( CNN ) -- President Barack Obama 's vision of a new `` Sputnik moment '' for the United States carried echoes of a new `` New Frontier . '' If not the Kennedy-era agenda , at least the song by Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen . Or perhaps another Fagen tune , `` I.G.Y. , '' with its visions of trains of `` graphite and glitter '' and cities powered by the sun . Obama coupled his pitch with an appeal to a nation groaning under an unemployment rate over 9 percent -- a vision of new technologies , fostered in part by government investment , bringing new jobs . Hearkening back to the stunning 1957 news that the Soviet Union had beaten America into space by launching the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit , Obama said the United States `` had no idea '' how to respond at first . `` The science was n't even there yet . NASA did n't exist , '' he said in his State of the Union speech Tuesday night . `` But after investing in better research and education , we did n't just surpass the Soviets ; we unleashed a wave of innovation that created new industries and millions of new jobs . '' Fact Check : What did the Space Race do for the economy ? -- Plenty , according to most experts . The space program helped spur the miniaturization of electronics that fueled the computer revolution and spawned the Internet . Other products whose development has been linked to the space program range from cordless drills to car navigation systems . -- The U.S. semiconductor industry grew rapidly from its origins in the late 1940s , `` greatly aided '' by NASA and similar military technology , a 1983 Rutgers University analysis of the industry noted . Today , the industry boasts U.S. sales of $ 115 billion and employs more than 200,000 people , according to the Semiconductor Industry Association . -- The commercial satellite industry , meanwhile , was nonexistent before the 1960s . By 2003 , commercial space revenue had topped $ 90 billion in businesses that employed more than 576,000 people , according to a 2005 paper for the American Academy of Arts and Sciences . -- At a 2009 conference in Washington , George Washington University space policy researcher Henry Hertzfeld estimated the space economy at $ 250 billion , roughly half of which was commercial . But he said the true size was difficult to calculate . Bottom line : . Obama is correct in describing the space program as a boost to nascent U.S. industries . But the goal he set Tuesday night is just the first stage in what is likely to be a tough debate about the role of government in the economy . CNN 's Matt Smith and Katie Glaeser contributed to this report .
Obama says the U.S. `` unleashed a wave of innovation '' after Sputnik . He called for a similar push in his State of the Union address Tuesday night .