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The Space Race And It 's Overall Support From The General Public

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[Thesis: The Space Race and it 's overall support from the general public can be credited to the prevalence of Science fiction in American pop-culture.]
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After the Second World War, the Soviet Union had completely fallen apart with nearly 27 million Soviets dead and as many as 1,700 of its cities destroyed (Siddiqi 23). Its entire economy, including its previously booming industry, was in a massive crisis leaving no funding for studies as seemingly immaterial as rocketry. Though it lacked funding from the federal government, Soviet engineers understood the future necessity for rocket technology and were still determined to learn how to recreate and improve upon the rocket designs created by Nazi Germany. Some of the greatest technological advances made by the Third Reich prior to its defeat were in nuclear weaponry and the creation of the the A-4 rocket (also known as the V-4 or Vengence-4). Developed in the world’s largest rocket research facility to date, the rocket was first tested in 1942 and had the capability to be launched up to 205 miles and reach heights close to 60 miles (nearly out of the Earth’s atmosphere) causing severe destruction to it’s unsuspecting target (Anatoly). Both the Soviet Union and the United States understood the great potential that this technology held and would do anything in their power to obtain it.
After the suicide of Adolf Hitler and later most of his high ranking officers, Germany surrendered to

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