The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space. From 1955 until 1975, both sides battled it out to be the leader in the competition. Fueled by the Cold War and other causes of the beginning of the race, the Soviet Union and the United States fought for authority in a very public manner through the media. There were many achievements at this time and it led the way for many great things to come afterwards.
The origins of the Space Race can be found in Germany in the 1930s. During World War II, Nazi Germany was researching and building operational ballistic missiles and experimenting with liquid-fueled rockets. As early as 1942 and 1943, the rocket Aggregate-4 became the first vehicle to reach outer space and Germany began mass producing it as a ballistic missile. They called it Vergeltungswaff 2 which translates to Vengeance Weapon 2. It travelled at four thousand kilometers per hour and, because radar detection provided little warning, there was no defense against it. After the war, the Soviet Union and the United States used the V-2 as the basis of their rocket designs. As World War II was ending, the United States, Britain, and the Soviet Union all competed for Germany’s engineers and rockets. While all three Allies gained from this, the United States gained the most with Operation Paperclip. During this operation, the United States recruited Werner von Braun, the technical director of Nazi Germany’s missile program, as the lead rocket engineer as well as a large number of the V-2 rockets. The Soviets secured Sergei Korolev, a member of space clubs and early Soviet rocket design in the 1930s before he was arrested and imprisoned for six years, as their chief rocket and s...
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The feud between the United States of America (USA) and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) lasted from the end of World War II until the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The fuel that powered their feud was the desire to be the greater superpower. After World War II ended, the USSR gained control of Eastern Germany. On the night of August 13, 1961, a wall was constructed that divided the already separate East and West Berlin. This wall would become what was known around the world as the Berlin Wall. It stood as a barrier to freedom from the East Berliners. The Berlin Wall in Germany caused the USSR to lose the Space Race to the United States in 1969 because the USSR was communist, they alone had control of East Germany, and the United States was tough competition. With the Berlin Wall making tensions high in Germany during the 1960s, the USSR had a lot more business to take care of than they had thought.
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.
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...unar surface Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder and with humanity's first step on the moon he said famously "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" (Neil Armstrong 1969). Whilst America was doing well the Soviets had quite a few problems, including the death of their lead rocket scientist, and several failed launches. This is what allowed America to pull ahead and finish far ahead.
The word race is defined at its core as a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, boats, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course. Well, interestingly enough, a race of a different kind occurred between two countries from the years 1957 to 1969. The competition was unclear, and the opponents were on two entirely different continents, not something as simplistic as two horses. The United States and the United Soviet States of Russia both set out as arch rivals in the “Space Race,” a quest for dominance beyond the known Planet Earth. Ironically enough, just as communism was spreading to all parts of the world, the United States always sought to squash this form of government, despite somewhat dire consequences. Now, with
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.
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 race for space began with Russia’s launch of Sputnik, the world’s first space satellite, on October 4, 1957. This launch caught the attention of the United States for multiple reasons; not only did this mean that Russia had surpassed the US in space technology, but it also signified that Russia had the capability of launching nuclear weapons at the
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.
During the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union were in a race to who would reach space first. While the United States is often thought of as the best in many ways, the Soviet Union was able to get to space first with Sputnik. This was scary for the United States because the Soviet Union was able to send people and missiles into the air and the United States could not do that same. There was an urgency for the United States space program.
Kennedy Space Center Story. 1991. The. 15 February 2010 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/history/story/kscstory.html>. The "Reading Eagle" JFK Cites Red Threat: Declares Russia Will Lead Space Race for Some Time 13 April 1961: 1. The life of Konstantin Eduardovitch Tsiolkovsky.
In 1957 the Soviets used a missile to launch a satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit around the earth. The arms race then became a space race as the United States rushed to launch its own satellites, some for military
The first man to travel to space was Yuri Gagarin. History was made on April 12, 1961, when he successfully orbited the earth in the Votsok 1. His flight lasted one hour and 48 minutes and as he circled the earth, his speed was about 17,000 mph on the Votsok 1. Following this mission, Gagarin was killed in a test airplane crash .