Communism

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 Soviets took a lead by launching the first successful satellite into space.

The V-2 was a ballistic missile with a supersonic speed and, when the war ended, the United States and Soviet Union took the scientists that created it to use them for their own developments. By August 1957, the U.S.S.R. had effectively tested the R-7 Semyorka, the first ICBM (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile). The R-7 was used two months later to launch the Sputnik 1 in space. At this point the Soviet Union was ahead in the space race. Not happy with that, President Eisenhower demanded that the Navy launch an American satellite as soon as possible.

In order for the U.S. to win the Space Race they would have to succeed in putting a man in earth orbit, but it was on April 12, 1961 just four years after sputnik was launched, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin went into earth orbit edging out the United States' chance to put the first man in space. It was on April 14, 1961 two days after the Soviets put the first man in space, when President John F. Kennedy decided to put faith in the still young NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) program. NASA, established on October 1, 1958, had the historical job of putting an American on the moon. It was on May 25, 1961 when Kennedy finally made public his commitment "to land an American safely on the moon by the end of the decade," (Shepard 28). The pressure was on the NASA, but all eyes were on James E. Webb, NASA Administrator, who was not even certain the U.S. could beat the Soviets to the moon.

Even though it happened in 1969, the first moon landing had a lasting effect on the world. Apollo 11 represented the culmination of decades of hard work for NASA. John F. Kennedy's dream of putting a person on the moon seemed foolish to many, but it remains one of the highest achievements of human work and ingenuity. The Space Race began in 1955 when both countries announced that they would soon be launching satellites into orbit. On October 4, 1957 the Russians placed the first successful satellite into orbit and it was called Sputnik I.

Apollo 11 was the mission that landed the first man on the moon. On July 21st, 1969 the whole world stopped to watch as Neil Armstrong took his first steps, making man’s first footprints on the surface of the Moon. Meanwhile, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union were growing and the heat of the arms race was smoldering. Upon the conclusion of the mission, Apollo 11’s crew of three was successfully recovered along with the photographs taken on the lunar surface; many of which are quite iconic to this day. However, one in particular stood out with respects to American achievement.

The 1969 Moon Landing: A Giant Leap for Mankind For centuries, mankind has wanted to explore outside the world we live in and into outer space. The idea of landing on the moon seemed impossible. Defeating all odds on July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong, 38 years of age, made what many thought impossible, possible. He landed a spacecraft named the Eagle on the moon, and explored its surface with Edwin Aldrin. This event captured attention throughout the world.

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.

In response to this, the United States created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to quickly catch up and create better and more advanced satellites and propel America forward into leading the race and eventually answer and discover questions that has made mankind wonder for many years and centurie... ... middle of paper ... ...he world? : The space race has made America a more dominant power in the world. It has progressed it politically to mark itself as a greater more powerful nation. Socially, the citizens of America are amazed by how the United States was able to win the space race by landing on the closest outer space object in history. However, though it is controversial that the soviet union should’ve won since they were the first to send an orbiting man, the United States has won the race to seize and gain control and dominance in space.

The United States and the Soviets made nuclear rockets to test there capability in traveling half way around the world, they were known as intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBMs. The nuclear rockets began the technology advancement in NASA program (Evans). The space exploration was a distraction from nuclear war and weapons. The space race raised cold war tensions, and made the United States work harder for success against the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union launched a surprise missile the "Sputnik" on October 4, 1957, to orbit the Earth meanwhile initiating the competition between the two countries.

In the late 1960’s and 1970’s NASA was still running off of their glory from winning the space race against the Soviet Union by putting a man on the Moon. A manned mission to Mars or a journey to the many Moons of Saturn seemed right around the corner. Project Orion, for example, was a space project that had planned for a nuclear bomb powered rocket to take men and supplies to the far away Saturn Moon of Orion. “It would have been enormously risky,” says Freeman Dyson (Folger), who was one of the astronauts which volunteered to go on the Project Orion rocket. Any person in the capsule would be subject to large amounts of radiation.