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The Space Race In The 1970's

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From the late 1950's to the mid 1970's there was a common goal between the United States and the Soviet Union, and it was the overwhelming desire to win the race into outer space. Who will be the first country into outer space? Who will be the first man on the moon? What country will have the honors of being the leader of aerospace technology? These were all common question that most the of American households had during this time. The American government had a plan, but they were not the only ones. This era of competition between the United States and the Soviet Union was known as, The Space Race. The Space Race as the American people have come to know it, started approximately 10 years after the beginning of the Cold War. Although the Soviets …show more content…

This was not only a concern to the United States but also to all the other countries in the world because it was thought that it would be used for military purposes for Russia's plan for world domination. Shortly after Russia launched Sputnik 2, with the first living passenger to ever make it into space, the dog Laika. These events persuaded President John F Kennedy in 1958 to push on congress to fund the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Shortly after that the first project for NASA was completed. In 1958 NASA came out with a project called Mercury, it was to research if space travel by humans would even be possible and safe. It was a test for the first two stage rocket program that would be the basis for propelling our spacecrafts into outer space. These tests were performed to test altitude, air temp, and orbit …show more content…

In 1966 the soviet space craft, Luna 9, made the first landing on the moon being unmanned. Later that year the soviets Venera 3 probe becomes the first space craft to land on planet Venice, but unfortunately their communications system failed before the data could be returned to their home base on earth. The soviets Luna 10 space probe entered leaner orbit in 1966 becoming the first space craft to orbit the moon. It took the United States a few years, but the U.S. finally answered back with the Apollo program. The Apollo program was founded in 1961 with Apollo 1, which tested a new-found space craft which was larger than the ones in the previous programs. Apollo 7 tested the command modal once in space. Apollo 8 was the first manned mission to orbit around the moon for the United States. Apollo 10 tested the lunar module around the moon. Apollo 11, the most famous Apollo mission of them all, was the one where the United States first landed on the moon, furthermore being the first country to land, and walk on the moon. This mission is where the famous saying from Neal Armstrong, "That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" came from. After Apollo 11, Apollo 12,14,15,16, and 17 all landed on the moon from the year 1969-1972. The Apollo 13 unfortunately was not able to make it to the moon because of a mouth function causing the space craft to

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