The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US), for supremacy in spaceflight capability. It originated from the missile-based nuclear arms race between the two nations that occurred following World War II. The technological superiority was seen as symbolic of ideological superiority. The Space Race spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, unmanned space probes to the Moon, Venus, and Mars, and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon.
With a single shot, the Soviet Union vaulted ahead in the Space Race. The country sent Sputnik, the world 's first artificial satellite, into space on Oct. 4, 1957. The small satellite brought the Soviet Union into the technological spotlight. While the Sputnik launch was a single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world 's attention and the American public off-guard. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this
Kennedy made a public statement that the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. By the end of 1962, the foundations of the lunar program in NASA, also know as Project Apollo, were in place. From 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. Apollo suffered a setback in January 1967, when three astronauts were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch simulation. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s lunar landing program proceeded slowly, partly due to internal debate over its necessity and to the death in January 1966 of Sergey Korolyov, chief engineer of the Soviet space
The Space Race was a 20th century competition between the soviet union And the United States for supremacy in spaceflight ability. The launch date for apollo 13 was originally in March of 1970 but later the launch date switched to april. During one of the countdown demonstrations the Kennedy Space Center encountered problems with the oxygen tanks in the service module. When the apollo 13 mission took off their main goal was to land in the Fra Mauro area on the moon. An explosion in one of the oxygen tanks crippled the spacecraft during the flight and the crew were forced to orbit the moon and return to earth without landing. The Apollo 13 mission was launched on April 11th in the year 1970. For the first few days of the flight the crew ran into a couple minor accidents, but Apollo 13 was looking like the smoothest flight of the program. They aborted the mission after 56 hours of flight due to an explosion in the oxygen tanks. “At 5 ½ minutes after liftoff John Swigert, Fred Haise and James Lovell felt a little vibration then the center engine of the S-II stage shut down two minutes early. This caused the remaining 4 engines to burn 34 seconds longer than planned, and the S-IVB third stage had to burn nine seconds longer to put Apollo 13 in orbit.” (nasa.gov) At 55 hours and 46 minutes the crew was finishing a live tv broadcast showing how well they were doing and how they comfortably lived.
These rivalries would become clear when two countries competed in the space race, a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union concerning achievements in the field of space exploration. The Soviet’s took the early lead as they put the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik 1 established a sense of fear in the American public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s. This opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations. 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.
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
The “Fairness of Taxation or Wealth Tax” is where taxes are calculated by the net worth of the person or the couple (household). This would be hard for tax collectors to determine each and every component of net worth of a person.
The cold war by the late 1950s had weaved into the everyday life of society for both countries. The announcement from the US that they will launch a satellite into orbit was challenged by the Soviets. On October 4th 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik I. This was the world’s first artificial satellite and man-made object to be in earths orbit. The launch was unexpected to the US, having caught them off guard. As a result Sputnik began to raise fears amongst the public, fearing the possible event of a nuclear attack, due to previous cold war
The United Space endured a long, competitive, tumultuous, and primed-to-explode relationship with the Soviet Union since its inception. The Space Race was perhaps the greatest spectacle of scientific engineering in the first 5.755 millennia. The U.S. had to reclaim its superior status after the Soviets launched Sputnick I into orbit on October, 4, 1957, and launched Yuri Gagarin into space on April 12, 1961 as the first human in space. Kennedy knew that the American people wanted a victory in the space race, and realized that, being so far away, the United Space could achieve it. Then, on September 12, 1962, President Kennedy gave the “Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort”. This address is best known by this paragraph:
The Space Race is remarkably similar to that of the arms race because of the parallel between the creation of the atomic bomb and the goal of reaching the moon. The United States’ bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki effectively established its place as the technologically superior nation; however, major milestones in space achieved early by the Soviets damaged America’s reputation. In 1957, Soviet scientists shocked the world by successfully launching the Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite, beyond the Kármán Line (the boundary of space). This amazing breakthrough “rattled American self-confidence”. It cast doubts on America’s vaunted scientific superiority and raised some sobering military questions.”
The Soviets took a lead by launching the first successful satellite into space. On October 4, 1957 the Soviets launched the first successful satellite into orbit. It was called Sputnik I and it successfully entered Earth’s orbit. This first success started the Space Age. The Soviets successful launch shocked the whole world, giving the Soviet Union the respect for putting the first man-made object into outer space. The Americans successfully launched their first satellite four months after Sputnik I, called the Explorer I. The US would have had the first satellite in orbit if they were allowed to use military rockets from the beginning. But, Eisenhower was worried he would be called a warmonger if he used military rockets for launching a satellite into orbit. He told the sci...
On May 25, 1961, just two weeks after the US had successfully got an American into space, John F. Kennedy gave a speech addressing it and exclaimed, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish..." (Kruse). The Space Race became an important event for all of humanity during the 20th century because it improved our knowledge of space, improved and inspired new technology, and improved our education. It sparked a mix of both friendly and non friendly competition between the Capitalist United States and the Communist Russia (USSR) from the launch of Sputnik in 1957, all the way to the Apollo-Soyuz project that ended the race in 1975 .
Early on in the race, the USSR was very successful. In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, which triggered the start of the space race (John F. Kennedy). The United States began to scramble, trying to catch up with the Soviets. However, soon after, the Soviet Union completed another huge success. They sent the first man to orbit Earth (John F. Kennedy). In 1961 the USSR’s Yuri Gagarin became the first human to ever orbit the Earth (John F. Kennedy). The United States was still unsuccessful and beginning to look weak. After that, America got serious. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy asked Congress for around eight billion dollars to build up the space program over the next five years (John F. Kennedy). The president declared, “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth” (John F. Kennedy).
Jorden, William J. "Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space?" New York Times, October 5, 1957. [URL] Accessed May 22, 2003.
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...
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 purposes.
The Sputnik 1 was the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. It was an aluminum sphere, 58 cm (23 in) in diameter, weighing 83 kg (184 lb). Its orbited around the earth lasted 96.2 minutes. At the end of 57 days the satellite returned to earth's atmosphere and was destroyed by aerodynamic frictional heat.