Space Race Essay

The beginning of the Space Race began with the Soviet Union’s successful launch of Sputnik in October of 1957. Shortly after in 1961, President John F. Kennedy gave his famous space exploration speech to Congress. In it, he asked for more resources so that the United States could send a man to the moon and bring him back to Earth safely before the decade was out. With the Soviet Union being the first initially in every major milestone, the United States knew it needed to respond quickly. President Kennedy’s speech to Congress kicked off one of the most expensive and ambitious adventures this country has ever done. The finish line for both countries was the moon. In order for the United States to reach the moon, it had to start with the

The first, was to place a manned space capsule into a orbital track circling the Earth. The second, was to figure out how space affected humans and their ability to work in that environment. The last objective was to successfully and safely recover the capsule and person inside back to the surface of Earth. However, before NASA could put a man in a capsule they had to make sure it was safe. In doing so there was a series of launches that were needed to prove that NASA could safely launch a man in space. Beyond these objectives, there was also several guidelines established to ensure that the project would progress as fast and safe as possible. These guidelines include encouraging the use of ready to use technology, take the simplest path for system design, use already proven launch vehicles, and well thought out testing process. In addition to the objectives and guidelines, NASA also had five detailed requirements that they needed to meet for the space capsule. This included a launch escape system, manual control ability, a de-orbit capability to bring the capsule back to the ground, a zero-lift body that would take advantage of drag during reentry, and last be able to land in the water. There might have been only a few objectives for this project, however it did not make the task of accomplishing them any