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Space race introduction
Space race introduction
Space race introduction
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As decades pass by, people and events continually fade in and out of the spotlight, but certain events will be forever etched into the fabric of history, the history of not only one country but also the entire world. The Space Race, a three decade long sprint for interplanetary supremacy between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, was a series of such events. From the late 1950’s until the early 1970’s, the two competing countries went head to head in order to assert their dominance. The discoveries and victories span a relatively short period of time but, stand as a benchmark of discovery that changed the way the world operates as a whole. The Space Race came during an era of extreme tension due to the continuous Cold War fighting. …show more content…
Hitler and his Nazi regime focused largely on the creation and the production of extensive rockets. Wenher von Braun, a knowledgable German scientist, was employed by the Nazi military to design and launch the V-2 rocket. These sophisticated rockets were sculpted in order to carry a large amount of explosives, and they were also capable of striking several Allied power bases, including the major city of London. As the war began to dwindle down, and it was clear that Nazi Germany wasn’t going to make a comeback, many of the German scientists, including von Braun, capitulated to the Allied powers. Knowing that these rocket scientists had a plethora of ballistic knowledge, coupled with the ability to retrieve old German V-2 rockets, led to the United States hiring von Braun and his team to begin working on a rocket program in the US. But, the United States wasn’t the only country that was able to acquire German scientists and residual parts. The Soviet Union was also able to use these advantages, spring boarding their own rocket program. With intelligent German technologists at their disposal, the United States and the USSR were both yearning for the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles. These missiles had the capability to strike almost anywhere on Earth, however, in order for these missiles to travel these great distances, they had to leave the atmosphere. The project groups from both the countries concentrated on generating a rocket with sufficient energy to break through the atmosphere, all while carrying a dense warhead. The United States and the Soviet Union, with the help of the German masterminds, produced an extensive rocket sector, with many of the scientists involved striving to use the newly discovered information to help build a spacecraft that could someday be place into
...o the Soviets inability to properly contain their civilians. The main reasons why the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics lost the Space Race the United States of America are because the USSR was communist. The civilians did not support or like living in a communist society, which made them flee to freedom and ran the cost of border control up to employ more guards. Also, the USSR alone controlled East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States ran West Berlin and West Germany with its allies France and Britain. Finally, the United States was tough competition for the Soviets. The sheer determination of the Americans to defeat the Soviets in the Space Race and restore order in Europe was greater than the Soviets expected. Even after failed attempts at reaching space, the Americans never gave up and beat the Russians to the moon, winning the Space Race.
As long as there is love, there will be hatred; as long as there is peace, there will be war, and as long as there is a positive side, there is a negative side. During the Second World War, the Nazis were very powerful. Due to the fear of the Nazis, Americans started a project called “The Manhattan Project" in order to build a very deadly weapon that could even blow cities apart. The allied powers were so concerned with Nazi domination, that they never considered the outcomes of creating an atomic bomb which are also positive and negative. The development of the atomic bomb boosted the level of understanding in terms of physics and chemistry of that particular time period.
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. In World War II many new weapons were created to kill more people with more efficiency. The most notable of these was the atomic bomb. As American troops closed in on Japan at the end of the war, they realized that taking the small island nation would be nearly impossible. The Japanese soldiers had shown their willingness to die for their country when kamikaze pilots flew into American ships. As a result, President Truman approved the use of the...
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
In 1941, The United States began an atomic bomb program called the “Manhattan Project.” The main objective of the “Manhattan Project” was to research and build an atomic bomb before Germany could create and use one against the allied forces during World War II. German scientists had started a similar research program four years before the United States began so the scientists of the “Manhattan Project” felt a sense of urgency throughout their work (Wood “Men … Project”).
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.
The development of the V weapons were extremely important to the Nazi regime. In 1941 the United States entered the war; the Germans felt right away that they were outmatched in the weapons category. The Nazi’s could not produce enough weapons, and the weapons they did produce were not extremely powerful. This is when the Nazi leader and Germany’s chancellor Adolph Hitler decided that the only way to compete and beat the Allies was to make new and innovative weapons. Now the “Vergeltungswaffen” or “weapons of revenge” were now made a priority by the Nazi’s. The weapons of revenge were named the V-1 and V-2. Germany’s Air Force started to develop the V-1 “flying bomb”, while the Army took to the V-2 rocket bomb (Sheehan). To make these advanced weapons work a lot of testing would be needed. The earltesting took place at Kummersdorf, which is about 27...
This blow to national pride along with the fear that the Soviets could potentially launch ICBMs from space led to “Rocket fever”. The sudden wave of nationalism and the desire to build a space program worthier to that of the Soviet Union led to the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under President Eisenhower, the investment of billions of dollars in missile development, and the expansion of the National Academy of Science’s charter.... ... middle of paper ... ...
The moment astronauts set foot on Earth’s Moon, in July of 1969, the legacy of the United States’ space program changed forever. Countless Americans watched the launch and landing of Apollo 13 on their televisions with pride on that day, proud of their country for achieving such an insane goal as walking on the Moon. While NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, struggled through obstacle after obstacle, invented new technologies and advanced old ones, placed the first man on the Moon, because the Soviet Union threatened to beat the U.S. to the space frontier, the nation greatly congratulated the feat that began the technological era. After forty-five years, however, the awe Americans held over NASA’s programs dwindled considerably. Although NASA no longer holds the nation in awe over their moon mission achievements, NASA programs remain vital to the United States because they advance everyday technologies, inspire creative visions, and discover greater knowledge for the entire public to benefit from.
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.
“Early in 1939, The worlds scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting the uranium atom and word spread quickly and several countries began to duplicate the experiment.” Albert Einstein warned President Roosevelt that Germany may have already built an atomic bomb. Roosevelt did not see an urgency for such a project, but agreed to proceed slowly. In 1941, British scientists pushed America to develop an atomic weapon. America’s effort was slow until 1942 when Colonel Leslie Groves took over. He quickly chose personnel, production sites and set schedules to invent the atomic
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.
Space travel was born from the flames of war – or in this case, the refrigerators of war. The Soviet Union and the United States were ready to show up each other in the fields of science and engineering, and with the recent advent of rocketry, it was evident that space was the next goal. Russia held the first few victories: including the first man-made satellite and the first man in space. Following these defeats, America picked itself up, and defeated the Russians on the race to the moon.
The space race was the product of the Cold War. It was an effort to prove technological superiority but on the other hand, it was also feared on both sides that weapons of mass destruction will be placed in orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union sent the 184 pound Sputnik 1 satellite into Earth’s orbit. It was the first artificial satellite and the first manmade object to be placed into Earth’s orbit. Following that, they also sent the first animal into space, Laika the dog. In 1958, the United Sates also launched their first satellite into orbit, dubbed Explorer 1. The Soviet space program advanced once again in 1959. The Soviet Union launched Luna 2, which was the first space probe to hit the moon. In April 1961, the Soviet Union had the ultimate success, sending the first human into space. The name of the Russian cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin, who made a 108 minute suborbital flight in a Vostok 1 spacecraft. One month after that, Alan Shepard became the American in space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Continuing from there, each nation step...
The history behind the quick development of the space program has always been a little bit hazy and is unbeknownst to most...