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Impact Of Sputnik On The Space Race

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Sputnik began the Space Race. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the earth's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. The US was disappointed to see the Soviet Union be the first to accomplish this scientific advancement. "The United States prided itself on being at the forefront of technology, and, embarrassed, immediately began developing a response, signaling the start of the U.S.-Soviet space race." In response to Sputnik, the US was inspired and motivated to develop new technology to advance and reveal their space equipment. On 1958, the U.S. Congress passes legislation establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a civilian agency responsible for coordinating America’s activities in space. "NASA was
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, Americans thought that they were superior to the Soviets. • Began the Space race in America against the Soviet Union to close the “space gap” • Although President Dwight Eisenhower had tried to downplay the importance of the Sputnik launch to the American

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The USSR got a head start, capturing more materials from Germany than the United States. They immediately launched into action, building spacecraft and learning in the process. In turn, they were the first to send a man-made object into space. This Russian satellite was named Sputnik 1. After the United States got word of the Russian success, many Americans criticized the U.S. government for losing focus on their Space Program as well as military and education.

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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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Assess the impact of the Space Race between the USA and USSR on technology, science, politics, and society since the 1960s. The Space Race achieved engineering milestones and led to significant scientific discoveries. Although the U.S. made history by landing astronauts on the Moon during the 1960s space race, the Soviet Union initially outpaced with technological accomplishments. The USSR (Union of Soviet Socialist Republics) dedicated resources to match the U.S.’s advancements in technology. The Space Race led to advancements, for both superpowers, but mainly bolstered the U.S.A.'s reputation with both hard and soft power, as it showed that capitalism was also innovative and strengthened national security efforts through strategic displays

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The Space Race began in 1957 and it was a race to who went farther with a space breakthrough. For example, launching satellites, sending humans into space, and landing on the moon. Both wanted to show dominance and superiority. The Soviet Union led the race on October 4th, 1957 when they launched the first satellite. It weighed 184 pounds, it would orbit earth every 96 minutes and it transmitted radio signals for 21 days.

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Sparks erupted in the midst of the Cold War when the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite in 1957 called Sputnik. This created hysteria and anger in the people demanding that America do something to catch up with the Soviets, leading to an increased focus on math and science in American schools and the creation of NASA. But it didn’t stop there, America shot back with an ingenious plan of rocketing their own man-made satellite, Explorer 1, into space to orbit the Earth. Sputnik was America’s “push” into the future to shape it into a new place.

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The Space Race between the Soviets and the Americans was put into the public eye on October 4, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into orbit. Sputnik was not only the first vehicle launched into space by mankind, but it was also the first vehicle ever put into orbit. The construction of the small satellite and development of the launch program was led by Sergei Korolev, the driving force of the Soviet space program. Since he was crucial to the development of their program, his identity was kept completely secret, even to those working on the project with him. He was known only as the Chief Designer.

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This was not only a concern to the United States but also to all the other countries in the world because it was thought that it would be used for military purposes for Russia's plan for world domination. Shortly after Russia launched Sputnik 2, with the first living passenger to ever make it into space, the dog Laika. These events persuaded President John F Kennedy in 1958 to push on congress to fund the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Shortly after that the first project for NASA was completed. In 1958 NASA came out with a project called Mercury, it was to research if space travel by humans would even be possible and safe.

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Lastly, after this event, NASA looked even further beyond in outer space, and space technology began advancing to make these ambitions become a

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The sending of men to the moon with a safe return to Earth showed the world that America was a notable contender in the Space Race. According to Khan Academy, “The “space race” was a Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop aerospace capabilities, including artificial satellites, unmanned space probes, and human spaceflight.” The United States government formed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, in 1958 to be the primary research agency to experiment with and analyze space and the exploration of it. Although the Soviet Union had some early on successes in the Space Race, the Americans did not give up. In May of 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American pilot in space.

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to be more focused on education. The school system was quickly altered to include more science-based classes for students. The space race also fueled the formation of NASA, which still exists to this day. NASA changed and continues to change space exploration in the U.S. The U.S. also formed the National Reconnaissance Office, which used orbiting satellites to gather information on the Soviet Union.

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NASA was introduced and given purpose by the simple pre-amble stating, “[NASA is] an act for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth’s atmosphere, and for other purposes,” (Garber and Launius). Another reason for the creation of NASA was so that the US could contribute to the International Geophysical Year by launching and orbiting a satellite, as approved by President Eisenhower (The Editors of Kennedy Space Center). This satellite that Eisenhower approved was called Project Vanguard and used a simple non-military rocket to get into space (which was a conscious decision considering that the Cold War was raging at this point in time). Though this was a great step for NASA, the hype from this launch didn’t last long simply because the Soviets took the next step, and it was a big one. On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite (more technologically advanced) of the

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Space Exploration “Space, the final frontier” (Roddenberry). The date was October 4th, 1957; the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space, Sputnik I. Sputnik I’s launch ignited a great competition between the Soviet Union and the United States called the Space Race. As the Cold War was in full force, both the United States and the Soviet Union were trying to prove who had greater technology. The Soviets decided to prove they were stronger and more advanced by launching a man-made satellite into space, something that had never been done before.

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An Act to provide for research into the problems of flight within and outside the Earth's atmosphere, and for other purposes. "- Congress and the President of the United States. The official start of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, otherwise known as NASA, was October 1, 1958, as stated in “NASA History in Brief” on www.nasa.gov.

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The pressure for the United States to be better than the Soviet Union caused the education in the United States to be more focused towards math and science. Maddin says, “Sputnik woke the nation up, serving as a “focusing event” that put a spotlight on a national problem. In this case, he said, the problem was education.” The sputnik launched in 1957 and was the first artificial earth satellite. Marsha Thompson even says, “I believe because of sputnik we came as a country to realize that science, scientist, and engineers would make all the difference in our futures.

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