The Space Race to the Moon

1121 Words3 Pages

The two biggest superpowers of the world were waging a war: a war of supremacy. Indeed, the U.S needed to beat its rival, the Soviet Union, to win the Cold War. Both nations wanted to be the first on the moon, therefore, the United States strived to win the Space Race and consequently have victory over the Cold War. Given these facts, the Space Race not only helped the Americans have advantage in the Cold War, but has also affected America to this day.
It was a difficult moment in the late 1950s in America. The Cold Ward was heating up on a political level. Suddenly, that all ended when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. This was the world’s first artificial satellite to orbit around Earth (Holland 112). As Todd Gitlin puts it, “When the Russians launched the first intercontinental ballistic missile and Sputnik in 1957, they blasted the national pride and stoked a national panic in America” (112). Politics controlled the race at first, but President Kennedy later shifted it towards a peaceful space exploration (Holland 114).
Before learning about the space explorations and all those courageous astronauts, it is crucial to know the genius masterminds of the explorations. Sergei Korolev was the chief Soviet designer and former political prisoner. His budget was small, yet he accomplished so much (Cadbury 129). Of course, his rival is Wernher von Braun, America’s much loved leader of the rocket team. After WWII, von Braun came to America. Few people knew this, but he was an SS officer and member of the Nazi party (Roger 236). Nevertheless, even though von Braun had a horrific past, he developed many launch vehicles for the U.S.
After Sputnik was launched, the U.S decided they weren’t going to los...

... middle of paper ...

...wanted to learn more. Their motivation helped them strive to accomplish the impossible: sending a man on the moon. The Space Race sparked the age of technology all the way up to this present day. Even though the Space Race is in the past, it will always be remembered by all.

Works Cited

Cadbury, Deborah. Space Race: The Epic Battle Between America and the Soviet Union for Dominance of Space. Great Britain: Fourth Estate, 2005. Print.
Holland, Gini. “The Space Race and Technology take us to the Moon.” The 1960s. San Diego: Lucent Books, 1999. 111-122. Print.
Launius, Roger. “Interpreting the Moon Landings: Project Apollo and the Historians.” History and Technology 22.3 (2006): 225-255. Academic Search Premier. Web. 21 Jan. 2014. .
“The Space Race.” History Channel. 23 Jan. 2014. Web. 23 Jan. 2014. .

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