It all started with the Cold War in 1947, which was a battle for supremacy between the two superpowers: the United States and Soviet Union. One dangerous characteristic of this struggle was the arms race which was when both nations began building large amounts of nuclear weapons so that they would be able to deter each other. The Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty was signed to prevent the spreading of weapons, but they still competed in other ways. For example, they would create allies and get involved in conflicts among other countries. By supplying arms, training and their aid to others they could fight indirectly. In the 1950s, space exploration became the way of competing to see who was superior and had the ability to make it to space first. Compared to the other methods of trying to outperform one another, the Space Race had benefits such as advancing science and technology, Kennedy’s inspiring moon speech, developing space programs, and bringing together the Soviet Union and United States.
At the beginning of
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In July 1975, the Apollo-Soyuz mission was completed which included an Apollo spacecraft (three Americans) docking with a Russian Soyuz (two Soviets). The commanders shook hands in space which “symbolized the gradual improvement of the U.S and Soviet relations,” (7). More collaboration follows with the creation of the International Space Station which is the largest human made object in Earth orbit. It started creation in 1998 when the Russian made Zarya is built and sent into orbit. Soon to follow, the U.S made component gets sent as well. A crew of three members went up and continued to build onto it. In total it took about 100 billion dollars to make and currently has many more members [countries] than when it first started (4). These projects helped to thaw the cold war and made drastic improvements in the two countries ability to work