Sputnik: The Space Race

However, the Soviets were still in the lead, achieving more and more firsts: the first dual man flight, the first woman in space, the first three man flight, and the first spacewalk. Many Americans were getting worried. They saw the Soviet Union as the enemy, and right now the enemy was winning. The Americans needed something big to bring them to the lead. On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy made the bold, public announcement that the US would land a man on the moon before the decade was

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.

After the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, American citizens were very scared and document A states “… It is hard to recall the atmosphere of the time. Fallout shelters, rabid anti-Communism, a sense of imminent danger from without and within.” The failure of the Vanguard rocket didn’t help morale of the country. “On December 6, 1957, the slender, delicate instrument was fired, began to rise, and then sank back down on itself, crushing its engines and erupting into a huge fireball.”(Document F) When America finally caught up and got ahead of the Soviet Union, every American was incredibly happy and celebrated since we had the first person on the

After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle involved the two world’s greatest powers the democratic and capitalist United States against the communist Soviet Union. Beginning later in the 1950s, space would eventually become another very dramatic arena for competition between the U.S and U.S.S.R, each side looked to prove the superiority of their own technology, along with its military firepower and of course their political-economic systems. Sputnik, name of the first of several artificial satellites launched by the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1961. Successfully launched and entered Earth 's orbit. Thus, beginning the space age. The successful launch shocked the

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

During the Cold War, political and military tension ensued between the United States and the Soviet Union. The rivalry lead to proxy wars, massive propaganda, and events like the Space Race. The Space Race, lasting from 1955 to 1972, was a technological competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for spaceflight discovery and capability. Both countries strived to construct spacecraft to execute a certain task, from a weather satellite to sending animals into space. Although frequently viewed as a leap in science and technology, the Space Race was a useless and selfish attempt for the United States or the Soviet Union to help prove themselves the most dominant technological superpower because of the high expenses and minimal benefits

The Space Race caused misunderstandings and distrust between the United States and the Soviet Union that contributed to the Cold War. The webpage at history.com states that when the Soviets began

In September of 1957, the Soviet Union began testing intercontinental ballistic missiles, or ICBM’s, due to the Cold War and to show their technological advances leasing to the Space Race. The United States knew that the Soviets had the capability of building these missiles, but didn’t think they actually could (Barbree). Then on October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first man-made satellite known by the name of Sputnik, and sent the United States into a frenzy. Sputnik impacted the United States socially, politically, and economically.

The Soviets began quickly on creating new technology as a way to show their military power. On October 4, 1957 they successfully launched a satellite called Sputnik Ⅰ, it was about the size of a beach ball, and became the first satellite to orbit the earth. Soon after Sputnik Ⅰ, Sputnik Ⅱ was launched in November 3, 1957, this is considered the first time life from earth went into space because in that shuttle a dog named Laika boarded. After two successful launches from the Soviets United States became a little frightened, they came to the conclusion that if the Soviet Union had the ability to launch a satellite they could also launch a nuclear missile. Since this era was during the Cold War the thought of the Soviets having greater military power frightened the United States. As a result in January 1958 the United states decided to launch their first satellite called Explorer Ⅰ. Explorer Ⅰ carried scientific equipment that then led to that discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt, but this launch was not enough. After many more satellites being sent to space and the Soviets setting many records such as the first dual man flight, the first space walk, and the first women in space, the United States decided that they needed to go above and beyond just sending a satellite to space to be able to prove that they were

How a Satellite Changed the American Vision is a quick look at how rapidly the American public and leaders changed their view of, education, political, economic, and military programs. The successful launch of the Russian satellite, Sputnik changed how we perceived ourselves as a nation and the overall responsibility shared by two global Superpowers. Early 20th- century beliefs consisted of the following: education beyond a few grades was all most of the population deemed necessary. Political views of space exploration during this time was seen as only a military priority. Prior to the space race Civil –Military relationships consisted of public support until the military mission is complete, the military rarely supported civilian led operations up to this point. The economy changes as luxury items become more affordable and foreign factories begin to mass produce products for the

-Space Race During the Cold War between Russia and the U.S. there was a time called the space race. During which both countries rushed to have the best space developments than the other did. One of the main things was to be the first to get someone in space. As Russia and the U.S. continued the race little did they know they were advancing technology for the world. When Russia got something in space so did the U.S. and the race continued. As soon as Russia got a man in space the U.S. raced to get a man on the moon, and they did. As soon as Mr.

On october 4, 1957, in the midst of the cold war, the soviet union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to be sent into orbit sparking the space race, as well as marking the beginning of the space age(Gaber).The space race was a competition between the two biggest rivals in the world, the United States and the Soviet Union. During the space race, the United States and the Soviet Union competed to conquer space exploration. The soviet union ran two main mission Sputnik and Luna and the United State had three, Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.The space race brought on many scientific discoveries.

On October 4th, 1957 the Soviet Union launched a metal sphere, called Sputnik, that intermittently transmitted a radio signal, into orbit. This event does not seem very impressive now, but when it happened it had a massive political and psychological effect. It spawned the idea that the United States might be eclipsed by another world power in technological might and proved that the Soviet Union could make a missile that could reach the United States. As part of a broad response to this event the United States government created the Advanced Research Projects Agency, ARPA for short, which is now known as the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency or DARPA. The mission of this new agency was “to foster advanced technologies and systems that create “revolutionary” advantages for the U.S. military” (Van Atta 20). Much of this advanced technology eventually made its way to the civilian market. Without Sputnik, technology that most people living in modern countries take for granted, such as the Global Positioning System, the Internet, and modern computer operating systems, would, possibly, not exist yet.

It sent the first artificial satellite called Sputnik into orbit on October 4, 1957. Later in November of that same year, the soviets launched the second Sputnik. And This one had a dog on board with it. These two satellite launches announced the world that if they could build a rocket that could reach earth, they could also launch a missile from orbit to any American city. Because of this, Eisenhower started to step up plans for the United States first satellite. It was scheduled to launch in 1958. On December 6, the first attempt at launching a booster called Vanguard was unsuccessful. It rose only a few feet off the ground before falling back to Earth and exploded. Then the U.S. Army's made a rocket team. The team was headed by a German who led the V 2 missile. His name was Wernher von Braun. He had success at launching America's first satellite, Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. The rocket that launched the satellite was called Jupiter C. The Soviets however, were still in the lead at this time. After several launch failures, they were able to fire a small probe, called Luna 1, past the moon. They then missed the moon by 3,100 miles. This happened January 1959. On September 14, the Luna 2 struck the lunar surface. This was the first artificial object to reach another celestial body. Then in early October, the third Luna was able to go around the moon. It went back and took the first pictures of the

The launch of Sputnik changed American education. There was a new emphasis on science and space education. Sputnik inspired many young people to enter science and technology careers. The generation that was in school when Sputnik was launched went on to be a generation of scientists and engineers. It also led to an increase of science technology in the government. NASA was founded in 1958. This was in response to American fear that the Soviet