The Discovery Of The Sputnik

By examining the two nations’ early space technology, it is evident that Russia was initially superior in this regard. Launching the world’s first-ever artificial satellite — called Sputnik I — in October of 1957, the USSR chalked

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.

This picture depicts a Soviet scientist putting the finishing touches on Sputnik, a satellite that would soon be launched into orbit around earth. The news of the launch came as a big, unpleasant surprise to the US (The Start of the Space Race). They feared the military capabilities of satellites in orbit as well as the advancement of Soviet technology. The US immediately reacted by launching Vanguard into orbit, but it failed miserably when it was launched (Space Race.). Although the US managed to successfully put Vanguard 1 into orbit later that year,

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.

On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, a small satellite, successfully into orbit, and the Space Race truly

According to Doc A "Sputnik came as a surprise to most Americans". Not only did "Sputnik came as a surprise to most Americans" Sputnik also struck fear into many Americans. Americans even prepared for a nuclear war, they also made a video called "Duck and Cover"(you can find it here " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKqXu-5jw60 "). Around this time Dr. Wernher Von Braun made a full scale model of Explorer 1, replicating the first satellite by the U.S.(Doc E). While in a rush to catch up with The Soviet Union, and on December 6th, 1957 while in a rush to catch up, the U.S. sent the Vanguard rocket attempting to get the rocket to space quickly the U.S. rushed causing the rocket to turn into a fireball on TV.

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.

In addition, the Soviets greatest accomplishments were in the participation in the Space Race. The Soviets successfully launched Sputnik the world's first artificial satellite, October 4, 1957 (Doc F). These achievements showed the world how technologically advanced the Soviets where. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth (Doc F). Valentina Tereshkova became the first women in space (Doc F), and Laika was the first dog in space (Doc F). The Soviet accomplishments will be engraved into Soviet textbooks, but memorialized in human history as

As stated in document A, the reaction of the Soviets launching Sputnik 1, which was the first ever satellite sent in to space, was more fear than surprise because it then showed that the United States ocean barriers weren’t enough to keep the Soviet Union away. Also that the Americans could no longer say that Russia was behind them in technology, as it took them 4 years to catch up with our atomic bomb, 9 months for our hydrogen bomb, and now we are trying to catch up to their satellite as stated in document B.

After the USSR launched Sputnik 1, man Americans were frightened by what they would do next. “...(the launch of Sputnik) showed clearly that the United States was no longer safe behind it’s ocean barriers.” (Document A) America had long relied on the oceans to keep European and Asian powers at bay, however, when the Soviets entered and took control of space, the US was surrounded and the Soviets could bomb them from any location. The US wanted to regain control of the situation so the Vanguard, a rocket with a more advanced satellite than anything seen before, was set to be launched on live television (Document F) The rocket fired but it fell back down, collapsed, and exploded for the world to watch. Americans were humiliated by this disaster, however they knew they must continue to fight communism, which meant beating them in the Space Race. During this time Americans became extremely anti-soviet and anti-communist, which continued long after this and still exists

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

Americans not only feared the spreading of communism, but also felt threatened by the Soviet Union’s domination of technological advances in missile development and other developments. As Document E presents, the problems with massive retaliation was the large gap in missile development, since the Soviet Union will soon be able to access American missile bases in 35 minutes or less in the near future. Other Soviet advances included, the first Earth satellite launching on October 4, 1957, known as Sputnik. This had also added to the growing anxiety that the Soviet Union was a step ahead of the United States in regards to the space program. In response to the launch of Sputnik, in Document G,

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

Besides the development of nuclear weapons, intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM’s) were introduced in the 1950’s providing a more effective strategic delivery system during the first stage of the Cold War. It is not a surprised the Soviet Union had missiles able to reach any part of the planet when they launched the Sputnik satellite into space on October 4, 1957. Three months after the launch of Sputnik, on January 1958, the United States launched their first satellite, Explorer

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