The Space Race And The Space Race

In the period after World War II, from the late 1940’s up until the 1990’s, the United States and their allies were engaged in a “cold” war with the Soviet Union and its allies. Except for minor proxy wars between countries supported by the respective sides, no major wars were fought between the U.S. and the USSR. Nonetheless, tensions were extremely high for many years and the two superpowers constantly went back and forth trying to best the other. Likely the most well-known of these competitions was the Space Race. Battling for cosmic supremacy from the late 1950’s to 1969, the two countries traded many victories over the years and pushed each other to their technological apexes.

Man’s curiosity for the environment that surrounds him fuels the ambition to explore past the realms of his being. The space race marked the first time homo sapiens were able to escape and extend their biosphere. This age is filled with technological advancement. The space race gave the ability for a new age of technological advancements to occur. Almost every technological device that is produced or owned by people in the 21st century world contains technology that was invented or derived from the space race. Technology is the product of modernization and industrialization. Society is forced to make adjustments in social, economic and political institutions as humans continue to progress. The results and the success of the space race was and still is a great triumph for mankind. However, the motive for the United States and the Soviet Union for reaching space is not explicit. Although the space race and the resulted technological innovations in science had elements that benefited human progress in a substantial manner, the general motive for the space race lies within the political aspect of society and the repercussions that came with the cold war.

"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too." This quote was made by John F. Kennedy on September 12, 1962, and it encompasses the dedication the US had to winning the Space Race, a space technology race between the United States and Soviet Russia. The Space Race would soon become a huge competition led by many big factors and decisions. Overall, The Space Race started with the USSR's launch of Sputnik, an event which fueled nationalism in both countries, and ended with the United States landing a man on the moon.

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

Leading up to the Cold War is a perfect example of a time in history that shows mankind creating and adapting, which has been dubbed the space race. The space race was much more than producing the first man on the moon. Both the United States and the Soviet Union made amazing scientific discoveries of space during this time. The Soviet Union had many achievements in the space race that were not recognized, and it was the United States that did not acknowledge them. The Soviet Union stated out the Space Race with Sputnik and the United States ended it with the first man on the moon. The Space Race not only affected the outcome of the Cold War, but it also

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 is very significant to the Cold War because it became a key part of the overall competition which created more tension between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Space Race influenced the development of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile in Russia, which lead to the arms race. It also opened America's eyes to the importance of science and support it more as a necessity to stay on top rather than just being a hobby. When America first accomplished the biggest space achievement,  getting a man on the Moon the end of the Cold War seemed to be

The Space Race was a time of great exploration, and created many new techniques in the studies of science and technology. Many new techniques of engineering and technological advances resulted as positives of the Space Race. The cause of this great exploration and learning was fueled by rivalry and competitiveness of two governments, the Soviet Union and The United States. The Soviet Union and the United States were in a race to see which could reach space supremacy first. This rivalry unfolded in front of millions of spectators, and instilled a sense of competiveness into the viewers. During the mid nineteen-sixties, the achievements of the United States space program caused them to leap ahead of the Soviet Union space program, which was very unexpected. The achievements by the United States during the Space Race in the nineteen-sixties created a gap in space exploration between the Soviet Union space program and the United States space program because the United States was able extremely motivated by government forces and was able to achieve great technological advances in their space crafts.

Barely even half a decade after World War II, the world would again enter a war of a different nature where tensions between United States and Soviet Union would continue to rise as both sides threatened to use weaponry that if used would evidently lead to mutual and total destruction. Known as the Cold War, these two nations with their respective alliances, NATO and Warsaw Pact, would be in constant political conflict caused by their clashing ideologies and beliefs. In what would later be known as the Space Race, to stay ahead of the other in technological advancements these two nations would compete against each other in the exploration of the world beyond earth,serving as a showcase of more advanced rocket technology that could be applied

I created this piece to further elaborate on the book’s main premise of the lack of support for our space program in our current age. Before I touch on that we have to touch on our origins. We as a race have lived as pioneers exploring the earth and colonizing any new place we could find. It all started in the fertile crest in the middle east. They ventured forth and spread across the earth. Then came the period of stagnation where no exploration was happening and the space race started. We went back to our roots as pioneers exploring beyond the bounds of our small blue planet. America as a whole was the economic powerhouse of the age and the space race caused our education standards to be raised as a whole leading to a greater nation. However,

Likewise, it was during the Cold War that the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics started an event known as the ‘Space Race.’ Each country would fight for the “superiority of its technology, its military firepower and (by extension) its political-economic system.” (The Space Race) Guided by an intercontinental ballistic missile, the USSR launched the first man-made satellite Sputnik into the orbit of the Earth’s atmosphere on October 4, 1957. The United States was astounded by the demonstration of Soviet missile power and technology, and caused the United States to compare the launch to possible undiscovered nuclear warheads that may had been produced by Soviet intelligence. (Space Race)

Furthermore, the cartoon is an inaccurate representation of this narrative because it does leave out a bunch of information. For example, the video completely ignores Native American displacement during the Western expansion. It leaves out how the nation had tension going on with tribes when they decided to side with the British in hopes to drive out white settlers from their land. It also leaves out The Trail of Tears and how the government relocated thousands of Native Americans, where many died. At the end of the cartoon, it states that the U.S. is going to take over as much land as needed, including the moon for more “elbow space”. If I would have created this cartoon or song I would have included details about Space Race. The Space Race

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?

Right after the World War II, both nations, the United States and the Soviet Union spent an astronomical amount of money to improve and expand their nuclear arsenal. During the Cold War period not only did the U.S. and USSR was developing nuclear weapons, but also countries around the world were engaged in warhead production at the same scale as the two superpowers of the time. Simultaneously, the Space War took place between the two super powers of the time (the United States and the Soviet Union) thus proving that both events, the space race and the nuclear weapons proliferation, are interrelated and pivotal during the Cold War.

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.