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How Did The Us Win The Space Race, And Its Impact On Modern Technology?

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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. Sources :
1. “Atlas of Space Exploration” written by Roger D. Launius and Andrew K. Johnston. The origin of this source is valuable, since Roger D Launis is a senior curator in the division of Space History at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. This was a valuable source since Launis has an in depth knowledge of the Space Race as he worked at the Smithsonian’s National Air …show more content…

The factors impacting the space race have been broken down in the following order:
1. German Missile Program
2. Political systems impact
3. Creation of NASA
Impact of German Missile Program and the end of the Second World War: At the end of WWII, there was race to acquire German research on the missile program. Germany had the leading research on missile technology and both the USSR and USA wanted access to it. Getting the scientists and the documentation was a key focus area for both USA and USSR. USA was lucky that they stumbled upon the German V-2 assembly facilities and the Russians reached Peenemunde only to find the scientists long gone and the facility destroyed ( Asaeng Pg 26) At the end of the war USA could secure Werhner von Braun, the inventor of the V2 rocket. The USSR took the other German scientists and brought them back to the Soviet Union. At the end of the war the USA was the dominant military power. Von Braun 's expertise has also gave it the most advanced missile technology. The question that we must ask here is that, what would have happened if the USSR had gotten hold of the German research instead of the USA. In 1949 the Soviet Union launched their very own Atomic Bomb. This was a shock to the USA because up to this point they had always assumed that only they had the bomb. The fact that both the USSR and

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