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The Sputnik And The Cold War: The Space Race

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What exactly was the Space Race? What were the achievements that came from it? The Space Race was also referred as the ''Cold War'', where both the United States competed to see who was able to develop aerospace capabilities, artificial satellites, and human spaceflight. Both the U.S and Russia achieved objectives that made history in space data. The Soviet Union made the first successful launch in history, the launch of the Sputnik and even beat the U.S. The ultimate victory that the United States took was the very first landing on the moon that included three people, Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins, during the Apollo 11 mission. Both the launch of the Sputnik and Apollo 11 led to more advanced technology developments. …show more content…

According to NASA.com, Sputnik was an artificial satellite that was approximately the size of a beach ball in which was 22.8 inches and weighed 83.9 pounds. It took about 1 hour and 36 minutes to orbit the Earth on its elliptical path. Space.com stated that the satellite led space scientist to learn some things about Earth atmosphere by studying the beeping radio signals emitted. The Sputnik was powered by simply three silver-zinc batteries, in which were originally designed to last only 2 weeks. Luckily the satellite was able to continue sending out radio signal for 22 days and continued going around Earth for a couple of months. Later, it began to decay while it was coming closer towards Earth and soon burned up as it was entering the atmosphere on January 4, 1958, but still, was successful in its …show more content…

One of the important inventions was the artificial limbs. Nasa needed a way to control robots such as space vehicles and use them with a remote control, this had been successfully adapted to create more functional artificial limbs. Another important invention was the creation of laptops. Laptops helped astronauts on board during the space race to send out space navigation in which was very needed so that was developed urgently, so it has also benefitted us as well. In order to get to get signal for the laptops, the needed satellites. Satellites were sent up during the space race on test flights to beam data back to Earth. As time goes by, new inventions are being created due to the signals that come back to Earth. Many creations on our daily life styles have come from the Space Race such as our beds. Memory foam is used in most beds and was also invented by Nasa in 1966 to enhance the safety of aircraft

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How Did The Space Race Represent The Cold War?

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