Space Race Research Paper

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Recommended: The impact of the space race

“We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.”- John F. Kennedy. The space race was a “battle” to determine whether the U.S.S.R. or the U.S.A. was the stronger nation as they frantically tried to reach the biggest feat before the other did. In 1962 John F. Kennedy made a speech about a journey to the moon. He claimed that NASA was capable of landing on the moon. America had lagged behind in each checkpoint during the race by weeks or even days.The first feat was in the favor of the Soviets when they launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1 and barely a month later, on november 3rd 1957 launched the first living being into space, a dog named Laika. America started off …show more content…

In 1958 NASA Tested many young gentlemen to try and carry on the mission of Orbiting the earth 3 times (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the Earth”). Even though the earth had already been orbited, it had not been circled as many times as NASA hoped to accomplish. NASA brought several young men in to test them (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the Earth”). The One that would be chosen had to fit seven different condition. They had to be a test pilot school graduate, in excellent shape, less than 40 years old, under 5’11, qualified jet pilot and at least 1,500 of logged hours in flight and a bachelor’s degree in engineering (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the Earth”). John Glenn fit all of them. Glenn was chosen out of a pool of 508. He also set the fastest transcontinental (all the way around the world) flight, flying from New York to L.A in 3 hours and 23 minutes, the only flight in that category to average a supersonic speed (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the Earth”). At first he was part of the crew for mercury 7 in april 1959 with a crew made up of Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. 3 years later NASA launched the Mercury-atlas 6 on february 20th 1962 (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the Earth”). Glenn launched and Orbited the earth three times in only 4 hours and 56 minutes. (Dunbar, Brian “Glenn Orbits the …show more content…

First off, the Research that was done has blasted us to the technology that we know today (“10 Tech Developments). Nasa, Not only researched and explored space, but also gave us many technological advances that affect many people today. One of the biggest ones for american veterans and physical disabled people is artificial limbs (“10 Tech Developments). At first NASA was using these mechanics for remote control space crafts. This later on had evolved into artificial limbs (“10 Tech Developments). They also produced a water purifier. In originality this was to help astronauts find a accessible water source (“10 Tech Developments). After work with other companies they had put purifiers in the International Space Station that could turn water as contaminated as urine and sweat to clean drinkable water. They also made one of the first adjustable smoke detectors. It seems obvious that if something goes wrong and the astronaut had no way to know that it would end in disaster. So NASA developed an “Adjustable” smoke detector meaning that it was adjustable to different sensitivities of smoke. The advantage for this was ignoring the fuel and other controlled variables. Not only did the Space Race help put an end to the Cold War, it also gave us enough research to put our efforts on rovers on mars (Northon, Karen. “Mars Helicopter). In the end even if the soviets were the first of many things. America achievements and

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