th here in Europe and October 3rd on the other side of the pond...
I must admit that not only I'm a pre-Apollo creature but I'm also a pre-Spoutnik one.
I was only 3.5 when all this has started, and I'll never be sure I realy sew IT. I remember, even if very fuzzy, that, "sometimes" at that time, I went outside with my familly looking up to watch a sattelite. It could have been Spoutnik I or it could have been Echo a few years later. I'll never know, like Stu not sure whether he sew Apollo 11 Moon walk or not.
By all means, It'll be 50 years next week that UMSF started.
Happy anniversary to you all here in UMSF.
Climber

Well, yes -- orbital umsf began 50 years ago next week, to be sure. Sub-orbital umsf had been going on for years by that point, though.

I don't really remember Sputnik per se, though I seem to be able to recall there was a time pre-Sputnik and a time after. But I was one year and fifty weeks old, to the day, when Sputnik flew. I can't be expected to have clear memories from that age...

-the other Doug