That was another one of those WTF moments, when he so often repeated this Sputnik moment that he would aspire Americans to celebrate. And he needs to remember that what happened back then with the former communist USSR and their victory in that race to space, yes, they won, but they also incurred so much debt at the time that it resulted in the inevitable collapse of the Soviet Union.
OK. Maybe Palin meant the "race to space" instead of the "space race." That is what she said, after all. But the launch of Sputnik resulted in the an American response (a "Sputnik moment") that produced the scientific and technological advances that allowed us to go to the moon in less than twelve years. Does she really think that was a bad thing?