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Launch Of Sputnik Essay

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During World War II (WWII) the United States (U.S.) and Russia fought as allies against the Nazis. Following WWII, the relationship between the two countries quickly began to deteriorate. Around 1947 the WWII era ended and a Cold War involving the U.S. and Soviet Russia began. The Marshall Plan was implemented following Soviet aggression in Europe in order to provide aid and relief to an already war-torn nation. The Soviet response to the Marshall Plan became known as the Zhdanov Doctrine. This doctrine supposed that American imperialists were trying to conquer the world and end the spread of democracy. It also claimed the Soviet Union’s goals were to eliminate imperialism and support democracy. It was no secret that the Soviet Union was, in fact, attempting to claim all of Europe for mother Russia. Thus sparked a Cold War that would last for decades. One of the biggest events of the Cold War was the launch of Sputnik. On October 4th, 1957, Russia launched Sputnik into outer space. The satellite became the first object to orbit the Earth. Russian success in putting a vehicle into orbit sparked massive military, political, and technological implications. Most of these implications were due to the fact that Russia was …show more content…

government actions during the beginning of the space race was the establishment of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). A few short months after Sputnik the U.S. attempted to launch its own Vanguard satellite. The rocket lifted off the pad at Cape Canaveral, FL and blew up shortly after. It was clear that the U.S. needed a more organized approach to winning the race against Russia. Therefore, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act in 1958, which established NASA as America’s leading entity in in space utilization. To this day, NASA is the world’s leading organization in space exploration, research and development, and space

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When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik , the world's first artificial satellite, on October 4, 1957, many Americans believed that this Cold War event signaled dangerous weaknesses in American science, the failure of American schools and complacency in American political leadership. Most disturbing was the fear that the Soviet Union had grabbed a decisive lead in the development of long-range missiles. Robert Divine analyzes the space race in the early 1950’s with Russia and how it affected the American space race program as a whole. Sputnik had a long-lasting effect on American life, spurring a national debate over the state of education, science, space exploration and security that lasted well into the 1960s. The principal focus of this clear-sighted

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The race continued until 1969 when Niel Armstrong set foot on the moon (Seedhouse 128). The first satellite the Soviet Union launched into orbit was called Sputnik and it came as an unpleasant surprise to many Americans (“The Space Race”). Historians argue that the Soviet Union won the space race on October 4 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, but most agree it was just the start to the race (Seedhouse 128). After the launch of Sputnik the United States launched their own satellite in 1958 called explorer 1 which was designed by the United States army. The race began to heat up and the Soviet Union launched Luna 2 which became the first space probe to hit the moon (“The Space Race”).

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In 1967 when USSR launched the satellite Sputnik into orbit the only satellite we had seen from earth was the moon. This single event change our thoughts of space and travel forever and suddenly the space race was on to see who could achieve space travel first and secure our National Security. The USSR was the first to send a man into space but with the promise of a young president we were the first to land on the moon. For the next few decades these two power nations would not only change space technology and our understanding of the universe but it would change the lives of everyone on the planet. The Apollo Missions changed everyday technology that would cause a dramatic shift in electronics and computer technology.

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