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Space Race Essay

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The history of space and the space race is essential to the exploration of space in this world. The Cold War gave incentive to the space race. The space race began with the United Socialist Soviet Republic (U.S.S.R.), which launched the Sputnik on October 4, 1957. The Sputnik was the first ever satellite to be set in orbit successfully. This satellite orbited the Earth every 96 minutes and was in orbit for 92 days. While only a month later, when the U.S. had figured out they sent a satellite, the U.S.S.R. launched another satellite called the Sputnik 2, which held a dog named Laika. Although Laika was the first dog in orbit, she died on the way back into the Earth’s atmosphere. Laika was the first mammal to orbit Earth, but there were other …show more content…

realized what the U.S.S.R. was doing and that it could be dangerous, the U.S. sent out its own rocket. This rocket and the second rocket failed. The third rocket that the U.S. sent was a success and was called the Explorer 1 which measured the radiation around and outside the Earth’s atmosphere. This rocket led to the discovery of the Van Allen Belts (Hartono and Greicius). Also at this time, our president John F. Kennedy was excited about the space race and challenged the U.S. to an ambitious goal, “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth." This goal was very ambitious but the U.S. proved that they would do it when they The USSR sent the Vostok 1, which carried the first ever human to reach space. This man was Yuri Gagarin who remained in orbit for one hour and forty-eight minutes before landing in western Russia. Only a month after that, the U.S. did the same with Alan Shepard. There were many other firsts in the space race like the first journey to Mars, the first journey to the moon, the first walking on the moon by Neil Armstrong, and many others, so the U.S. began an organization called NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration) in

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In 1961, John F. Kennedy announced his submission to the “space race”. It was a mission he was determined to win against the Soviet Union, that had been going on since 1957. Although all they did was send a small satellite into space orbiting the earth, it had been a competition against the Russian and American scientist to witness who would perform the next break though in space travel. As a matter of fact, Kennedy announced his plan to Congress on May 2, 1961 that it was time for the nation to take action by being the first to take on a space achievement. As a result, Kennedy established taking the dramatic goal of taking on space travel by announcing his famous speech.

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Soon after the Cold War came to an end, the United States and the USSR both began military technological advancements. If the USSR could get missiles into space, they could set them off at anyone anywhere. In the interest of protecting America and possibly the rest of the world, the main objective for the Space Race was to protect us against missiles from the USSR military. These advancements led to a competition between the US and the USSR to see who would be the first to space. America and the USSR were two of the most powerful countries in the entire world at that point in time.

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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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The Space Race seemed to only benefit the Soviets in the beginning. They were the first to launch Sputnik in 1957, and famously the first to put a man in space, Yuri Gagarin. According to historians though, these initial Soviet victories helped the United States to reach the moon first. In an effort to educate the public about the impacts of the original Soviet dominance in the war and how it helped propel the United States into the country who landed on the moon first, Asif Siddiqi, an esteemed space historian with a PhD from Fordham University stated, "In some ways, Sputnik and Gagarin were like gifts to NASA... You're not going to have a moon program without that kind of a shock.

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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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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."

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The Space Race was a significant event that occurred during the Cold War. Two countries, the United States, and the Soviet Union, competed for the moon. After WWII, the world knew that technology was developing enough to send people to space, and these two countries, amidst the Cold War, competed against each other to get a man on the moon first. In 1961 President John F. Kennedy declared that they would get a man on the moon by the end of the decade, so the race began. It was originally an arms race between the two countries and they were building missiles and other high-tech military equipment to demonstrate their power to one another and the rest of the world.

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and the Soviet Union. This war was not fought with weapons but with technology to see who could out due each other. The space race came from this. Both the U.S. and Russia were trying to see who could send satellites and people into space. In the end the U.S. won the space race.

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In response, Kennedy, knowing he had to do something to let America reclaim the spot as the most powerful country in the world, announced, with the Cold War burning hotter than ever, that the US would send a man to the moon by the end of the 1960’s decade. In one of his most famous speeches titled, “We Choose to Go to the Moon,” Kennedy publicly said that the US is the best country in the world. “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” This quote gives the Soviet Union a clear message about the US’s intentions; we are the hardest working, most resilient people on the face of this Earth but above all else; we can do anything we set our minds to. This mission was a hard one, and the US would be starting from a blank canvas, so in 1961, Kennedy created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to be responsible for the mission to the moon.

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According to the JFK Presidential Library and Museum, the space race began In 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite which the United States saw as a challenge to see who could make the most technological advancements within the following decade (Space Program).Shortly after the race began, the Soviet Union sent Yuri Gagarin into space, and he became the first man to Orbit the earth, the United States saw this as a sign that they were falling behind their competition (Space Program).The space race aimed to determine a superior nation between the United States and the Soviet Union, in the beginning the Soviet Union was clearly in the lead so the people of the United States were even more united with the common goal of being a superior nation. According to the National Cold War Exhibition at the Royal

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In 1961 Soviet Astronaut, Yuri Gagarin, was the first human to orbit the Earth. President Kennedy worried that the Soviets leading in the space race might influence the world into believing that communism was a better option than capitalism, and that would hurt America in the Cold War. Kennedy went before congress less than two months later and declared: “I believed this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon” (Appleby 604). One year later, America matched the Soviets with U.S. astronaut John Glenn orbiting the Earth. On July 16, 1969, Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off carrying Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins.

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The Space Race, a defining chapter in human history, emerged amidst the intense Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union. This race for supremacy in space exploration captured the attention of the world and had far-reaching implications for science, technology, and geopolitics. Rooted in political tensions and ideological competition, the Space Race became a power struggle that extended beyond the Earth's atmosphere. It represented a battle for technological prowess, national prestige, and ideological superiority. The importance of the Space Race cannot be understated, as it sparked unprecedented advancements in science and technology.

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In any field, competition is something that is bound to come up. Even in something as varied as math, many famous mathematicians would compete to prove that they are the best. Likewise, the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States was not only a competition but a stepping stone in the United States’ development. When the Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957, it changed many things about the United States of America. The Sputnik launch marked the start of the space age and the US-USSR space race and led to the creation of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration).

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The Space Race began in 1957 when Russia launched its first satellite into orbit around Earth (Sputnik 1), which was followed by several other successful launches by America. In 1961, President John F Kennedy announced that America would put a man on the moon within ten years (1971). This goal was achieved in 1969 with the Apollo 11 mission led by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin. The US also had many other programs such as Project Mercury,(Initiated in 1958, completed in 1963), Project Mercury was the United States' first man-in-space program.which saw three men sent into space; Project Gemini, which sent two men into space; Project Apollo, which sent six men into space; Corona program that used high-altitude balloons to spy on Soviet Union; Discoverer program that used satellites for spying purposes; Skylab program where astronauts stayed in outer space for months at a time while orbiting Earth.

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Other goals of the program were to establish a presence in space for the United States, create the technology that would

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