The Space Race

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The Space Race; a period in time, more than a two decades of space exploration. Its competitors, USA vs USSR. Its length consisting of no more than 12 years yet giving increased knowledge of flight and the sky and space above it. It consisted of more than thirty overall successful launches and through each abysmal failure brought new success. The launches increased the overall knowledge of space and brought new ideas and questions into peoples minds. Sci-Fi sprung up from the ideas that the events brought. It gave humans new ideas, new thoughts. The purpose of this paper is to increase the remembrance of that period of space exploration. My paper will consist of some amount of sections; each explaining certain event(s). The first section will contain information on many of the first satellites and missions. The second section will be the longest explaining the most about current events and the effects of the space race on the average man. The final section will contain a summary of many of the gains and losses of the space exploration period. The beginning of the space race was on October 4th 1957. This date marked the launch of Sputnik 1 the first man made satellite to reach full earth orbit. This success was the work of the USSR (United Soviet Socialist Republic). This event sparked up interest in space in the US and Russia creating a competition to gain dominance in space. Sputnik 1 was a non-military rocket that had four long antenna for broadcasting radio pulses. Its main body was a ball 53cm in diameter. It was visible all over the world and its radio pulses could be easily detected. Some American rumors were that a tiny man was inside. This event scared and inspired he Americans to the point of enteri... ... middle of paper ... ... Erika Lishock. The First Space Race: Launching the World's First Satellites. College Station: Texas A&M UP, 2004. Print. "Library of Congress Home | Library of Congress." Library of Congress Home | Library of Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. . "The Space Race Begins." The Space Race Begins. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. . "Space Race." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 19 Apr. 2014. Web. 20 Apr. 2014. . "TheSpaceRace.com - Timeline of Space Exploration." TheSpaceRace.com - Timeline of Space Exploration. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. . "USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal." USA.gov: The U.S. Government's Official Web Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Apr. 2014. .

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