The Historical Background Of Yuri Gagarin

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

When asked, "What is the scientific value of sending men into space?” Anatoly Blagonravov – one of the chief architects of the Soviets Unions' space achievements – answered, "I quite agree that modern techniques [of automatic instrumentation] permit us to solve all the scientific problems we set ourselves. But I do not exclude that in the further development of space techniques the personal participation of Man may be of great interest and importance. Independently of the perfection of automatic machines, Man must see with his own eyes what is going on in space."

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, 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

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.

Soon after the ending of World War II, the United States had another battle to win: -- the Space Race. The Space Race was a competition of firsts against the Soviet Union. Which nation would be the first to have a man in space? Which nationality would take the first space walk? Who would be the first to have a man on the moon? These were the questions that swirled through the minds of Americans and Russians alike. After Russia took the lead, it was time for the U.S. to set out to do what seemed impossible— -- land a man on the moon. But before this began, Americans had some preparing to do. Gemini 9A was one of these preparations.

The relationship between America and Russia has always been one of competitiveness. From the years 1955 to 1991(“The Space Race” 2010), America and Russia were under a fierce competition know as “Space Race”. During this time, both powers competed against each other to see who would get space dominion, who would reach space first, who had the best scientists and technology in terms of space exploration. Both countries excelled in different parts of the space race, each reaching achievements that were thought to be unachievable at the time. The Space Race was developed following the nuclear arms race (“The Space Race” 2010).

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?

In 1969, the Apollo 11 mission explored a new frontier, encountered many difficulties and hardships on the way, and exchanged dominant positions with Soviet Russia in a “Space Race”.

Do you remember when you were a little kid and you dreamed about exploring the stars? Imagine if when you grow up not only are you an astronaut but you were also competing to be the first to travel the galaxy. During the 1950s to the 1970s this was the case for the astronauts in the United States of America and the Soviet Union. The United States of America and the Soviet Union competed to be the first ones to explore space. All of the hostilities were thanks to the Cold War a war of words and ideas between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. that lasted from 1948-1991. In this essay, I will write about one of the events in the Cold War – The Space Race: how it started, how people reacted, and who won the long lasting competition.

The public attention of Americans was captivated by the Space Race— from its beginning with the launch of Soviet Sputnik in 1957 until the landing of Apollo 11 in 1969. This attention was captured using a relatively new medium of media: television. Through their representation in national televised media, astronauts became the ultimate American heroes. Additionally, through the depiction of the national media, Soviets were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their failed efforts to surpass the United States' advancements and to prove the Communist system (“The Space”). Some call the Apollo program, and the Space Race in its entirety, a child of the Cold War. Following the launch of Sputnik, the United States responded by building a foundation for its own space program— NASA (Balogh 14). This led to the United States reclaiming its unofficial title of the most technologically-advanced nation in the world following the successful lunar landing of the Apollo 11

The purpose for President John F. Kennedy’s putting a man into space and developing a national space organization was “national prestige” (Compton). Russian had already taken leaps ahead of us in the exploration of space by the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite and the success of Yuri Gagarin being the first human to journey into outer space (Doran). Kennedy also fulfilled the role of a true leader by giving the county direction in the form of a difficult and worthy goal. Subsequently, the space race had begun and the entire county had become spectators.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world 's first artificial satellite and fear grew of their ability to launch a nuclear strike on the United States from orbit (Kuplic, and Stephenson 1126). The Russians had a dominating lead on the United States, on what would later be termed "the space race". Just a month later, the Russians would launch a dog aboard Sputnik-2. Likia, or Лайка, in Russian, she was found as a stray; she was the first living animal in space [Figure-1] (Barnett 190). Likia 's spaceflight was for the sole purpose of proving the survivability in space flight for humans. Russian Yuri Gagarin would be the first human to orbit the earth. [Figure-2] The Soviet Union not only held on to, but also continually expanded their lead

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.

Gagarin took huge risks and persisted through his venture out to space which no one has gone before. By being chosen to go to space by the Russian Government, (Taylor Redd, 2012) was shocking information for him and his wife, Valya. “When word came that Yuri was the cosmonaut chosen to attempt the dangerous voyage into outer space, he and Valya talked all night.” (“Russian Archives”, 2008) This is a great example of taking responsible risks. Gagarin took the job and successfully flew to and back from space. He also persisted through his 108 minute orbital flight (Wilson, 2011). The voyage was stressful, but Gagarin stayed completely calm the whole time. “Korolev's favorite, his calmness put others at ease.” (“Russian Archives”, 2008) While