The Space Race was a war of firsts between the United States of America and the Union Soviet Socialist Republics. But it was also the culmination of the dreams of man for many millennia and the team who worked on the space programs were able to discover what so many of the people that came before and after them could only dream of. It was an endeavor that all of humanity was invested in at the time. It was a testament to the power of the human spirit and it showed how nothing was impossible if we persevered and strived to be better.
The space race did not start as one would expect with the respective American and Soviet space agencies. But rather it began with the German V2 missile launches towards the end of World War 2. The V2 missile was designed by Wernher Von Braun a German scientist who had dreamed of traveling to the moon for many years; however this dream had to be secret as it was considered to be treasonous and not helpful to the German cause. Von Braun and many other amateur rocketeers were drafted into the German war machine in order to help build a super weapon and their base was Peenemünde. When the war was nearing its end the Third Reich unleashed its secret weapon, the V2 missile. It could hit anywhere within its target range and there would be no warning. When it hit, it caused scenes of mass destruction. The V2 missiles were to be Hitler’s ace in the hole. However by then it was far too late the war had already been lost with Soviets advancing from the East and the other Allies from the west and when the Allies discovered the German’s V2 missile they knew that they would have to have it as it was decades further than what they had on their own. So when truce was declared it was a race between the Americans and...
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...o the Soviets inability to properly contain their civilians. The main reasons why the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics lost the Space Race the United States of America are because the USSR was communist. The civilians did not support or like living in a communist society, which made them flee to freedom and ran the cost of border control up to employ more guards. Also, the USSR alone controlled East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States ran West Berlin and West Germany with its allies France and Britain. Finally, the United States was tough competition for the Soviets. The sheer determination of the Americans to defeat the Soviets in the Space Race and restore order in Europe was greater than the Soviets expected. Even after failed attempts at reaching space, the Americans never gave up and beat the Russians to the moon, winning the Space Race.
"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," said by Neil Armstrong as he took his first steps on the moon during the NASA Apollo 11 expedition to the moon. No man has ever been to the moon before and NASA, The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, was the first to get someone to land on the moon. NASA has had many great accomplishments in exploring the "new frontier" that have affected the United States ever since it was first created in July 1958. The idea for NASA first started when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite on October 4, 1957. United States started up its own space travel program and started to work on its own projects that would be better in than the Soviet Union's. This all started the great space race. It was a big race between the Soviet Union and the United States to see who could learn and discover the most. The United States and Soviet Union started building and sending satellites and space ships. Then they tried to see who could make a suit and ship that would be able to allow a living thing to go up in space. They tested out all of the equipment with monkeys and dogs, seeing what would work. Many animals did die in the process but by the results of their testing they were able to build suits and ships that allow human beings to go up in space. Even though they were able to create these machines, that doesn't mean that they didn't have their difficulties and dangers. Two space shuttles were crashed or blown up. There were many key factors that they had learned to fix that resulted in the crashing of those ships. They have made many discoveries and accomplishments like having the first astronauts walk on the moon.
middle of paper ... ...2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. The "NASA History" Congressional Digest 90.7 (2011): 196-224. Academic Search Premier -. Web.
At the end of WWII in 1945, the USA and the Soviet Union emerged as the world’s superpowers. This was a time of great tension, rivalry and distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a time of political, diplomatic, military and economic rivalry where both nations wanted to emerge as the world’s new superpower. Hence, the Cold War would be of profound significance in the development of the space race as the space race was a key element in the rivalry of political, economic and social dominance.
Eberhart, Jonathan. “Space Race Pace Quickens” The Science News-Letter (1965): 387, http://www.jstor.org/stable/3948639 (accessed April 16, 2014). (Primary Source)
The Americans took a much more urgent approach after seeing what the U.S.S.R. was truly capable of. The United States would respond with various satellites including those of the Explorer Series and more. However, the Soviet Union would again one-up the United States, and all of their now seemingly feeble satellite launches, by putting the first man into outer space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Now the quest gained an even more competitive drive and the United States soon put Alan B. Shepard into space twenty-three days later. The Space Race was truly a trek for the firsts of history, essentially just exterrestrial one-ups throughout an extended period of time. That very same year, John F. Kennedy founded NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, just for that purpose, to explore the world beyond their own, while maintaining the central aim, to beat the Soviets outright. JFK was a leading power in this race, and “by giving NASA programs top priority, his actions essentially played on American fears of communism and implicitly inferred that the Eisenhower administration had not done enough to meet the Sputnik challenge. Too many Americans were beginning to feel a need to vindicate the ‘long-standing communist boast that theirs was the superior system for galvanizing human productivity’” (Koman 43). Winning this space race was way more than just an extraterrestrial victory, it would hopefully squander the communists’ hopes and assert true American dominance. The United States sought to eliminate any presumption of communist superiority and did so in the near future by winning this Cold War space race, thanks to the execution of a truly unimaginable
After World War II both the United States and the Soviet Union realized how important rocket research would be to the military. So they each hired the top rocket scientists from Germany to help with their research. After they hired them both sides were making a lot of progress. The Space Race began in 1955 when the Americans announced that they would start launching satellites into orbit. The Soviets took the US announcement as a challenge and established a group whose goal was to beat the US in putting a satellite into orbit. Even though the United States started the competition the Soviets still won because they launched the first successful satellite into orbit, put a dog into outer space and also put the first man into outer space. Some might say that the United States won because they put the first man on the moon, which was a huge feat made by the Americans. So for winning many missions against the U.S. the Soviets won the Space Race.
