The Space Race Case Study

On October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union shocked the people of the United States by successfully launching the first Earth orbiting satellite, Sputnik. America's first satellite

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

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.

In 1955 both the Soviet Union and the United States were building ballistic missiles that could be used to launch objects into space. This became the starting line for the race into space. Four days apart in unrelated announcements, both the Soviets and the Americans announced their plans to launch artificial Earth satellite by 1957 or 1958. On 29 July 1955, James C. Hagerty, President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s press secretary,

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

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

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.

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.

Adding on, it was launched into Earth's orbit on October 4th, 1957 at 7:28 P.M. It was a small Satellite that weighed 184 pounds. As well as, the Sputnik completed 1440 orbits around the Earth, it was launched at "Gagarin's start." The Sputnik was pretty much a size of a Beach Ball and the whole purpose of the Sputnik was to beat the U.S. into Space. To finalize this paragraph, the launch of the Sputnik sparked only the beginning of the Space Race, the (USSR v.

The next American thing to go up into space was the Explorer 1, a satellite used to measure the radiation in Earth's orbit. The Explorer 1 was formally known as Satellite 1958 Alpha. The program at the California Institute of Technology that was to make the Explorer 1 had taken only three months to build the satellite. The Explorer 1 was launched in January 31, 1958 from Cape Canaveral and was America's first satellite. It was sent up into space with the use of a Jupiter-C vehicle, which is "a special modification of the Redstone ballistic missile" (Explorer-I and Jupiter-C). The Jupiter-C vehicle was, under the management of Dr. Wernher Von Braun, a German scientist. Dr. Wernher Von Braun was part of the Army Ballistic Missile Agency, also known as ABMA. Once the satellite was up in orbit, it started its tests on how much radiation was in Earth's orbit. The scientist who was in charge of this experiment was Dr. James Van Allen. The Explorer had found that the level radiation was very low which went against Dr. Van Allen's prediction. Dr. Van Allen then made another prediction that the equipment that was used on the satellite was corrupted by a powerful belt of radiation. A couple months later when the second satellite went up

Wernher Von Braun was key to the development of our space program because of his knowledge of, launching of, and making of rockets.

Today, Vanguard remains in space, the oldest artificial satellite still in orbit. The success of Explorer cements Wernher Von Braun's image as an American hero, the man who put the U.S. back in the race. The U.S. government kept secret the details of Von Braun's World War II past, which only emerge after his death. Von Braun's greatest legacy is not the V-2 or Explorer. When Americans reach the moon, in July, 1969, ending the space race, it is a Von Braun rocket, the mighty Saturn 5 that gets them there. Dwight Eisenhower's space legacy remains largely unknown. Just before he leaves office, in 1960, the spy satellite he wanted, code-named CORONA, finally becomes reality. CORONA begins a revolution in American intelligence gathering. For people born after Sputnik, its legacy is technology: satellite weather forecasts, cell phones, GPS and personal computers. But for those who lived through the fall of 1957, Sputnik will always have a deeper, more profound meaning.

In response to this latest embarrassment and needing an overwhelming victory President Kennedy’s staff asked what could be done to secure the needed success. In response to this line of questioning the visionary Dr. Von Braun drafted a letter that stated in no uncertain terms that the Soviets had a greater lift capacity than the USA, and that their rockets were far ahead of the American Redstone (Mercury) rockets in nearly every way, so beating the USSR to most short range goals such as a laboratory in space would be “hopeless”. However, he then went on to say that with full backing, NASA could possibly beat the Soviets to a much more ambitious goal, a soft landing of men on the Moon before the decade’s end, due to the technical leaps that either side would have to make to reach that goal (Nuefeld, 2007). According to the Change Management lesson, “Leaders who display dispositional flexibility operate from a place of optimism grounded in realism and openness. They can acknowledge a bad situation while simultaneously visualizing a better future…” (Thomas N. Barnes Center for Enlisted Education [BCEE], 2017, p.7). This trait was displayed when Dr. Von Braun frankly acknowledged that due to the USSR’s space program being much more advanced that that of the United States short term wins were unlikely. He then went on to point out that by leveraging the superior

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.