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History essay on space race
History essay on space race
Space race introduction
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“That’s one step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” That is one of the most memorable quotes said by Neil Armstrong (1969) when he landed on the moon. However, do you know about the previous events that lead to this remarkable achievement? Also, do you know about all the the other remarkable space achievements? This includes the motivation from President Kennedy’s speech, the successful use of satellites, and the previous manned missions. These events all helped in getting a man to land on the moon, which soon led to the conclusion of the Space Race. The course of action taken by America helped lead them to success when they landed a man on the moon. “First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.” Those are the words of President John F. Kennedy (1961) during his special message before a joint session of congress. Kennedy’s speech was so emotional and empowering, it united the nation under one cause: to land a man on the moon. Sadly, Kennedy was assassinated in 1963, which was two years after his goal was announced. His death sparked a new fire as America worked as one to get a man to the moon, one step at at time. The two space programs that were involved in the Space Race were NASA, which stands for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and the Soviet Space Program. NASA was established by Dwight D. Eisenhower on July 29th, 1958. It funded and oversaw all the American space missions during the Space Race, and is still running today, which helps preserve the history NASA had. In contrast, the Soviet Space Program began around the 1930s and ended in 1991 when it was replaced with the Russ... ... middle of paper ... ...: Past: Pioneer 5. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Dec. 2013. Sullivan, George. The Day We Walked on the Moon: A Photo History of Space Exploration. New York: Scholastic, 1990. Print. "The Decision to Go to the Moon:President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 Speech before Congress." The Decision to Go to the Moon:President John F. Kennedy's May 25, 1961 Speech before Congress. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Nov. 2013. "The Mercury Project - Flight Summary." The Mercury Project - Flight Summary. N.p., n.d. Web. 27 Dec. 2013. Van Riper, A. Bowdoin. "The 1969 Moon Landing: First Humans to Walk on Another World." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 7: 1950 to Present. Detroit: Gale, 2001. 19-22. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 24 Oct. 2013.
In the 1960s the Cold War was at its peak, with both the USSR and America trying to spread their ideologies onto the rest of the world. The world was still uneasy due to the Korean War. In the public’s eyes, nuclear Armageddon was only a press of a button away. The Space Race was a welcome peaceful distraction for the world. The USSR and the United States were constantly trying to best each other in celestial exploration. In 1962, American President, John F Kennedy announced to America that by the end of the decade America would land a man on the moon. Kennedy carefully chose the audience and language of his speech to convince the public to support the Apollo Moon Program.
As a result of the successful mission that landed the first men on the moon, called the Apollo 11 mission, many people were inspired to provide commentary on this landing. Although these texts describe unique individual purposes about this landing, they all effectively support their purposes through the use of several rhetorical devices.
In September 1961, president John. F. Kennedy delivers one of his best inspirational speeches titled “We choose to go to the Moon”. This notorious speech was addressed at Rice University in Houston Texas to a very fortunate crowd of students. The significance of his timing is both vital and genius for at the time being the cold war between the United States of America and Russia had been in mid-hype, Russia leading in the space race. This brought doubt to the Americas power and authority thus giving his speech more influential drive. Kennedys fear of the Soviet Union landing on the moon first is because he did not want to see the accomplishment “governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of
On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong planted the first human footprints in the lunar soil. The United States had accomplished their goal in sending men to the moon. They managed to not only send them 238,857 mi. (384,403 km) into space to our neighbor celestial body, but also send them back with a successful flight to our mother earth. This seems like a difficult task for a country that was behind Russia in space exploration at the time.
President Kennedy has shown the commitment, justified the struggles, and now developed the need in every listener’s mind why America needs to be the first country to land a person on the moon. Looking back, he obviously succeeded. His speech was the major turning point in making the move happen, and rhetorical questions, allusions, and repetition all played an important role in making the speech so persuasive and inspiring.
The moment astronauts set foot on Earth’s Moon, in July of 1969, the legacy of the United States’ space program changed forever. Countless Americans watched the launch and landing of Apollo 13 on their televisions with pride on that day, proud of their country for achieving such an insane goal as walking on the Moon. While NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, struggled through obstacle after obstacle, invented new technologies and advanced old ones, placed the first man on the Moon, because the Soviet Union threatened to beat the U.S. to the space frontier, the nation greatly congratulated the feat that began the technological era. After forty-five years, however, the awe Americans held over NASA’s programs dwindled considerably. Although NASA no longer holds the nation in awe over their moon mission achievements, NASA programs remain vital to the United States because they advance everyday technologies, inspire creative visions, and discover greater knowledge for the entire public to benefit from.
