How Advancement in Technology Helped the USA Reach The Moon First?

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After World War II ended, a silent war slowly began between the USSR and USA. It was a technology war. The two superpowers raced to the moon, but they couldn’t do this themselves. Both sides tried to recruit the German scientists that were behind the V-2 rockets. Using the V-2 rocket technology that could reach the speed of nearly 3500mph, both sides rushed to find the brilliant scientists behind the rockets technology. The race to space was very important during this time because of the Cold War era and they used satellites to spy on one another. Both countries were strong military wise and it was an equal match but to prove who’s the strongest the race to space began.
One thing that helped build a space rocket was a V-2 rocket built by the Germans during WWII. Throughout the years the V-2 rocket turned into the Saturn V rocket. The Saturn V was a rocket NASA built to send people to the moon. The Saturn V rocket was 363 feet tall and about the height of a 36-story-tall building. The Saturn V that launched the Skylab space station only had two stages. The Saturn V rockets used for the Apollo missions had three stages. Each stage would burn its engines until it was out of fuel and would then separate from the rocket and then the next one will start. If it wasn’t for the V-2 and German scientist, von Braun the USA would probably have not traveled to space. The USA sent astronaut John Glent to circle the Earth in 1962 to retaliate the launching of Sputnik. In 1969, a milestone was reached when the USA sent astronaut Neil Armstrong to the moon. The technology on the ship that took Neil to space was equivalent to a basic calculator built in 1980. They took a 64Kb computer (the moon lander) with them to space. It had approximately 64...

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Hickman, Kennedy. "V-2 Rocket - World War II German V-2 Rocket." About.com Military History. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.

Lethbridge, Cliff. "Cape Canaveral Rocket and Missile Programs: Space Shuttle Program." Cape Canaveral Rocket and Missile Programs: Space Shuttle Program. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 May 2014.

"The Space Race." History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web. 17 May 2014.

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Tate, Karl. "NASA's Mighty Saturn V Moon Rocket Explained (Infographic)." Space.com. N.p., 9 Nov. 2012. Web. 18 May 2014.

Wall, Mike. "Space Race: Could the U.S. Have Beaten the Soviets Into Space?" Space.com. N.p., 5 Apr. 2011. Web. 18 May 2014.

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