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Why Did The Us Enter The Competition In Space Technology

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Every day 2,721 satellites orbit around Earth helping people communicate through texts, calls and social media. Some are as small as postage stamps, while some are as large as a football field, but the first ever satellite launched into space was a Russian satellite called Sputnik 1. The only task Sputnik 1 could do was transmit beeping sounds to receivers on Earth, but that was enough to make the U.S. feel like they were not the most powerful country in the world anymore. The U.S. joined the competition in space technology and thus, the space began. From 1957 to 1967 the Unites States and Russia competed to achieve many "firsts" in space, however, President Eisenhower was not threatened by Russia's accomplishments unlike many other government …show more content…

spent so much time and money on space technology was the ability to fire long range missiles and to increase surveillance on the Soviets (Iannotta). In WWII the nuclear warheads used on Japan were dropped from a plane, which isn't the most effective or safest way to deploy a nuclear weapon. To hit targets far away, the U.S. and Russia began to develop ICBMs (Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles), which can carry the nuclear warheads up to 10,000 km away. In 1957 Russia created the first ICBM, which meant they could attack the U.S. without sending over a single troop. Another advantage of an ICBM is it's speed, even by 2016 there is no sure way to stop one if it is launched. Military engineers have described it as "trying to hit a bullet with another bullet" (Iannotta). By 1967, the U.S. had 31,255 warheads which is enough end the world. However, with all these extremely destructive weapons, there may be more peace. The idea behind this concept is called "mutually assured destruction", it argues that since nuclear warheads are unstoppable and so plentiful, when a country commits an offensive attack, the defending country will just strike back with a nuclear weapon. For example, if Russia launched a nuclear warhead to hit the U.S., the U.S. would detect it when it's travelling, and would respond with a nuke of their own. This would lead to mass destruction which is why an ICBM has never actually been used. In fact the two bombs dropped on Japan were

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