Anyone who was old enough to remember the time can probably remember exactly where he or she was and what he or she was doing when he first walked on the moon. Along with the inscription on the plaque placed at the point of the landing ("we came in peace for all mankind"), Armstrong's words are often enough to bring tears to the eyes of nearly every American and indeed much of the world. As great an accomplishment as man's landing on the moon is, however, there are other momentous events that often seem forgotten in the glare of celebrity afforded to the space program's manned missions. How many people can remember where they were when the first man-made object left the bounds of our solar system? How many people can even remember what that object was?
When no other country had accomplished space travel to the moon, the United States set the president by sending Apollo 11 on a space exploration. The United States was a front-runner in the race to land a man on the moon. Apollo 11 was launched into space in 1969 and was quite different from the Apollo 10. The successful lunar landing of Apollo 11 made the United States a respected and competitive player in space technology.
Over the years since its beginning, the American space program has executed many major successful projects that were lead mainly by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, in which America completed without the assistance of other countries. Perhaps the most well-known feat of NASA was the world’s first moon landing, performed by Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr., which occurred on July 20th, 1969 (Andrews). This was an outstanding achievement considering that NASA had competed against the Soviet Union in order to put the first man on the moon and came out on top even though the Soviet Union had had a head start. But even though the moon landing is the most well-known, other projects have produced far more useful results. For instance, the Hubble Space Telescope is considered to be “one of the finest research tools in astronomical history,” and the 44 foot-long telescope was sent into space on April 24, 1990; however, the telescope initially had a probl...
The final hero of the present that will be analyzed is Neil Armstrong, who is most remembered for being the first human to ever set foot on the Moon. Some of Armstrong’s other accomplishments were his naval service and his participation in the Korean War during combat missions (Launius, 368). Armstrong was endowed with extraordinary qualities of heart and mind. He dreamed of becoming an astronaut and through perseverance and great service, he was transferred to astronaut status in 1962, only one of nine members of the second class to be chosen for space flight (Launius, 368). The National Aeronautics and Space Administration along with Armstrong set out to achieve a near-impossible goal to send the astronauts into space to land on the Moon.
Imagine you’re in a rocket flying through space. Nothing but pure blackness for days on end. Then...in front of you...a bright light. You’re getting closer and closer to the giant ball of light until finally you’ve made contact. You make your way to the front of the ship and open the door. A vastly endless white landscape is laid out before you. It’s the moon. You climb down the ladder and step into the dust, knowing that the whole world is watching you right now. Exhilarating right? Well, this actually happened back in 1969, and it was the beginning of a new era of space exploration, which is part of why we know so much about outer space today! At that time, there was a large amount of competition between the U.S. and the Soviet Union. Both countries were having an unofficial race called the space race. The space was a race to land a man on the moon. The emotional stakes were
~"The 1969 Moon Landing: First Humans to Walk on Another World." Science and Its Times. Ed. Neil Schlager and Josh Lauer. Vol. 7. Detroit: Gale, 2001. U.S. History in Context. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
Have you ever wanted to land in the moon? Maybe so I will be informing you about this. This is what I will be telling you John F Kennedy's dream. Another is the first trip to the moon by man. One more is how this impacted the world.
“That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was July 20 1969, the day that reshaped our nation and gave us unparalleled dreams for the future. The impact of the day goes far beyond our pride and nationalism; that day would change space exploration and technology forever. Just like a shooting star, that day would give us a glimpse of hope. A chance to see an event so breathtaking and defying, it would be man’s greatest accomplishment in the 20th century. As millions of people watched from their TV sets, a rush of euphoria came over the nation as Neil Armstrong stepped foot on the surface of the moon. It was the first time in the history of mankind that we would step on the surface of another celestial body. John F. Kennedy dared us to dream, he inspired the nation to reach for the moon, to set ourselves apart from the rest of the world. The Space Race was symbolic of many things. Our future as the technically dominate nation was secured in place; just as secure as Old Glory would be, when she was driven down into the soil of the moon. We not only reached the moon, we conquered it as a nation; united.
The space race had its beginning in the 1950s. It were the two countries the Soviet Union and the United States, who fought against each other to become the first in space. The Soviet Union was first in space with the launch of the Sputnik 1 artificial satellite on 4th of October 1957, which meant, that the United States had to hurry, if they were not to be forgotten in the space race.