The Space Race, A Space Technology Race

The space race was an event that shaped America as we know it, and the man that came up with the idea to control the moon, John F. Kennedy, had a major impact on history. The United States and Russia were competing to land on the moon during a time of tension. NASA’s funding increased to get an man

John F. Kennedy once said, "No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in this race for space...We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard”. The main motive for this quote was to ensure that the United States wanted to beat out the Soviets in the space race. Ever since the Soviets tried to advance on the moon, the United States wanted to be the first successful nation to accomplish the first ever moon landing. At the time, the tension between the United States and the Soviets was very strong because the Cold War just ended and neither nation wanted to lose to each other in the space race. Just as the

On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, a small satellite, successfully into orbit, and the Space Race truly

Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin stepped out of the landing module onto the lunar surface on July 20, 1969 marking the first time in human history man had stepped food on a celestial body other than Earth. This event effectively won a more than 10 year competition of scientific advancement and research for the USA, bringing humans to the heavens and setting many precedents for the Cold War. This was known as the “Space Race” between the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, commonly known as the USSR or the Soviet Union. This event reflected both countries situations in three major ways: politically, socially, and economically.

The Space Race, occurring between 1957 and 1975, allowed both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and The United States of America to develop technology and spread their respective communist and capitalist ideologies. The Space Race allowed the two nations to compete for superiority in a non-lethal arena. Unlike other confrontations, the Space Race also gave both parties the platform to prove their superiority to their own nations through frequent propaganda use in the form of film, television, paintings, cartoons, posters, ect. Propaganda allowed both nations to influence people's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours by injecting their own political ideology.

How did the Space race improve society with their advanced technology? We know they had advanced in technology that wasn't here 50 years ago, but, how did technology built for space go in our everyday lives? One of the most obvious technologies that we created was Satellite Tv, this is one of the tech breakthroughs that we couldn't think of a life without to keep us entertained. The same goes for computers and laptops. The Space Race made satellites a possibility when they were used to communicate with astronauts before soon they made satellite dishes. NASA invented many pieces of technology that both benefited them in space and people at home watching TV, playing on their video games and even where I'm typing this on... the computer.

During the Cold War between 1947-1991, the Space Race took place between the United States of America and the Soviet Union, the two superpowers of the world. The Cold War was a time of political tension between both nations; the Space Race is just a small segment of the story to be explained of the forty-four year time period. The Space Race was never intentionally made between the two powers, but became a natural stand to show who is the more commanding country. The main reason of the Space Race was to see which country had the most potential in not only spaceflight, but as an overall country. The significance of the Space race was to show dominance over either country by placing a satellite into orbit, sending the first men to space, and

On May 25, 1961 President John Kennedy made to a special joint session of Congress and stated the following “I believe 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 Earth.” This was the start to the fire of the Space Race. The Space Race was a time where the U.S and the Soviet Russians were going head to head for power, control, and weapons. A critical point in the Cold War, the Space Race defined technology at the time and proved the capacity of human making. With millions of people watching a “global competition”, with the only goal being the first on the moon.

The technological advances made possible by the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reach far beyond traveling to the moon. Today, NASA has contributed to many scientific discoveries that provide insight to the vast universe in which the Earth exists. During the period of time directly after World War II, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union culminated in a technological race that required the establishment of a government agency dedicated to the advancement of knowledge in aeronautics and space. The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 (NASAct) passed because of widespread support due to the heightened technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and resulted

How did the Space Race improve our society? The space race helped society achieve so many things for so many people. There were new technology inventions, better education, and a greater appreciation of earth. Here are some technological devices that because of the space race there was inventions such as, Satellite tv, laptops, satellite navigation, and non-reflective displays and as of today we still use this type of technology and without the cause of the space race, these inventions would have never been discovered. We have gone from giant full room computers to small handheld devices. As said before, without the space race the technology that has been discovered up to this day they would have never been found.

"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 the earth." ( President Kennedy, 1962)

During the 20th century, both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), and the United States were in a heated competition commonly known as the Space Race. It began with the Soviets launching the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, on October 7, 1957. The Soviets continued their lead with the first man in space, Yuri Gagarin. There is speculation as to exactly when the Space Race ended, as the most common theory is the Apollo-Soyuz project in 1975 however, other opinions say that the Apollo 8 mission had marked the end , proving that travel to the moon was possible. Regardless, the space race left a significant impact on the technology world that still affects us to this very day.

During the what is considered to be the most heated section of the Space Race during 1960s, it was a NASA Administrator named James Webb who held fast, determined and calling upon all his skills, he went on to push the U.S. rocket program past seemingly never ending political barriers, far beyond the outstretched hands of jealous rivals, and forward on to success. James Edwin Webb was only the second administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, established semi-recently in 1958. NASA was created with the idea that the United States could develop a state-of-the-art space exploration program that would go on to outdo, and unravel the Soviet Union's program. The U.S. was quickly sinking into the swamp that was the Cold

The objectives of Sputnik were to “provide information on the density of the atmosphere by calculating its lifetime in orbit, test radio and optical methods of orbital tracking, determine the effects of radio wave propagation through the atmosphere, and check principles of pressurization used on the satellites” (NASA Content Administrator). Putting the first human-made object in space, the Soviets contribution shocked the world especially Americans. Fearful of Soviet military control of space, Americans launched their first satellite called the Explorer I, which measured the radiation environment in Earth orbit, after four months from Sputnik’s I launch (Loff, Sarah). The Soviets won or led the race again by putting the first man in space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first person to orbit earth on April 1961, traveling in a spacecraft called Vostok I(The Cold War Museum).

Soon after the ending of World War II, the United States had another battle to win: -- the Space Race. The Space Race was a competition of firsts against the Soviet Union. Which nation would be the first to have a man in space? Which nationality would take the first space walk? Who would be the first to have a man on the moon? These were the questions that swirled through the minds of Americans and Russians alike. After Russia took the lead, it was time for the U.S. to set out to do what seemed impossible— -- land a man on the moon. But before this began, Americans had some preparing to do. Gemini 9A was one of these preparations.