Up, Up and Away with the Space Race

The NASA Space Program is one of the most, if not, the most known space program that is currently active. One of the most successful projects was the “Space Race”. In this essay I will discuss what happened on the political side, the economical side, and the social/public side of this event and race to beat and get ahead of Russia and their launch of Sputnik 1.

Have you heard of the “Space Race”? It all began when the Soviet Union sent the first artificial satellite “Sputnik 1” into space. After that the United States rushed to catch up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances, and the Space Race started. The Space Race finally ended in 1969, when we sent the first man to land on the moon. The Space Race had many impacts on the Cold War.

In addition to initiating a space race between the two current superpowers, the Sputnik spacecraft launch also had alarming military implications. The Sputnik satellites used intercontinental ballistic missiles that were initially used for their thrust capabilities but could theatrically be capable of flying from the Soviet Union to United States military targets in less than an hour—cutting the flight time to a fraction of a conventional bomber aircraft. In response to the launch of Sputnik, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. The act created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . To prevent the rise of Soviet dominance in military matters, Eisenhower also established the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Defense. This was symbolic of a serious revelation of the standing of the scientific and technological capabilities of America in comparison to other countries, and also led to President Eisenhower issuing a proclamation to increase funding for education in America in science and engineering to combat this widening deficit. The quick Soviet lead in the newly emerging space race caused much panic, which shaped American foreign policy for the following decade(Document E). An example is avoiding “an all-out war with China” for fear of having to combat communism on two fronts.(Document

The launch of the Sputnik had such a big impact on America because “America thought of themselves as the world’s technological leaders” (Richerme 35). Also “the Soviets, after all, were not supposed to be good at technology” (DeGroot 3). This scared America and brought them into a big crisis or as some call a race. This race was known as the space race and it was a very long and twisted path that it bared on its shoulders.

From this technological race came the “Space Race” that led to mankind’s first steps towards exploring the universe beyond Earth. The first move of the Space Race occurred when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite to successfully travel in space, on October 4, 1957. The satellite orbited the Earth for more than ninety days, and its sole capability was to emit a beeping noise only audible on certain radio frequencies (“National Debate Topic…”). The first U.S. satellite, named Explorer 1, was sent into orbit just three months later on January 31, 1958. From these technological advances developed new, more challenging goals such as sending a man into space, which called for the national funding of a program that could push the United States into the forefront of the fight. Thus, NASA was created by the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958, which President Eisenhower signed on July 29, 1958 (“Creation of NASA” 261). This moment did not officially begin the NASA however; the program truly began in 1915 with the creation of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). The stated goal of the Committee was to “…supervise and direct the

The period after World War Two, known as the Cold War, was a period of brinkmanship between the world superpowers, the Soviet Union and the United States. This conflict was fought across the world as these two powers tried to advance their ideologies while blocking the others through military battles and by social prestige. Among the arms race between these powers, a technological battle unfolded, called the Space Race. This race sent humans into space as the two sides took huge risks to outperform the other, giving humanity some of its greatest achievements. This paper will look at the events and outcome surrounding the space race and answer three main questions. First, what led up the Space Race and the Soviet Union’s early victories? Second, how did the United States respond? Fourth, how did the Space Race affect the Cold War? Fourth, what made the United States Space Program more successful compared to the Soviet Union’s?

"We choose to go to the moon. 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, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962, and it encompasses the dedication the US had to winning the Space Race, a space technology race between the United States and Soviet Russia. The Space Race would soon become a huge competition led by many big factors and decisions. Overall, The Space Race started with the USSR's launch of Sputnik, an event which fueled nationalism in both countries, and ended with the United States landing a man on the moon.

From 1957 to 1975, the event known as the Space Race that took place not only encouraged space exploration but also brought international attention and recognition to the country. The tension created from the Cold War and the desire for the control of space started a rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union that would last for almost a decade. During this period, many monuments that were once thought impossible were being reached and surpassed. The Space Race also promoted the development and innovation in technologies as well as popularized astronauts as role models to the American people. In addition to the influence that the outcome of the event had on the United States and the Soviet Union, the Space Race positively impacted

This investigation will explore the question: How did the US win the space race, and its impact on Modern Technology? The years 1945 to 1975 are the main area of focus in this investigation, as these years caused the build up to the space race. This investigation will compare the attitude and implementation approch between the two players –USA and USSR.

The space race begun in 1957 with the launch of Sputnik by the Soviet Union. In addition, the United States aerospace innovation was considerably prompted by the government’s steady upward ratcheting of requirements for the acceleration, efficiency, and performance based on speedily evolving project requirements. “Fifteen thousand workers had arrived on the outskirts on (the city of) Sacramento” (pg.55) in California due to the rising aerospace industry. David Beers

On October 4th, 1957 the simple action of launching a beachball-sized hunk of metal into our orbit, reshaped the lives of people in the United States and across the world for the next years to come. This small ball of metal was Sputnik, a Soviet satellite with a radio transmitter inside letting out a small “beeping” sound. This object, as unsophisticated as it was, had the power to set the entire country into panic. To US officials this action not only made it clear that the Soviet superpower of Russia was more technologically advanced, but for all we knew they could be putting nuclear warfare into space. To the US this thought was unbearable, and because of this it would go on to set off a race of the century, the Space Race. A race to put technology into space, a race that would change American life at home and in foreign policy. From changes within the school system, to the Red Scare, life would be changed drastically in the years to come, not only in the U.S, but in Russia as well.

The space race was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union that occurred during the Cold War. They competed for dominance in space technology and spaceflight, which spurred many significant inventions and events. Some of these inventions and events include the first-ever landing on the moon, the first artificial satellite to be launched into the Earth’s orbit, the establishment of NASA, the invention of the microprocessor computer, the invention of satellite communication technology, and other direct and indirect impacts. Each of the different events and inventions that spawned from the space race have had significant impacts on the United States economy.

President Kennedy’s contribution to the expansion of U.S space program was critical to helping a man land on the moon. On May 25, 1961, he stood before the Congress to say a special message on “urgent national needs”. He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program (“Space Program” n.pag.). President Kennedy understood the wanting to bring back America’s confidence and not planning just to match the Soviets, but to go beyond them. Project Apollo became NASA’s priority after President Kennedy announced “I believed this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is

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.

Pre Apollo 11, was the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Space Race was a Cold War competition between the two countries. Sputnik is what sparked the start of the Space Race in 1957. The Soviet’s launch of the satellite Sputnik 1 shocked the United States and the rest of the world (Griggs). “The Soviet launch of the first Sputnik satellite was one accomplishment in a string of technological successes. Few in the United States had anticipated it, and even those who did were not aware of just how impressive it would be” (history.state.gov). Thus, encouraging the United States to get ahead of the game by President Eisenhower pouring additional funds into the space program