Sputnik's The Race To A Far Away Place

Now that after America and the Soviet Union where both partaking in the space race they both had suspicions about each other. Eisenhower, on the other hand, saw satellites as “pointless unless they provided something useful back on Earth” (DeGroot 5). “ A spy satellite, on the other hand, could provide accurate pictures of Soviet military capabilities, thus enabling the United States to spend its defense budget wisely, without wasting huge sums on challenging phantom forces” (DeGroot 5). America was worried about the Soviets spying on America because of security issues so America wanted to pursue on building themselves a satellite to “provide accurate pictures of Soviet military capabilities” (DeGroot 5). The only problem was that “ Flying over another nation’s territory without permission was, however, illegal under international law. What was not clear was whether the law applied to satellites” (DeGroot 5). America and the Soviets were in a battle to see which world power could be the best. The

On October 4th, 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first ever satellite, Sputnik. The launch of Sputnik sent the United States into a frenzy, beginning the Space Race, and the innovation of technology as a whole. The Space Race most importantly had a major impact on the evolution of the United States’s defense technologies through the launch of Sputnik. The Space Race sparked the United States battle for technological superiority against the USSR, and lead to improvizations in their satellite and satellite defense technologies.

In addition to initiating a space race between the two current superpowers, the Sputnik spacecraft launch also had alarming military implications. The Sputnik satellites used intercontinental ballistic missiles that were initially used for their thrust capabilities but could theatrically be capable of flying from the Soviet Union to United States military targets in less than an hour—cutting the flight time to a fraction of a conventional bomber aircraft. In response to the launch of Sputnik, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958. The act created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) . To prevent the rise of Soviet dominance in military matters, Eisenhower also established the Advanced Research Projects Agency, a division of the U.S. Department of Defense. This was symbolic of a serious revelation of the standing of the scientific and technological capabilities of America in comparison to other countries, and also led to President Eisenhower issuing a proclamation to increase funding for education in America in science and engineering to combat this widening deficit. The quick Soviet lead in the newly emerging space race caused much panic, which shaped American foreign policy for the following decade(Document E). An example is avoiding “an all-out war with China” for fear of having to combat communism on two fronts.(Document

The Cold War was an all-encompassing face of the 20th century, world politics, and a major idea during this time was domination of the skies. The United States competed against The Soviet Union in a war unlike any other, they didn’t fight with guns, bombs, or war machines but with science and the battlefield was space. The prioritization of the space race on the national agenda was characterized by an urgency, which underscored the commitment to the U.S. to defeat the Soviet Union by all means necessary. This came at the cost of billions of dollars, resources, lives, and political forces.

Have you heard of the “Space Race”? It all began when the Soviet Union sent the first artificial satellite “Sputnik 1” into space. After that the United States rushed to catch up with the Soviet Union’s technological advances, and the Space Race started. The Space Race finally ended in 1969, when we sent the first man to land on the moon. The Space Race had many impacts on the Cold War.

Russia launched Sputnik, a satellite to orbit the earth, into outer space on October 4th, 1957. With tensions already running high in the Cold War, Americans panicked at the thought of the Russians building space and nuclear energy, fearing it could be used on them. The conflict now called the Space Race resulted in Americans creating NASA and pushing the sciences in school.

The Space Race has impacted the political, social, and economic aspects of the US society greatly. It mainly affected the political aspect. A way that the lead of the Soviet Union in the Space Race affected the US Society is “the Vanguard rocket was prepared for launch at Cape Canaveral. 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. The pathetic collapse was carried live on television, right in front of the world. This was what we were capable of, while the Russians rode the heavens (from Document F).” Another reason why the US was very shocked is because that “it took them four years to catch up to our atomic bomb and nine months to catch up to our hydrogen bomb. Now we are trying to catch up to their satellite (from Document B).”

The first major way the space race reflected the situations was politically. The Soviet Union was extremely proud of the Sputnik 1 satellite. Sputnik was a simple satellite that became the first human made object to orbit the Earth on October 4, 1957 (Document E). In

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

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on. The Soviet’s triumph jarred the American people and sparked a vigorous response in the federal government to make sure the United States did not fall behind its communist rival.

How did the Space race improve society with their advanced technology? We know they had advanced in technology that wasn't here 50 years ago, but, how did technology built for space go in our everyday lives? One of the most obvious technologies that we created was Satellite Tv, this is one of the tech breakthroughs that we couldn't think of a life without to keep us entertained. The same goes for computers and laptops. The Space Race made satellites a possibility when they were used to communicate with astronauts before soon they made satellite dishes. NASA invented many pieces of technology that both benefited them in space and people at home watching TV, playing on their video games and even where I'm typing this on... the computer.

Many of the advancements we see in society today are due to the improvements we made during The Space Race in the 1960’s. Throughout this decade, The Space Race influenced many Americans. All of their tax money went to the research and making of the space shuttles. Also, The Space Race drove NASA to create more technology and since we won, it puts the US in the front of space exploration. In addition, NASA has put up satellites which are constantly beneficial to us.

During the Cold War, the United States and Russia had a severe space race between one another. Every time one country would be a step ahead of the other, and somehow one of the countries would catch up to the more advanced country at the time. During the early years of the space race, success was measured by what nation did what first: To the alarm of the United States, each of the early adventures were achieved by the Soviet Union. And all of those events triggered the United States to drive and catch up with to surpass the Soviet Union. This sort of see-saw method happen throughout the space race. Throughout this paper, there will be a discussion on the space race between the United Stated and

Timmy (Kaung Khant Kyaw) WS 10 B September 16, 2014 Essay The Aftermath Economic Effects of The Launch of Sputnik On October 4th, 1957, a small satellite the size of two basketballs was launched into space. It carried one radio transmitter that had no particular job except to broadcast a set of beeps to all radios below it on the surface of the Earth. People all around the world waited with binoculars and radios to see it fly by over them. Everyone was awed and shocked by this little insignificant metallic ball because USSR had just become the first to reach space.

By the 1950 NACA began to view military missile technology as a means to move to manned space flight; however, the military did not see a need to divert assets to manned flight. Some within NACA believe that it was possible to conduct satellite launch by the late 1950s possibly two years before the Soviet launch. This all changed with the launch of Sputnik, by July 29 1958, Congress passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, this created National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) placing space exploration under a civilian government agency whereas prior space exploration was only military in nature. While the act did not specifically address the need for an increase science or math in schooling, there clearly was an implied need. The old adage reading, writing, and arithmetic would not be sufficient if the US was going to win the Space