Informative Essay: The Space Race

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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. He embarked