HIS 106
Short Term Effects Life in the United States was very different once the space race was underway, and especially after the Soviet Union was able to launch the first space craft, Sputnik 1, into space. After the launching of Sputnik 1, Americans were struck with fear knowing that an enemy satellite was flying right over their heads and that we were behind the Soviet Union in the space race. As a counter to the launching of Sputnik 1, the CIA, white house, and Air Force all teamed up and created a surveillance satellite that would be able to monitor where every Soviet Union missile was being held. America was intimidated by the Soviet Union’s initial success in the space race, and although leaders of America never admitted to in,
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The answer soon came from scientists and engineers when they told Congress that the United States’ math and science programs had fallen behind and students were not learning the information that they needed to. This lead Congress to pass the National Defense Education Act in 1958 which provided college scholarships for rising scientists, engineers, and mathematicians. Teachers in high schools had to reevaluate the way they were teaching physics, biology, and chemistry in order to help students catch up with the rest of the world’s education systems. These advances of education in America would help the United States win the space race and land the first man on the moon. With all of the new technology and inventions coming out, film makers did not hesitate to take advantage of the new material. Several movies and television shows were released, including the movie “Plan 9 from Outer Space” and the popular television show “The Jetsons.” The space race also had an impact on artwork, as artwork started to shift towards very clean and futuristic pictures. Architecture was even touched by the space race as buildings started to be built with wing-like roofs, domes, and satellite shapes to mimic space
These rivalries would become clear when two countries competed in the space race, a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union concerning achievements in the field of space exploration. The Soviet’s took the early lead as they put the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik 1 established a sense of fear in the American public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s. This opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations. After World War II, the Cold War created tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States leading to extreme national pride and competition, culminating in the space race which began with the launch of Sputnik 1.
Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union made it a priority to outdo each other in every possible facet from arsenals of missiles to international alliances and spheres of influences. Yet when the Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4th, 1957, the world changed forever. The first manmade object was fired into space, and it appeared that American technology and science had fallen behind. Yet, the public feared that not only were they now technologically inferior to the Soviets, but also deduced that if a satellite could be launched into space, a nuclear missile could just as likely reach the mainland United States. Less than a month later, the Soviets pushed the bounds of technology yet again by
When the Soviet Union launched “Sputnik” in 1957 that put America on a speed track to have science, mathematics, and foreign language programs governmentally assistance within schools. It was a “space race,” but also a reflection of fear. Fear that America could not remain a world leader; therefore, our population was on high alert for education and technology. The National Defense Education Act was passed, this allowed different level of assistance form the content areas taught in public schools, to loan given to students in field of a particular study.
The cold war by the late 1950s had weaved into the everyday life of society for both countries. The announcement from the US that they will launch a satellite into orbit was challenged by the Soviets. On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. This was the world’s first artificial satellite and man-made object to be in earths orbit. The launch was unexpected to the US, having caught them off guard. As a result Sputnik began to raise fears amongst the public, fearing the possible event of a nuclear attack, due to previous cold war
The United Space endured a long, competitive, tumultuous, and primed-to-explode relationship with the Soviet Union since its inception. The Space Race was perhaps the greatest spectacle of scientific engineering in the first 5.755 millennia. The U.S. had to reclaim its superior status after the Soviets launched Sputnick I into orbit on October, 4, 1957, and launched Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961 as the first human in space. Kennedy knew that the American people wanted a victory in the space race, and realized that, being so far away, the United Space could achieve it. Then, on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy gave the “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”. This address is best known by this paragraph:
The Cold War presented the United States with a unique decision. The Soviet Union had created a space program and the United States needed to decide if a space program would be beneficial for them. The Soviets sent probes out to space, and soon American probes followed. There are many reasons that the U.S. could have made this decision, but two reasons are more prominent that the others. Firstly the United States found it necessary to compete with the Soviets, and they could not accept the fact that the U.S.S.R had something that they didn’t. Secondly, JFK and his administration thought that space was the final frontier, and it would provide valuable scientific research. Ultimately, John F Kennedy and the United States decided to create a space
American nationalism during the Space Race fueled support for NASA, resulting in great technological and scientific advancements during the Cold War. The hyper-competitive atmosphere surrounding the Cold War heightened already existing rivalry between the United States’ and the Soviet Union’s science programs. As the two superpowers struggled for technological dominance, the American people were swept into a frenzy of nationalism. The Science News-Letter pointed out that the Space Race was driven by, “nothing more or less than the ego-driven pressures of competition.” The idea of the Soviet Union both having a superior space program as well as having the capacity to attack the United States with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) brought the U.S. space program off the ground.
On October 4, 1957 Russia launched a rocket named Sputnik ( faculty etsu, 2001). The United States (U.S) was caught off guard. Sputnik had the ability to orbit the Earth in just 96 minutes and transmit a frequency easily heard with an amateur radio (Figure 1). If the Russian could launch a satellite under our noses without our knowledge and have the ability to send a signal into our homes in 1957 it was clear that the U.S. was unprepared and had under estimated the ability of their adversaries. We clearly needed a new way of doing business, a new way of defending our country and our families. President Dwight D. Eisenhower had now received a wakeup call, it was time to act. Our enemy could now be thousands of miles away, and still able to get into our homes. The enemy could get to our families without even stepping foot into our homes. The world as we knew it would never be the same.
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
In 1981, the world was introduced to a new mode of space transportation. The first ever space shuttle, Colombia, made a successful test landing. From this point on, space ships could be reused, increasing the number of missions possible while decreasing the cost of each mission (1). This new innovation invigorated America's enthusiasm for the space program. After the space race was over, there was very little people outside of the program desired to see. NASA became the whipping boy of politicians that were looking for tax cuts. There were few goals in the space program in the next decade and fewer were fulfilled. The entire nation seemed to be in a technological and overall feeling of malaise.
When one thinks about the space race one’s mind automatically envisions connotations of the cold war; the Soviet Union battling against the USA for technological supremacy in spaceflight capabilities. This was not only a strategic race for national defence reasons but was also seen to be a pivotal stand point of national superiority. This is also the main basis of the majority of space law still in force today. But the reality is there is a space race occurring right now in the present day, not for national supremacy but instead for commercial supremacy no longer is there a search for strategic advantage it is now a race for profit gain.
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.
Hugh L. Dryden, Deputy Administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in 1963, "... the leadership finally decided to make the education system focused on STEM topics for the new generations of Americans who were now taken in by the space race. In a few short years, the race had impacted major advances in our knowledge of the universe and the system that we live in. Its results are seen in every aspect of our modern life such as electronics and communications, in new materials, in
In society today, many people don’t truly recognize that space exploration has benefited us in the way we are here and how it will continue to do so. Space exploration is the investigation of space by using satellites, rockets or the help of life. Many people find that space exploration is useless or absurd because it doesn’t assist us, but this is incorrect. The beginning was in 1957, when the first satellite was launched into space by the Soviet Union to get some idea of the altitude at which they can build missiles to. What the Soviet Union didn’t know was how important that moment in history was and how an amazing impact it was in our future.
Introduction I. Attention Getter: The International Space Station is the most complex machine ever built by man. Comprising over 1 billion parts, this modern marvel orbits Mother Earth at a speed of over 4 miles every second. II. Relating to the Audience: I believe that the Space Shuttle program has fascinated most, if not all, of you at some point of time, so much so that it has driven some of us to pursue Aerospace Engineering.