Space Race Research Paper

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Recommended: Cold war arms race

Hunter Manning
HIS 206
Dr. Keys
9 February 2016
The Space Race The dropping of the nuclear bombs in Japan by the United State in World War II created turbulence throughout the nations involved in the war. “In 1945, after the long struggle of World War II (1939-45) only two great powers remained in the world, the United States and the Soviet Union. Polar opposites culturally, economically, and politically, the two nations had been uneasy allies in the war against Nazism and Fascism. Once the war ended, however, a deep antagonism arose between them”, sparking a nuclear stand off between the worlds two largest super powers, know as the Cold War. This war was never fought directly by the two nations, only through Soviet weaponry vs American weaponry …show more content…

Launched from Cape, he completed a successful three-orbit mission around the earth, reaching a maximum altitude of approximately “162 miles and an orbital velocity of approximately 17,500 miles per hour. Glenn's Mercury spacecraft landed approximately 800 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral off Grand Turk Island. The mission lasted from launch to impact was 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.”
Then the United States launched the Gemini program. The program tested the skills that would be necessary for NASA to go to the moon in the 1960s and 1970s. The program had four main goals:[to examine the astronaut’s abilities to sustain themselves in space for extended periods of time, sometimes up to two weeks; in order to understand how spacecraft could engage and dock in orbit around the Earth and the moon; they also needed to prefect re-entry and landing methods; then analyze and understand the effects of longer space flights on …show more content…

However, he kept pushing on in the space race and continued funding to keep Kennedys dream alive. But on March 18,1965, Alexei Leonov of the Soviet Union performed the worlds first space walk. This was a huge accomplishment for the Soviets, with an added benefit of putting the United States on its heels. He would however encounter a problem; the cosmonauts suit would inflate too much. Preventing him from reentering the airlock and boarding his ship, he would have to open the valve on his suit and release oxygen and risk boiling his blood in the vacuum of space. This even would help shape inventions for new space equipment and pave the way to the first American space walk. Then Edward H. White, astronaut for the United States, would pilot for the Gemini four mission. He would also perform Americas first spacewalk. The brief spacewalk was performed around the fourth orbit of the Gemini IV mission. White was attached to his vessel by a 25-foot umbilical line and a 23-foot tether line, both wrapped in a gold based tape to form one cord. White carried a Hand-Held Self-Maneuvering Unit. The visor of his helmet was gold lined to protect him from the harmful rays of the sun no longer filtered by earths atmosphere.”Given the technology advances in a few short months from the Soviet’s first spacewalk Whites suit had a few upgrades to better protect him from the

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