Space : The Impact Of Space Travel In Space

The Space Race exacerbated the tense relationship between the USA and USSR to a greater extent. From 1957 to 1969 (the accepted duration of the Race), it created tension because the advancements made in Space technology translated directly into ideological superiority and military power. However, from 1970 to 1979, after the Race had ended and Cold War tensions were easing, collaborations in Space encouraged co-operation between the two countries.

Man’s curiosity for the environment that surrounds him fuels the ambition to explore past the realms of his being. The space race marked the first time homo sapiens were able to escape and extend their biosphere. This age is filled with technological advancement. The space race gave the ability for a new age of technological advancements to occur. Almost every technological device that is produced or owned by people in the 21st century world contains technology that was invented or derived from the space race. Technology is the product of modernization and industrialization. Society is forced to make adjustments in social, economic and political institutions as humans continue to progress. The results and the success of the space race was and still is a great triumph for mankind. However, the motive for the United States and the Soviet Union for reaching space is not explicit. Although the space race and the resulted technological innovations in science had elements that benefited human progress in a substantial manner, the general motive for the space race lies within the political aspect of society and the repercussions that came with the cold war.

RQ: How and to what extent did the Space Race have a impact on United States’s defense technologies?

The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space. From 1955 until 1975, both sides battled it out to be the leader in the competition. Fueled by the Cold War and other causes of the beginning of the race, the Soviet Union and the United States fought for authority in a very public manner through the media. There were many achievements at this time and it led the way for many great things to come afterwards.

The Space Race, occurring between 1957 and 1975, allowed both the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and The United States of America to develop technology and spread their respective communist and capitalist ideologies. The Space Race allowed the two nations to compete for superiority in a non-lethal arena. Unlike other confrontations, the Space Race also gave both parties the platform to prove their superiority to their own nations through frequent propaganda use in the form of film, television, paintings, cartoons, posters, ect. Propaganda allowed both nations to influence people's attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours by injecting their own political ideology.

The Space Race was a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to see which nation could achieve spaceflight dominance before the other. The Race began on August 2, 1955 and ended nearly 40 years later in December of 1991. The Space Race began because of two major factors that would carry it until its end. The Soviet Union’s announcement that they were going to began building and using satellites to use in space days before the United States planned to announce the same thing helped fuel the fire for the competition. The Cold War also played a very influential role in the competitiveness between the countries and would inspire them to be better and work harder than their rival. The general public also played a key role in the race. Reinforcing your country’s involvement in the race gave them the all clear to spend money to build these space crafts, satellites and other technology in order to not only win, but to please the people. If a country has the support of its people they can accomplish anything. Propaganda like posters became a great way of encouraging the people to get involved and stay involved. Posters depicted great spaceships only seen in movies, engrained a hatred for the opposing country, the influence the race had on the future, and astronauts as real life superheroes like Superman. Most importantly the Space Race was a time of great inventions that carry on to

The concept of space exploration was first introduced to the American public in 1961 when President John F. Kennedy famously stood before congress and vowed that America would put a man on the moon “within the decade.” With hopes of defeating the Soviet Union in the “Space Race” and gaining a leg-up in the Cold War, NASA funding reached its all-time high in 1965-1966 when about four percent of the federal budget was devoted to exploring space. Since then however, funding dedicated to exploring space has nose-dived to about one-half of a percent of the federal budget (Tyson), with plans to cut that figure by an additional $260 million in 2017 (cite NASA funding cuts). Experts in the space-sciences field argue that increased funding in space exploration would re-ignite the American economy and return America to the scientific prominence it was once known for, while, on the other end of the spectrum, naysayers suggest that exploring space is an economic sink-hole that the United States can no longer afford to deposit to given its own earth-bound troubles.

Although space exploration is now being emphasized on and invested in, what does this do to benefit earth or even every individual who lives on Earth? Many writers, engineers, mathematicians, and chemists can agree that space exploration is going to provide more research for medicine and environmental factors. Others may also argue that the risks of exploring another planet will be too damaging because the life or atmosphere as it is will not be the same after humans have made their print on it.

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.

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into space called, “Sputnik”. It was the start of one of the biggest races in the world called “The Space Race”. But it isn’t the start of the race that is questionable but the very end. On July 19, 1969 the United States supposedly landed 3 men on the moon. More than a billion people around the globe watched this event occur on their television sets as Neil Armstrong said “That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for mankind.” But was it really a giant leap for mankind? Or was it one of the ways the U.S tried to fool us into believing they really did land on the moon? The Space Race wasn’t only about being the first to land on the moon but would also be a major sign of dominance over the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Many believe the U.S was not capable of accomplishing this so they had no choice but to fool the world into believe they landed on the moon and won the Space Race.

The space race was the event the began the interest in space exploration. It all started in 1957 during the Cold War, when there was tension between America and the Soviet Union. There was also new technology from the war. According to Murray (Date unknown) “Many people believed the nation that controlled the skies could win any war.”(para. 5). So when the Soviet Union decided to launch the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into orbit America was not happy.

October 4, 1957: The Russia launched Sputnik into space. Thus began the seemingly-eternal battle for control of space exploration. Who would get the first man into space; to the Moon, to Mars? Everything that could be done by either country was being done to give the edge. It soon became obvious to all that neither country was going to back down from the challenge. However, a lot has changed since 1957, governments have slumped, privatized exploration has taken charge. . . what happened? Where is space exploration going? Where is the human race, today?

Did you know that the Soviet Union was the first to launch something outside of Earth’s orbit? In the 1960’s, the Soviet Union speed up the advancement of space science, faster than the United States ever could, during the Space Race. First of all, they were the first to start the Space Race and continually kept going onward to try new concepts and/or more concepts. On the other hand, the Soviet Union were more focused on witnessing who’s better. Finally, the Soviet Union were the ones who sent multiple of inventions into space, but still had a bunch of trial and error and learned what worked and what didn’t work.

Space travel has become a growing event in the world and has assisted in advancing our knowledge as well as providing information about the solar system. As the human race continues to grow, the need for resources continues to grow as well and finding new places to inhabit as well as being able to find new resources is becoming more important. The issue that needs to be addressed currently is the air quality onboard the space habitats, stations and vehicles. There have been advancements in that section, but new challenges arise that have negative impacts on the crew. Despite these issues, however, there is not an immediate need to stop space exploration as long as these issues are being worked on.

If humans hope to undertake space travel and investigate our solar system and beyond, space travel first have to make it affordable, relevant and interesting to the general public and the private sector and the government have to work together. New technology has to be developed, including more sustainable rockets, new fuel propagation methods and energy consumption techniques that can allow for prolonged space travel. But before making plans for space travel, the costs that come along with launching objects or humans into the final frontier of space have to be reduced significantly. A good way to increase the public interest and to raise money for space travel is to commercialize low earth orbit flights. Low Earth Orbit is only about 400 km above the Earth; the International Space Station (ISS) is currently hovering in Low Earth Orbit in the thermosphere of Earth’s atmosphere (1). Some companies have started selling the idea that for a certain price one can now travel to Low Earth Orbit and get the feeling of temporarily floating in space due to the decreased effect of gravity. Of course it is very expensive to buy a ticket to participate in one of these flights but commercializing the idea of flying to space and becoming an astronaut can help fund future space endeavors. Also, we are starting to see more and more partnerships developing between private companies interesting in space travel and the National Aeronautics and Space