[alive-or-not]

Interesting points.

My (limited) understanding is that Sputnik was launched by a rocket designed in Nazi Germany and copied with minimal modifications.

I'd say the outsourcing craze we see in the recent years is very similar to the transfer of factories and technologies to USSR and Germany in the period 1929-1939.

[huhtenberg]

Yep, your understanding of Soviet space history is pretty limited. That part you got right.

[alive-or-not]

Care to correct me than?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R-1_%28missile%29

R-1 was the Russian name for the German V-2, Sputnik was launched by R-7.

[oddx]

V-2 is progenitor of all modern rockets, but it's difficult to call it "minimal modifications": compare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Fus%C3%A9e_V2.jpg ,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:V-2_rocket_diagram_%28with... and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:R-7_%287A%29_misil.svg, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sputnik_8K71PS_grey.svg

[jiggy2011]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sputnik_1