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Essay on space race
Essay on space race
The space race research paper
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The Space Race was a major event that took place during 1957-1975 in the Cold War. It was a race to see who would get into space first successfully. The Soviet Union (the cosmonauts) beat the US. However, the US had the first landing on the Moon with Apollo 11. It consisted of the United States and the Soviet Union. Both countries were eager to win so they could beat the other. This event has changed everything because now everyone knows a lot of information about space. Basically, the space race happened and its significance to world history because during the cold war the Soviet Union and the US were competitive about everything, it showed who had the best technology, science, and economic system and how it opened a new door were space became …show more content…
The space race was just another competition that they had to stress about. Spoiler, the Soviet Union had a successful launch (Sputnik) of the first satellite to orbit the earth. Regardless, they weren’t too fond of them winning anyways. From a popular American political cartoon titled “Another Face We Can Lose", it shows two sad Americans with their backs saying too little and too late, as they see the Soviet Union rocket launch into space. Tons of Americans just didn’t believe in their own country winning. Something that causes both countries do not get along from the start, was the tension and distrust. The Soviet Union did not like capitalism, and the US was a capitalist country, so that alone was conflict. They thought that the other was inferior, making them stronger, which caused to compete against each other to prove that they are the best at …show more content…
The Sputnik making it into space was what really got all these students really involved in learning about space. In schools today, you can open pretty much any science textbook and find a chapter about space. You can open a history textbook and find the Space Race. This event has lasted and keeps on counting because it could be the future many people believe. It is something that affects many people's everyday life. There scientist, engineers, and astronauts that spend their lives learning and working on the topic of space. If the space race never happened, these jobs wouldn’t exist, everything would be different because we would not have
...o the Soviets inability to properly contain their civilians. The main reasons why the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics lost the Space Race the United States of America are because the USSR was communist. The civilians did not support or like living in a communist society, which made them flee to freedom and ran the cost of border control up to employ more guards. Also, the USSR alone controlled East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States ran West Berlin and West Germany with its allies France and Britain. Finally, the United States was tough competition for the Soviets. The sheer determination of the Americans to defeat the Soviets in the Space Race and restore order in Europe was greater than the Soviets expected. Even after failed attempts at reaching space, the Americans never gave up and beat the Russians to the moon, winning the Space Race.
These rivalries would become clear when two countries competed in the space race, a competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union concerning achievements in the field of space exploration. The Soviet’s took the early lead as they put the first satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. The launch of Sputnik 1 established a sense of fear in the American public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s. This opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations. After World War II, the Cold War created tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States leading to extreme national pride and competition, culminating in the space race which began with the launch of Sputnik 1.
The 1960’s were full of questions, and one of the biggest questions the world was pondering about was regarding the Space Race: was the USA going to beat their communist enemy, the Soviet Union? The Space Race was a series of events that helped to symbolize and determine in the worlds’ eyes which form of government was better, communism (Soviets) or democracy (United States)? In the beginning of the race, the Soviets had the lead, and it was not looking good for America. Then the United States picked up the pace and spent well over eight billion dollars funding the space studies. This period of time made many scientists and astronauts heroes in the eyes of Americans. The Space Race was a combination of determination, intelligence, space projects, and American pride, all used to reach our exploration goals and surpass the Soviets.
At the end of WWII in 1945, the USA and the Soviet Union emerged as the world’s superpowers. This was a time of great tension, rivalry and distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union. It was a time of political, diplomatic, military and economic rivalry where both nations wanted to emerge as the world’s new superpower. Hence, the Cold War would be of profound significance in the development of the space race as the space race was a key element in the rivalry of political, economic and social dominance.
American nationalism during the Space Race fueled support for NASA, resulting in great technological and scientific advancements during the Cold War. The hyper-competitive atmosphere surrounding the Cold War heightened already existing rivalry between the United States’ and the Soviet Union’s science programs. As the two superpowers struggled for technological dominance, the American people were swept into a frenzy of nationalism. The Science News-Letter pointed out that the Space Race was driven by, “nothing more or less than the ego-driven pressures of competition.” The idea of the Soviet Union both having a superior space program as well as having the capacity to attack the United States with intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) brought the U.S. space program off the ground.
... middle of paper ... ... The Space Race between the United States and the USSR was a waste of government resources because of the waste of billions of dollars, there was no need for it from the public, and it did not show the power of the countries. With the Apollo program and all the other satellites, the US spent billions of dollars that were poorly used.
The Americans took a much more urgent approach after seeing what the U.S.S.R. was truly capable of. The United States would respond with various satellites including those of the Explorer Series and more. However, the Soviet Union would again one-up the United States, and all of their now seemingly feeble satellite launches, by putting the first man into outer space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. Now the quest gained an even more competitive drive and the United States soon put Alan B. Shepard into space twenty-three days later. The Space Race was truly a trek for the firsts of history, essentially just exterrestrial one-ups throughout an extended period of time. That very same year, John F. Kennedy founded NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, just for that purpose, to explore the world beyond their own, while maintaining the central aim, to beat the Soviets outright. JFK was a leading power in this race, and “by giving NASA programs top priority, his actions essentially played on American fears of communism and implicitly inferred that the Eisenhower administration had not done enough to meet the Sputnik challenge. Too many Americans were beginning to feel a need to vindicate the ‘long-standing communist boast that theirs was the superior system for galvanizing human productivity’” (Koman 43). Winning this space race was way more than just an extraterrestrial victory, it would hopefully squander the communists’ hopes and assert true American dominance. The United States sought to eliminate any presumption of communist superiority and did so in the near future by winning this Cold War space race, thanks to the execution of a truly unimaginable
On September 8 1966, Star Trek the Original Series premiered to American audiences for the first time and was given a vision of the idealized future of space travel. Set in the 23rd century, the series follows the adventures of the crew of the Starship Enterprise as the “seek out new life and boldly go where no man has gone before. ” Although the Science Fiction television show was set in a timeline into the distant future, many of the episodes centered around current themes of the 1960s, especially around the Cold War. The Cold War was an ongoing conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union since the closing days of the Second World War. The Cold War was at its height in the 1960s with the Cuban Missile Crises, the emergence of the space race and the Vietnam War. This conflict transcended all parts of society and television was no exception. Gene Roddenberry, the creator the Star Trek series, was a former military pilot that held strong beliefs that “The Strength of a civilization is not measured by its ability to fight wars, but rather by its ability to prevent them”. Star Trek used its unique appeal to television in order to glorify American idealism along with opening criticism to the United States Foreign Cold War Policy.
