Space Exploration Thesis

In the period after World War II, from the late 1940’s up until the 1990’s, the United States and their allies were engaged in a “cold” war with the Soviet Union and its allies. Except for minor proxy wars between countries supported by the respective sides, no major wars were fought between the U.S. and the USSR. Nonetheless, tensions were extremely high for many years and the two superpowers constantly went back and forth trying to best the other. Likely the most well-known of these competitions was the Space Race. Battling for cosmic supremacy from the late 1950’s to 1969, the two countries traded many victories over the years and pushed each other to their technological apexes.

The Space Race is a pivotal part of the Cold War’s history. During the ending of World War II, both the United States and the Soviet Union initiated a military, political, and technological supremacy battle. There was no physical fighting, instead both superpowers competed through space exploration. Between 1957-1969 the United States and the Soviet Union battled to overcome and take control over space which led to tensions alleviating in the 1970’s causing the pressure and necessity to decrease resulting in both superpowers collaborating in many tasks. Many of the technology that dealt with space exploration began with military affiliations. The

Along with the technological advances and new theories of the last century, humans have developed a need to explore beyond the known of the final frontier. This resource of knowledge has led to superstitions and concerns about what could happen if people pursue this want of space exploration. Among these concerns are national finances, the world’s health, and ethical standpoints of what really could be waiting on the other side for those who dare venture into the unknown.

For 50 years, both the United States and the USSR competed for world dominance. One way they competed for those 50 years was the Space Race, an ideological war. The Cold War led to the Space Race because the US wanted to prevent the spread of communism, to stop the Soviet’s espionage on the military and to compete with the USSR on technological superiority.

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?

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

The Cold War was not a fight with weapons, but rather a collection of competitions between the Soviet Union and the United States in order to prove whose government is superior. The most impactful competition, that occurred during this time, was the space race. The space race consisted of many successful and failed attempts by both countries to reach space. It

During the Cold War, the political tension between the United States and the Soviet Union extended to a race of space exploration between the two countries. The Space Race began after the launch of Sputnik I in 1957, sending the United States in a state of panic. Americans felt threatened by the Soviet Union’s technological advancements and they feared that if they lost their status as the world’s dominate military power it would open them up to attacks from space. Almost everyone agreed that space exploration needed to be made a priority, but after failed attempts to launch their satellite, questions arose to whether or not space exploration deserved more federal attention. After much debate over the control of space research, the Department

The Space Race was a time of great exploration, and created many new techniques in the studies of science and technology. Many new techniques of engineering and technological advances resulted as positives of the Space Race. The cause of this great exploration and learning was fueled by rivalry and competitiveness of two governments, the Soviet Union and The United States. The Soviet Union and the United States were in a race to see which could reach space supremacy first. This rivalry unfolded in front of millions of spectators, and instilled a sense of competiveness into the viewers. During the mid nineteen-sixties, the achievements of the United States space program caused them to leap ahead of the Soviet Union space program, which was very unexpected. The achievements by the United States during the Space Race in the nineteen-sixties created a gap in space exploration between the Soviet Union space program and the United States space program because the United States was able extremely motivated by government forces and was able to achieve great technological advances in their space crafts.

Barely even half a decade after World War II, the world would again enter a war of a different nature where tensions between United States and Soviet Union would continue to rise as both sides threatened to use weaponry that if used would evidently lead to mutual and total destruction. Known as the Cold War, these two nations with their respective alliances, NATO and Warsaw Pact, would be in constant political conflict caused by their clashing ideologies and beliefs. In what would later be known as the Space Race, to stay ahead of the other in technological advancements these two nations would compete against each other in the exploration of the world beyond earth,serving as a showcase of more advanced rocket technology that could be applied

Likewise, it was during the Cold War that the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics started an event known as the ‘Space Race.’ Each country would fight for the “superiority of its technology, its military firepower and (by extension) its political-economic system.” (The Space Race) Guided by an intercontinental ballistic missile, the USSR launched the first man-made satellite Sputnik into the orbit of the Earth’s atmosphere on October 4, 1957. The United States was astounded by the demonstration of Soviet missile power and technology, and caused the United States to compare the launch to possible undiscovered nuclear warheads that may had been produced by Soviet intelligence. (Space Race)

After WWII, the United States and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies engaged in a series of political, economic, military and technological competitions collectively known as the Cold War, which ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. One product of the Cold War, in particular, is of unique interest: the Space Race. Initially, the Space Race seemed to be extensions of U.S. and Soviet military programs; it then transformed into a technological and political competition between the two aforementioned countries; eventually, the Space Race transcended the concept of competition, and became an international effort of space exploration, and especially, a means for the U.S. and USSR to make amends to their broken relationships.

Humans have dreamed of leaving the earth and traveling space for many years, and up to this day they have taken many steps in the right direction. Yet, with every new frontier they approach, new problems loom over the horizon. Some of these problems arise right here on Earth. Some of the issues have been resolved, such as escaping the forces of gravity to reach outer space. Most of the problems are far more arduous and the solutions need more time to be worked out properly. In “The Coming Schism” by James E. and Alcestis R. Oberg, they posit that humans can colonize space. Humans need to buckle up and build the technology which will help to solve problems that would arise to

In the article, anecdotes are used in the passage to explain Roach’s point about humans being the most interesting part of space exploration. A story about “‘Some poor guy in a spacesuit running on a treadmill suspended” tells us about “a way, to visit space without leaving Earth”, it gives us a story into human’s interests on space exploration that shows how unpredictable we are. This supports the assertion that humans are the most interesting component of space exploration because it gets a small inside to the plans people have and the stories they have on the way. In addition, this helps supports the author’s purpose to argue because it argues that we are learning new things to challenge ourselves as humans from our past experiences. Nevertheless,

We have dreamt of spaceflight since ancient times. Humans have developed and thought of many ways to acquire this immense feat and it wasn’t till the 20th century mankind were able to build rockets powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity. Since then, we’ve successfully sent mankind to the moon, rovers to mars and space probes deep into the reaches of our solar system. Nations have striven to advance and attain great heights in the field of space exploration. The constant competitiveness between USA and USSR during the cold war led to many major breakthroughs in the history of space exploration beginning with USSR launching the first international space station and USA successfully landing a human on the moon. The international space station (ISS) stands as the basis of how international collaboration can affect space exploration. Even though some nations are unwilling to work together, space exploration provides a platform for nations to form relationships that benefits one another and create beneficial relationships with each other.