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What is the space race
What is the space race
What is the space race
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The United States and the USSR emerged as super powers after WW11. The two countries were now the two most powerful nations on earth, but they had severe differences in policies and this led to a standoff between the two countries, a standoff which came to be known as the Cold War. At first the countries engaged in ArmsRace supremacy. Each nation wanted to create the most powerful bomb.A few years after another race began. It was a race for control of the outer space. This became known as the Space Race a period which lasted from 1957 to1975. The Space Race became a symbol of the political contest between two enemy world powers. For years the two super powers devised and plotted means and ways to get ahead of each other. Finally in October 1957, the USSR launched Sputnik into space. Thus began years of rivalry for control of outer space called the Space Race. This paper seeks to answer the question of which country won the Space Race.
The answer to the question of who won the Space Race might be controversial, and it all depends on who you ask the question.It is an understanding that “mankind’s access to new frontiers has always been a major factor in in the future success of societies that exploited the opportunities when they arose ”(Richardson). The United States was obsessed with space technology flexing its muscles at acquiring more arsenals albeit to expand supremacy. The world watched as the two super powers rivaled each other. Russia had won the lunar battle but the race was far from over (Reeves 42). America was furious and started a propaganda that since the USSR had the capability of propelling a satellite into space no telling they could do severe harm to the United States by sending nuclear weapons from space and ...
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...?NASA’s advancements in technology continues to generate billions of dollars, provide employment to numerous people and most importantly ,save lives. Today we see more and more young people taking up careers and jobs in the field of science.
The Cold War was one of the most tensed times in the history of the world as the two super powers brought the world to the brink of war on several occasions. America came away from this period as a much more technological developed country. Peter Dickens in an article titled, Who Really won the space race, stated that “the conventional account says that the Soviet Union had an early lead but the United States “won”[6] (monthly review). Some people will say that the USSR won the Space Race, however there's evidence that this never happened. It is clear that United States won the space race with NASA and came away with NASA as its
...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.
NASA helped usher in a promising new future in the 1960s and it was rewarded with a rapidly-eroding budget. The U.S. should invest more money in NASA and less on unnecessary health care and military. Budget cuts are affecting our technology development. Evidently, increasing NASA’s budget to 1 percent of the federal budget will not hurt the economy. But instead it would benefit by creating jobs here on earth, especially for the next generation of American scientists and engineers.
The Soviet’s were responsible for putting man on the moon, rovers on Mars, and launching the Hubble Space Telescope. Indeed, it was the United States’ foes that drove the U.S. to accomplish perhaps the greatest feats of the twentieth century. Following the defeat of Germany and Japan in World War II, tensions between former allies, the United States and the Soviet Union, began to grow. In the following decades, the two superpowers would duke it out in competitions and tremendous shows of nationalism. They formed unmatchable rivalries in politics, economics, sciences, and sports. 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 into the American Public, resulting in the creation of NASA in the late 1950’s which opened the door for space exploration today and for future generations.
In 1980, it seemed like the United States was not as dominant in the world as it had been before. The Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union began after World War II. The two nations had joined forces as members of the Allies, but tensions arose after the war. The Americans were very worried about the spread of Soviet communism, and tried to prevent it with a policy of containment, where the United States would protect countries from outside oppression. The Cold War also expanded to include the race between the Soviets and Americans to create atomic weapons. Furthermore, there was a race between the two countries to put the first man in space, which was accomplished by the United States in 1961 (“Cold War History”). The Cold War was a standoff between the United States and the Soviet Union to try to prove their dominance in the world. Each country wanted to have more power and diminish the power of the other. At home, Americans were paranoid with the thought of Soviet spies and communists hiding amongst them, dubbed the “Red Scare.” President Richard Nixon and the Soviet premier Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic A...
