Dbq Space Race Essay

In 1961, the United States of America was embroiled in the Cold War with the Soviet Union. This confrontation was taking place not only on land, sea and air, but in space as well. On May 25th, 1961 recently elected US President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of Congress, during which he outlined his now famous Man on the Moon challenge. It was through this ambitious dream that the creation of the National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA) came about, which President Kennedy challenged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Although he didn't live to see the achievement of his dreams, the United States successfully landed Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin on the moon on July 20, 1969 and

President Truman responded by saying that American would build a hydrogen bomb, which is better and more dangerous they an atomic weapon could ever be, which caused the Soviets to copy them yet again. The next part of their rivalry became the space race. The Soviets sent Sputnik, the first satellite into space. This made America angry and the next year they sent their own satellite into space, Explorer I.

Many Americans were fearful that the Soviet Union would be able to posses the ability to launch missiles from space[History Channel]. As a result of these fears, the US launched their own satellite and President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1958. In 1961, another blow was taken by the US space program when the Soviet Union launched the first manned spaceflight [History]. This caused US policy makers to fear that they were starting to fall behind the Soviet Union, which lead to major investments in better education in math and science[CFR]. Shortly thereafter, President John F Kennedy made a bold claim that declared the US would land a

We have always dreamed about reaching the heavens. From ancient civilizations to the modern day world, our obsession of going into space has grown from studying the stars to actual exploration of space. We have come a long way since primitive charts of constellations. From telescopes to satellites, we as a population have progressed greatly in the world of technology. In a mere forty years, we have had more technological advances than the Industrial Revolution. The Space Race has affected our everyday lives; we use the same technology that the astronauts used during their missions for example digital clocks (Dismukes http://spaceflight.nasa.gov). Many industries have benefited, communication companies, industrial manufacturers, and the

The public attention of Americans was captivated by the Space Race— from its beginning with the launch of Soviet Sputnik in 1957 until the landing of Apollo 11 in 1969. This attention was captured using a relatively new medium of media: television. Through their representation in national televised media, astronauts became the ultimate American heroes. Additionally, through the depiction of the national media, Soviets were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their failed efforts to surpass the United States' advancements and to prove the Communist system (“The Space”). Some call the Apollo program, and the Space Race in its entirety, a child of the Cold War. Following the launch of Sputnik, the United States responded by building a foundation for its own space program— NASA (Balogh 14). This led to the United States reclaiming its unofficial title of the most technologically-advanced nation in the world following the successful lunar landing of the Apollo 11

During the midst of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and United States were doing all that they could to appear as the bigger superpower of the world. After the Soviets had launched the world’s first satellite, Sputnik, into space as well as the first man, the U.S did all it could to try and one-up the Soviets. In response, President John F. Kennedy stood in front of Congress and said “I believe that this nation should commit itself achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth” (John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Mar. 2017.) Due to the Cold War putting pressure on the United States to join the space race, America was able to launch the Apollo program, and land two humans on the surface of the moon.

A team of American rocket engineers, led by Dr. Wernher von Braun launched a missile that was categorically a Jupiter-C missile from Cape Canaveral Florida. In comparison to this American device, entitled the Explorer I, the Sputnik I was a beastly hunk of metal. The Explorer I was torpedo shaped and was eighty inches long and just over thirty pounds, a fraction of the weight of the Sputnik I. Unlike the 1957 launch of the Vanguard, a previous American Satellite that was a utter failure, this experiment actually was successful in becoming America's first Satellite to orbit Earth. Although critics of the American Presidency of the time believe that President Eisenhower only authorized the launch of Explorer I to cover up the failures of Americans lacking space program, he did not publicize the launch and oversell the capabilities of the satellites before hand has he did with the Vanguard launch. But initial failure or not, America had its first successful satellite launch, due to the pressure that the soviet launch of Sputnik I placed on the American Space

When the Soviets launched Sputnik l, the World’s first artificial satellite into space October 4th, 1957, the United States was blindsided, and had to act fast.

Paragraph 1: The space race was a key factor to the development of spaceflight capability. This competition between the United States and the USSR for supremacy in spaceflight efficiency began on August 2, 1955. When the United States said that they would launch artificial satellites in the future, the Soviet Union acted quickly by beating the U.S. with the the October 4, 1957 “Sputnik,” that orbited the Earth every 98 minutes with its elliptical path. The U.S. was impacted dramatically, science became a priority in schools and universities

On October fourth, 1957, Russia launches the satellite Sputnik. Suspicions were high in the United States during the cold war and, the launching of Sputnik, raised them even higher. There was always the lingering threat of a nuclear attack, that had everyone on edge. Preparing shelters and running drills became the norm of a once confidant, nation. Espionage was also on the rise between the two nations. It shouldn’t be a surprise that The United States, saw the launching of Sputnik as a nefarious event, to say

The United States had answered both Soviet accomplishments with their own satellite launch after sputnik, and delivered a American in space within a month of Gagarin’s successful flight, but America needed to establish their dominance in space and

The Space Race was parallel to the Arms Race. It began around 1955. This was the race of aeronautics. The first artificial satellite called Sputnik, was launched by Russia on October 4, 1957. Sputnik 2 was launched a month later. After a year on October 1, 1958 NASA was created by the United States. NASA was and is the “leading force in scientific research and in stimulating public interest in aerospace exploration.” (nasa.gov) Vice President Johnson said that NASA was created so that “the American people do not go to bed under the light of a communist moon.” The United States was willing to do anything to stop the spread of communism. In response to Sputnik the United States launched the Explorer 1. Through the Explorer 1, radiation zones that surround the earth was able to be documented. These encircling zones was later called the Van Allen Radiation Belt. The “largest nonmilitary technological endeavor undertaken by the United States” was the Apollo Program. This program had its feats and challenges, but

On October 4th, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first ever satellite, Sputnik. The launch of Sputnik sent the United States into a frenzy, beginning the Space Race, and the innovation of technology as a whole. The Space Race most importantly had a major impact on the evolution of the United States’s defense technologies through the launch of Sputnik. The Space Race sparked the United States battle for technological superiority against the USSR, and lead to improvizations in their satellite and satellite defense technologies.

Technical condition of the space race can be traced back to World War II rocket technology matures, but the contest itself from the conduct of international relations began after World War II and Cold War tensions. The formation of the "Cold War" situation after World War II, making the United States and the Soviet Union the two countries in various fields in a fierce competition. Manned space flight as a manifestation of high-tech, of course, as their fight for territory. October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union

The Soviet Scientist that created Sputnik 1 knew little about outer space when designing it. Upon its launch in 1957, the Soviet Union became pioneers in space as Sputnik 1 because the first artificial satellite to orbit the earth. Additionally, Sputnik 1 helped the Soviets expand their knowledge about space as the learned about the density of the atmosphere from Sputnik 1’s orbit. Consequentially, the launch of Sputnik 1 had geopolitical effects as it initiated the now infamous “Space Race” between the United States and the Soviet Union. America would respond by launching Explorer 1 into in 1958, and both sides researched and developed their satellite technology over the next few years.