The Space Race had an enormous impact on the way people viewed the world and changed the way the United States approached education. Science and math began to be encouraged in schools, NASA was founded and saw a massive increase in funding within nine years, and scientific achievements were more common than ever before. The Race took place between 1957 and 1975, and the world saw a large amount of technological and scientific advancements during this time.
Ten years after The Cold War had started, the Soviet Union decides to launch their first satellite called Sputnik into space. In fear of the Soviets taking control of space, the United States scrambles to put a rocket of their own into space. The United States launch their rocket, but
…show more content…
NASA was founded in the year 1958, just a year after the Space Race officially started. NASA was created by the NACA and other groups because the United States government realized that an Association was needed that was dedicated to air and space exploration. The Space Race led to the creation of NASA, which allows the power of competition between two countries to be seen by the world. Before the Space Race, the government invested the United States budget on products and technology that kept the country alive and strong. But after the Space Race had begun, the United States realized that their money could be better spent on other projects. Today, NASA has a budget of .47% of the United States total GDP. During the Space Race, NASA reached an all-time high with a 4.41% of the United States total GDP in 1966. The difference in funding from during the Space Race and today is 3.93%. This difference means NASA had a 28.8 billion dollars more per year in government funding during the Space Race, then NASA currently has. The influence the Space Race had on federal spending is incredibly visible when NASA’s current budget is compared to the budget in 1966. The Space Race led to the founding of NASA, which was crucial because NASA led the United States to places where humans could only dream to go. In addition to the founding of NASA, the United States government made the choice to invest billions of dollars in the association because space was too important to for the country to