Following the conclusion of the Second World War, the United States and the Soviet Union made it a priority to outdo each other in every possible facet from arsenals of missiles to international alliances and spheres of influences. Yet when the Soviets launched Sputnik on October 4th, 1957, the world changed forever. The first manmade object was fired into space, and it appeared that American technology and science had fallen behind. Yet, the public feared that not only were they now technologically inferior to the Soviets, but also deduced that if a satellite could be launched into space, a nuclear missile could just as likely reach the mainland United States. Less than a month later, the Soviets pushed the bounds of technology yet again by
Early on in the race, the USSR was very successful. In 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik, which triggered the start of the space race (John F. Kennedy). The United States began to scramble, trying to catch up with the Soviets. However, soon after, the Soviet Union completed another huge success. They sent the first man to orbit Earth (John F. Kennedy). In 1961 the USSR’s Yuri Gagarin became the first human to ever orbit the Earth (John F. Kennedy). The United States was still unsuccessful and beginning to look weak. After that, America got serious. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy asked Congress for around eight billion dollars to build up the space program over the next five years (John F. Kennedy). The president declared, “This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth” (John F. Kennedy).
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.
Bill Nye, the “Science Guy,” asserts, “NASA is an engine of innovation and inspiration as well as the world's premier space exploration agency, and we are well served by politicians working to keep it that way, instead of turning it into a mere jobs program, or worse, cutting its budget.” The United States of America’s government is currently in an economic debt encompassing billions of US dollars. Unfortunately, the government has attempted to balance finances by cutting the funding for most programs, including NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA, in over half a century, has brought the most economic, technological, and social benefits than any other program held here in the USA, as well as any other extraterrestrial program in the world. The last thing this nation needs is the cutting of NASA finances. NASA should be receiving more funding because the Earth will not last forever and humans will need a place to live, there’s a curiosity within humans about the vast universe they live in, there is evidence to suggest life on other planets, the USA’s superpower status will be improved, and the economical income NASA brings is more efficient than any other governmental or educational program.
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
Humanity’s first exploration into space changed the world of astronautics by revolutionizing space travel for both the USSR and the United States. After WWII ended, many countries were torn apart and general enmity radiated from opposing countries. This period of political and military hostility is known as the Cold War, and it lasted from 1945-1991 (Kramer) However, two powerful nations were the main antagonists of the Cold War- Russia, (formerly known as the USSR), and the United States. As these two countries started threatening each other with attacks, the compulsion to defend themselves skyrocketed. Their nuclear weapon stockpiles increased dramatically, and on October 30, 1961, the USSR tested and detonated their biggest nuclear bomb, called the Tsar Bomba. This bomb was unique in the fact that it was the largest nuclear bomb ever detonated (and remains so), having the energy equivalent to 50 million tons of TNT (“Th...
After World War II both the United States and the Soviet Union realized how important rocket research would be to the military. So they each hired the top rocket scientists from Germany to help with their research. After they hired them both sides were making a lot of progress. The Space Race began in 1955 when the Americans announced that they would start launching satellites into orbit. The Soviets took the US announcement as a challenge and established a group whose goal was to beat the US in putting a satellite into orbit. Even though the United States started the competition the Soviets still won because they launched the first successful satellite into orbit, put a dog into outer space and also put the first man into outer space. Some might say that the United States won because they put the first man on the moon, which was a huge feat made by the Americans. So for winning many missions against the U.S. the Soviets won the Space Race.
When the United States realized that the Soviet Union had successfully launched Sputnik into space, the United States started to develop the technology which made the moon landing possible. On July 20, Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface, and the U.S. had beaten the Soviets to the moon. However, satellites created during the space race could be used as high powered spying devices for both the United States and the Soviet Union, and they could be used in other militaristic ways such as shooting a Soviet nuclear missile out of high altitude, which was proposed by President Reagan in the Strategic Defense Initiative. The space race was not an entirely good
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.
By being in a very technologically advanced era, scientists can invent revolutionary devices never thought of. NASA is doing that right now and has been doing that since it began. They are not only climbing the stairs in space exploration but in the medical industry, too. Nevertheless, they are forever changing millions of lives by using all they have discovered. Most of all, they are teaching people a life lesson, to always use the things you have for the greater good. NASA has achieved profound success ever since their start in 1958 and they will continue to make discovery and innovation their first and foremost goal for years to come.