The Vostok Space Program, launched by the USSR during the Cold War, was a huge breakthrough in the field of astronautics. This program managed to launch the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin, which left Americans speechless. The Russians’ achievements provoked America to start keeping up with them. The Russians’ and the Americans’ struggle to be the most technologically advanced nation in the world is known as the Space Race. As a consequence of their race, many inventions and advancements came into being, many of them being used for other purposes than astronautics. The Vostok Program was a turning point in history by humanity’s first exploration of space, its provocation of the space race during the Cold War, and the practical uses of the inventions created for competing in the space race.
The Space Race improved our knowledge of space. When the United States successfully launched their first satellite, Explorer 1, on January 1, 1958, it carried a small payload that informed us on the magnetic radiation belts around the Earth (Garber). This gave us a small and raw amount of information but it gave us information to study. This also helped motivate us and our curiosity of space to get us to strive further and find more info. When the race started in 1957 following the successful launch of Sputnik, the US wanted to be a part of it and wanted to be better and wanted to prove it. With the launch of Explorer 1, they were able to prove that it was better than Sputnik because Explorer 1 actually provided us with information, whereas Sputnik just made a constant, meaningless beeping sound as it orbited our Earth. This h...
The 1960’s were full of questions, and one of the biggest questions the world was pondering about was regarding the Space Race: was the USA going to beat their communist enemy, the Soviet Union? The Space Race was a series of events that helped to symbolize and determine in the worlds’ eyes which form of government was better, communism (Soviets) or democracy (United States)? In the beginning of the race, the Soviets had the lead, and it was not looking good for America. Then the United States picked up the pace and spent well over eight billion dollars funding the space studies. This period of time made many scientists and astronauts heroes in the eyes of Americans. The Space Race was a combination of determination, intelligence, space projects, and American pride, all used to reach our exploration goals and surpass the Soviets.
It is within man’s blood and nature to explore, and space is our next New World. Man’s first achievement in space travel was the launch of the Sputnik on October 4, 1957. For the next decades, space travel was roaring like a rocket, fueled by man’s desire to explore, man’s desire for knowledge, and man’s desire to beat his enemies. However, these impulses have died out as the well of government funding has been diverted to wars and debts, and the interest of the American people has been diverted to wars and debts. Amidst all these issues it is debated as to whether or not space travel is worth the money and the attention of scientists, particularly since humanity faces so many issues on earth currently. However, because of the past inventions, current services, and future benefits, space travel is indeed worth the money and attention of governments and people. It is within our hands to control man’s advancement, and space travel is the next venue to do so.
The space race was the product of the Cold War. It was an effort to prove technological superiority but on the other hand, it was also feared on both sides that weapons of mass destruction will be placed in orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union sent the 184 pound Sputnik 1 satellite into Earth’s orbit. It was the first artificial satellite and the first manmade object to be placed into Earth’s orbit. Following that, they also sent the first animal into space, Laika the dog. In 1958, the United Sates also launched their first satellite into orbit, dubbed Explorer 1. The Soviet space program advanced once again in 1959. The Soviet Union launched Luna 2, which was the first space probe to hit the moon. In April 1961, the Soviet Union had the ultimate success, sending the first human into space. The name of the Russian cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin, who made a 108 minute suborbital flight in a Vostok 1 spacecraft. One month after that, Alan Shepard became the American in space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Continuing from there, each nation step...
TheSpaceRace.com - Timeline of Space Exploration. (n.d.). TheSpaceRace.com - Timeline of Space Exploration. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.thespacerace.com/timeline/
Michael Collins once proclaimed that, “It’s human nature to stretch, to go, to see, to understand. Exploration is not a choice really; it’s an imperative.” People have always been fascinated by space exploration and it was during the 1950’s that the “race to space” took off. Both Russia and the United States wanted to be the first to travel into space and the first ones to land on the moon. Today, nations are still active in space exploration. This includes NASA (the U.S.), the Russian Federal Space Agency, CNSA (China), JAXA (Japan), ESA (Europe), ISA (Italy), ROSA (Romania), and the Soviet Union. Now, some may argue that the United State’s space program has slowed down or even stopped having interest in space. However, there is a great deal of evidence that shows that NASA is still very much interested in space.
Germany’s attempts made little to no history, but the United States and Russia got involved in what we know today as “The Space Race.” Each country trying to be the first to go into space, have a man orbiting Earth, and get on the moon. Russia struck first with Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to go into space, intentionally. The United States played catch up and one year later sent Explorer 1. The Russians were also the first to have a man go into space, Lt.