The Space Race

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. Though the space race was a huge competition, politicians deemed it a draw once they have finally have built the International Space Station (ISS). The space dominance have actually helped the U.S. since it was able to show areas on the Earth and provide a military step up in imagery and GPS. The space race has made America the nation it is today.

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite and caught America and the whole world off guard. This was the Soviet's first push in the historical "Space Race." There was great fear surrounding this launch; a certain question was on everyone's minds, could the Soviets send Nuclear weapons with ballistic missiles from Europe to the U.S.? Even before the U.S. could respond the Soviets launched Sputnik II carrying an increased payload and the first dog in space named Laika, it seemed the U.S. space program would never catch up. 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.

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.

Landing on the moon was a great leap for mankind and technology as a whole. The Space Race was the major cause of the moon landing itself, but provided the United States with more victories than ever imaginable. They took the victory of Cold War, making thousands of inventions, and introducing new space shuttles and models. As Neil Armstrong once said "That's one small step for a man, a giant leap for mankind."

Shortly after Sputnik II, the United States launched Explorer I, which led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt (Timeline of Space Exploration). This was much better than the first attempt to launch a satellite of their own, which went "kaputnik". The Soviets late... ... middle of paper ... ...ing, Neil Armstrong called out (That's one small step for man; one giant leap for mankind." The funny thing is, he flubbed his line as he was actually supposed to say "That's one small step for a man; one giant leap for mankind." The article "a" makes a big difference, and with over half a billion people watching his "moonwalk", he messed up on a big stage.

The US and Russia raced to claim the title “First Country to Enter Space.” Russia won that race on April 12, 1961 when Yuri Gagarin entered space and orbited Earth. The US now needed a goal that would "better" the Russian success, and President Kennedy provided one -- the first man on the moon! Kennedy’s goal of space exploration included landing a man on the moon and safely returning him to Earth. He hoped that achieving this goal would bring the US out of the “status hole” it was in. The US sent the first American, Alan Shepard, into space on May 5, 1961.

And thus, the birth of the National Aeronautic Space Association (NASA). NASA was created during the Cold War as the United States competed with the Soviet Union to discover a world beyond our knowledge. NASA was an association created to ‘one-up’ the Soviet Union during the 1960’s. While the Cold War was consuming the public’s attention, scientists searched for a more effective way to use the atomic bomb. It was soon discovered that launching a rocket from space could easily reach any nation on earth and so begun the “Space Race”.

He was born in 1912 and has always been the person to beat in his scientific efforts and strategies since he was a teen. Braun joined the Society for space travel which took him leaps and bounds above everyone in the knowledge of liquid fueled rockets and to... ... middle of paper ... ...the state of the world and a compulsion to do something about it.” So Branson thought, “why not me? Why can’t I be the first person to send people to space?” So he thought up a plan that regular everyday people for twenty-two million dollars we could finally explore what it’s like to view earth from space without years of college to be an astronaut. The rocket that is sending people up to space is called the AXE that is specialized for humans to have a nice long relaxing trip to space and they are hoping to build many more other rockets like this and hopefully one day lower the price so you don’t have to be a millionaire. There were twenty-two lucky people who some famous and other not so famous who got sent on this rockets first flight to space.

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.

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.