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Sputnik And The Space Race

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During the 20th Century between 1955 and 1972, The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States. The competition was for supremacy in spaceflight capability. In 1957 a Soviet R-7 ballistic missile launched Sputnik. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite and man-made object to be launched in Earth’s orbit. This was something America did not like. At the time, space was seen as the next frontier in the United States. The fact that the USSR had the capability to deliver nuclear warhead into US airspace made this an urgent matter to the US.
The United States launched its own satellite in 1958 called Explorer I. In that same year NASA was created dedicated strictly to space exploration. The National Reconnaissance
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