Sputnik And The Space Race

The space race started when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik on October 4, 1957. Sputnik was the very first artificial satellite and the first man-made object in space. This scared and upset many Americans. They worried that if the Soviets could launch a satellite into space, then they could also launch nuclear missiles. One month later, the USSR launched Sputnik II, which was larger than Sputnik I and it carried Laika, the first living being in space. The US saw space as the next frontier to explore and they did not want to lose too much ground to the Soviets, so in response America launched their own satellite, Explorer I, in January 1958, marking their entrance into the race. And in that same year, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated solely to space travel, was created.

​Like I stated before the famous space race began in 1957 between the Soviet Union and the United States. They were both racing to see who could explore more of our Solar System. Space exploration was a large part of

Although there is disagreement on the precise date that the Space Race began, the moment that it became an important competition that was in the forefront of the minds of everyday Americans is on April 12, 1961 when Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth in Vostok 1. (citation). This event created a feeling amongst the American public that the Russians were further ahead in science and technology than the United States, as well as the fear that the Soviets could use their superior technology to be better able to attack the USA from a distance. Shortly after Gagarin’s flight, the United States launched astronaut Alan Sheppard into

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 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.

Back then when the Cold War started, the Soviet Union always somehow came on top of USA. John F. Kennedy, at the time the U.S. president from 1961-1963, was tired of America always being in second place especially the “Space Race”. America was far behind from the Soviet Union, they send the first successful satellite into orbit and send the first man into space, while America try to send rockets into space, but usually ends up in a explosion. Especially when America tried their first lunar module landing, Apollo 1, but sadly there was some technical difficulties, then there was a fire and Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger B. Chaffee sadly died in that fire. That was the point in the “Space Race” where it looked like America lost.

The year after the launch of Sputnik, “President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating NASA,” a federal space agency dedicated to space exploration. This launch ushered in military developments, so many space programs were created to utilize the military potential of space. NASA has contributed much to the space programs while creating project Apollo. After the launch of Sputnik “NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent” while the budget increased by this massive amount, NASA’s lunar landing program

Starting after World War ll, both America and the Soviet Union had an unfortunate assumption that the other was trying to take over the world and spread their governmental policies, Democracy and Communism. This lead to hate and fear, and the overall goal of destroying those ideals. Both sides thought that their political systems were superior and tried to expand their reach on the world, steering themselves down a road paved with bitter rivalries and childish contests. One such contest, and probably the most famous, being the Space Race. Both sides were reaching out towards the unknown, but Americans believed they were far more ahead than the Russians so when the Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite, “Sputnik-1” On October 4, 1957, they were awed, scared, and offended.The Soviet Union’s launch of Sputnik created a new era in American society and influenced many pivotal aspects of daily life, including the government, education, culture, and thought process.

In counter to the Soviet Union's launch America decided to launch their own satellite. That satellite is what pushed President Dwight Eisenhower to created the Aeronautics and Space Administration A.K.A NASA (History.com Staff, 2010). Now that both the Soviet Union and America have

This federal agency was “responsible for the aerospace research and the civilian space program.”2 The space race heats up, as the soviet unions become the first to put a man in space, “ Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter earths orbit, in a single- pilot spacecraft called Vostok I,”2 however, America is not far behind; a month later Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Because of back and fourth success, US president John F. Kennedy announces “ the inauguration of the Apollo program, which pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.”2 After years of experiment, test flight, and training “ the Apollo 11 spacecraft was launched into space on July 26, 1969;” 3 in the spacecraft included astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Four days later “The Eagle” landed on the moon; Neil Armstrong stepped outside and became the first man to walk on the moon. The United States had taken a huge lead in the space race with the Apollo programs, and the relations between the Soviet Union began to thaw.

"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."- Neil Armstrong. On October 4, 1957, 7:28 PM life changed in the United States and Russia because of the launch of sputnik the first man-made object to orbit the earth. The space race wasn't just a race to space, but a Continuum of the Cold War and a competition to see who the better country was really was. The US always felt that their technology exceeded everyone else’s, but on the day of October 4, they were proven wrong; the Soviets were on top. The launch of Sputnik was a huge success, but Dwight Eisenhower would try to downplay it to avoid accepting defeat. The United States would put 400,000 people to work on the project. This is the first time the US had embarked on such on

One of the greatest achievements from many during the space race was that the Soviet Union sent the first satellite into space. This was a great achievement because satellites were used a lot and were necessary during the space race. The first satellite sent to space was known as ¨sputnik¨ and was sent on October 4,1957 by the Soviet nation during the first year of the race. According to history.com it stated, ¨ Sputnik 1 remained in orbit until January 4, 1958, when it burned up on reentering Earth atmosphere¨. Later, during the race more of these satellites were used and marking more achievements.

The Space Race began when the Soviet Union created Sputnik I, an artificial satellite. On October 4th of 1975, Sputnik I was launched into space by an ICBM, an intercontinental ballistic missile, and became the first ever satellite to enter space. The Soviets wasted little time though, and on November 3rd of the same year, they sent the first animal, a dog by the name of Laika, into space (1 ). However, it wasn’t until 1958 that the United States responded. Former president Dwight D. Eisenhower sent out troops to find former Nazi, Wernher Von Braun and his team of aerospace engineers (2). Von Braun and his team were quick to get to work, and attempted to send the Vanguard rocket into space in December of 1957, but to no avail, it failed and it wasn’t until January 31st of 1958 that the U.S. launched the Explorer and finally had a satellite in

The space race would have had changed if NASA never came to be. The National Aeronautic and Space Administration was founded in July 29, 1958. (Dunbar). This shows that NASA started in the middle of the cold war between to countries fighting for space. Nasa had a great role to play in the space race between Soviet Union and America. Nasa was created to counter the Soviets and get to space and the moon first before the Soviets did. (Dunbar). This shows that Nasa was created in a tense moment between two great

The space race did not start as one would expect with the respective American and Soviet space agencies. But rather it began with the German V2 missile launches towards the end of World War 2. The V2 missile