The Space Race was the battle between the United States and the Soviet Union to have the first man on the moon (Harrison, 2011). The Nuclear arms race was all about having the most missiles in order to gain the most superiority (power). Consequently, the United States and the Soviet Union believed that the Space Race would give them higher superiority as well. Instead of trying to build bigger and better missiles, both countries were trying to build bigger and better rockets (Harrison, 2011). The U.S. wanted to be the first to explore the moon because they wanted to have superiority (Harrison, 2011). The Soviet Union took an early lead when they sent the world 's first satellite into space, and later sending Yuri Gagarin to be the first man in space (Harrison, 2011). In 1961, John F. Kennedy stated that within the next decade the United States would have a man on the moon. On July 20, 1969, Kennedy’s promise came true when Neil Armstrong became the first man to land on the moon (Harrison,
The space race was the product of the Cold War. It was an effort to prove technological superiority but on the other hand, it was also feared on both sides that weapons of mass destruction will be placed in orbit. In 1957, the Soviet Union sent the 184 pound Sputnik 1 satellite into Earth’s orbit. It was the first artificial satellite and the first manmade object to be placed into Earth’s orbit. Following that, they also sent the first animal into space, Laika the dog. In 1958, the United Sates also launched their first satellite into orbit, dubbed Explorer 1. The Soviet space program advanced once again in 1959. The Soviet Union launched Luna 2, which was the first space probe to hit the moon. In April 1961, the Soviet Union had the ultimate success, sending the first human into space. The name of the Russian cosmonaut was Yuri Gagarin, who made a 108 minute suborbital flight in a Vostok 1 spacecraft. One month after that, Alan Shepard became the American in space aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Continuing from there, each nation step...
Space travel was born from the flames of war – or in this case, the refrigerators of war. The Soviet Union and the United States were ready to show up each other in the fields of science and engineering, and with the recent advent of rocketry, it was evident that space was the next goal. Russia held the first few victories: including the first man-made satellite and the first man in space. Following these defeats, America picked itself up, and defeated the Russians on the race to the moon.
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union began what is most widely known as the “Space Race,” where the Soviet Union and the United States raced to see who could successfully launch and orbit a satellite, then eventually a manned spacecraft ( A Brief History). The Soviets launched into orbit before the United States. In 1957, Sputnik 1 was sent to space. Four years later, the Soviets put the first man into orbit with Vostok 1. The Russian flight lasted 108 minutes and reached an altitude of 202 miles (A Brief History). Nevertheless, the United States kept pace with the Soviet Union, putting the first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit in 1958. NASA put the first American in space in 1961, and in 1962 the U.S. finally sent a man to orbit Earth (A Brief
A significant positive change that allowed America to explore new frontiers was the accomplishment of putting a man on the moon. The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to be the first to put a man on the moon. In the attempt to beat the Soviet Union to space, America developed many new technologies that have enabled us to do many things that we couldn’t do before. The United States won the space race when Apollo 11 landed on the moon in 1969. America, “committed the funding necessary to win the race and, amid the unhappiness of the Vietnam War era, gave the nation a badly needed uplift,” (Veve). The United States benefited from winning the Space Race in two main ways. First, the change of having a man on the moon got the American people very excited because it was an important milestone when it came to defeating the Sovie...
In society today, many people don’t truly recognize that space exploration has benefited us in the way we are here and how it will continue to do so. Space exploration is the investigation of space by using satellites, rockets or the help of life. Many people find that space exploration is useless or absurd because it doesn’t assist us, but this is incorrect. The beginning was in 1957, when the first satellite was launched into space by the Soviet Union to get some idea of the altitude at which they can build missiles to. What the Soviet Union didn’t know was how important that moment in history was and how an amazing impact it was in our future.
In the past 100 years, we have made much advancement in all areas of society. The way people live has changed drastically just in the past century. Technology in particular has advanced more in these last 100 years then all previous time combined. For example, because of the research done by many innovative and dedicated individuals such as the Wright Brothers who were the first to sustain flight in a powered airplane, we are able to fly all over the world in a matter of hours in jet propelled pressurized aircraft. One hundred years ago, the thought of man flying in a machine was insane. The Wright Brothers helped to realize the dream of manned flight. Many years later, after the idea of manned flight becoming a reality, space exploration was the next step. In 1969, many people did not believe what happened. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. They posted an American flag, explored, collected space rocks and came back home. Many Americans did not believe that the technology existed to go that far. Today, several missions a year are launched using manned space shuttles that can be flown back to earth like gliders and reused on future space missions.