How Did Sputnik Develop Soviet-American Relations

The Cold War (1947-1991) was the period where geopolitical tensions were at an all-time high between the leading powers of the Western bloc (United States) and the Eastern bloc (Soviet Russia). Instead of direct conflict the two powers exchanged blows through “hot wars” such as those in Vietnam and Korea. These “hot wars” extended even to beyond the Earth’s stratosphere. Besides guns and brute force, the Soviets and Americans also battled for technological superiority over each other, hence the “space race”. The space race was kick-started by the launch of the Russian satellite Sputnik in the late 1950s. The launch of Sputnik irrevocably changed Soviet-American relations by starting the space race and intensifying American suspicions

Although the American public became more aggressive towards the Russians, the same was not true in American political relations with the Russians. President Eisenhower sought to begin cooperative space initiatives with the Soviets and President Kennedy, President Eisenhower’s successor, wanted the two countries to “explore the stars together.”5. However, cooperation in the development of space between the two super powers was not an easy task. Then premier, Nikita Khrushchev, rebuffed both presidents’ attempts at uniting the two world powers in outer space. Khrushchev, convinced of Russian superiority, refused to work with those he perceived as below Russia in terms of space technology. But later during Khrushchev’s term, the Russians and Americans did eventually work together on a collaborative space program. In the 1970s, the US and USSR jointly carried out the Apollo-Soyuz test project, and US astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts rendezvoused in Earth’s orbit. The astronauts from both countries continued to work together in the Shuttle Mir program and International Space Station which eased the tension between the two countries. Evidently, the space race contributed to the improvement rather than the further breakdown of the relations between Russia and

The launch of Sputnik initially escalated tensions between Russia and America to hostile levels due to American fear and suspicion towards the USSR. Though the initial shock brought turmoil to America and the Soviet-American relations, the launch also brought positive outcomes. First, the launch of Sputnik initiated a series of programs like NDEA which leads the investment in education, especially in scientific research to foster new generations of engineers. Sputnik also paved the way for the creation of such eminent space programs like NASA and DARPA, which in turn created great advances in space technology of the twentieth century. Second, the competitive drive between the two powers in the space race eventually led to a man on the moon and many other fantastic achievements in space science. Without Sputnik, we possibly would not have the many satellites that orbit Earth today, which provides many amenities that we take for granted. Third, although Sputnik pulled the two countries farther apart politically at first, in the end, Sputnik brought the two countries closer together rather than further apart on the technological side through cooperation in space development. All this thanks to a little Russian