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Timeline: Historical nodes on the Net

1957: The U.S.S.R. launches Sputnik, the first man-made satellite. In response, President Eisenhower creates the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) within the U.S. Department of Defense.

1962-68: Packet-switching networks are developed.

1969: The Defense Department commissions the Arpanet for research into networking, with the first node at the University of California, Los Angeles, followed by nodes at Stanford University; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and the University of Utah.