The Space Race : The World War II

This investigation will explore the question: How did the Space Race impact the Cold War? The years 1957 to 1969 will be the focus of the investigation, to analyze the Space Race during the Cold War, as well as how the USSR and NASA both reacted to it.

America’s space program is undoubtedly one of its greatest modern achievements. Few people cannot recall the famous quote “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” or do not know where it came from. The story leading up to the moment a man walked on the moon, as well as everything that came after, is just as interesting and important as the moment itself. The significance of the history of America’s aeronautics programs cannot possibly be overestimated, and their story is one that is incredibly important to the modern world of today. It would not be the nation that it is, with the technology it possesses, without its crucial involvement in the “space race”. If the technology that sent a man to the moon did not exist, our daily lives would be impacted and basic tools would be missing. Beginning with America’s first official aeronautics organization, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (or NACA) and continuing through to the present day and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (or NASA), the story of America’s aerospace programs is interesting and extremely important. It is a story that spans many years and giant leaps in technology, and involves important locations like Wallops Flight Facility and Kennedy Space Center. From the early beginnings of NACA and Wallops, and continuing on to the rise and success of NASA and Kennedy Space Center, aeronautics

In the early 20th century new technologies like the airplane, electric grids, and automobiles made the World start to think they could achieve the impossible. A new idea was to use rockets, previously used in ground warfare, to send objects into space. Tsiolkovsky, Goddard, and Oberth grandfathered the idea of rocketry and illustrated the possibilities of rocketry in the modern world. The ideas the scientists argued did not get much attention until the Second World War. With the German V2 rocket program, the world discovered the militaristic

The Space Race was an immense rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union beginning in the late 1950s. They fought over supremacy for space flight and technology, each side wanting to show the world their power and their capability to explore the unknown. They both created shuttles and rockets in hopes to prove their own worth, while also using this technology to spy on one another. Each country also needed public support and cooperation to back these projects for future advancements. Many political tensions between Democracy and its antagonistic counterpart, Communism, arose leading to new technological advancements, while the media began to publicize these advances worldwide, and beliefs like nationalism became implemented that would raise the importance of the space race to all.

The Space Race was a series of events and technological advancements relating to space exploration and travel, made by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War Era to prove their superiority over the other. The period in history that the Space Race falls in is from 1957 to 1975, right in the middle of the Cold War, which lasted over 40 years. During a time of fears of nuclear war, the spread of communism, and being blown up without a moment’s notice, the Space Race gave the entire world something to ogle about that didn’t directly involve complete world destruction and domination.

After the Second World War, the Soviet Union had completely fallen apart with nearly 27 million Soviets dead and as many as 1,700 of its cities destroyed (Siddiqi 23). Its entire economy, including its previously booming industry, was in a massive crisis leaving no funding for studies as seemingly immaterial as rocketry. Though it lacked funding from the federal government, Soviet engineers understood the future necessity for rocket technology and were still determined to learn how to recreate and improve upon the rocket designs created by Nazi Germany. Some of the greatest technological advances made by the Third Reich prior to its defeat were in nuclear weaponry and the creation of the the A-4 rocket (also known as the V-4 or Vengence-4). Developed in the world’s largest rocket research facility to date, the rocket was first tested in 1942 and had the capability to be launched up to 205 miles and reach heights close to 60 miles (nearly out of the Earth’s atmosphere) causing severe destruction to it’s unsuspecting target (Anatoly). Both the Soviet Union and the United States understood the great potential that this technology held and would do anything in their power to obtain it.

Nuclear weapons threaten to end the world and begin the step by step process to space travel. The U.S and Russia go ballistic over missiles all because of a former Nazi, Von Braun.This was because he was really smart and he would be the one to design the United States first rocket. He fled Europe to the U.S., to help them build a missile. In Russia, a prisoner named Sergei Korolev was forced to work by Stalin to build a replica missile of Von Braun’s

At the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II scientist started to develop new ways to to react to wars.Scientist like Julius Robert Oppenheimer with the help of Albert Einstein created the first atomic bomb called the “Little Boy” and the “FatMan”. Oppenheimer was the director of the Los Alamos Laboratory in New Mexico. He was incharge of gather the best minds to develop weapons of mass destruction. Oppenheimer along with 200 other physics developed weapons that would change the world forever.

At the end of World War Two in Europe 1945, aerospace engineer, Sergei Pavlovich Korolev, was sent from OKB-16, a sharashka in Kazan to Germany. Korolev was to examine missile and rocket plans by Wernher Von Braun, an aerospace engineer in Nazi Germany. Von Braun had fled Germany at the end of the war, leaving behind extensive

The atomic bomb was built during ww2 and was a major factor in winning the war against the japanese. Germany began to develop the atomic bomb and roosevelt caught wind of this and he put a group of scientist together to develop the atomic bomb before the germans developed it. Einstein found proof that the germans were going to use uranium to build the atomic bomb “I understand that Germany has actually stopped the sale of uranium from the Czechoslovakian mines, which she has taken over”(Einstein).Soon a letter from albert einstein after hearing about the germans trying to build a bomb said that “through the work of Joliot in france as well as fermi and szilard in america-- that it may be possible to set up a nuclear chain reaction in a large mass of uranium”(Einstein). After a while of working on the first atomic bomb it was finally made and codenamed “Gadget” and tested in the mexico desert on a unpopulated landscape. The development of the atomic was made a secret by roosevelt and the name of the project for the development of the nuclear bomb was called the manhattan project .

The earliest sightings of the Space Race was during the 1930s in the last stages of the Weimar Republic. The Germans produced a ballistic missile (V2) that could travel at 4000 km/h and a 320 km range. The Germans used this to destroy several cities under the Allie’s territory. After the war ended the Allies tried to capture German Rocket Scientists to improve their technology. This resulted in all of them having the V2 ballistic missile which was the foundation for the first Russian and American Rockets. The race for prestige in spaceflight it was now a threat and advancement for national security which resulted in the science and technology departments coming under the influence of the federal government. The world was divided into two parts,

The process of building the Atomic Bomb began during the Roosevelt Administration. In 1939, there was fear from scientists around the world that Germany was experimenting with the possibilities of nuclear warfare. Albert Einstein escaped from Nazi Germany and wrote a detailed letter to President Roosevelt expressing his concerns. There were developments in physics and chemistry to make the idea of using atomic energy as a possible weapon. If Hitler became in control of such weapons, there was no doubt that he would not hesitate to put them to use. The race to discover the effects of uranium and the chain reactions that it can create began officially in 1940. The project was officially operated under the Manhattan Project in 1941. During this

Braun was a very smart, talented man. He was rewarded many times for his success in rocketry. In 1943 and 1944, Braun was awarded with the “War Merit Cross”. And in 1975 he was given the National Medal of Science. Also, in 2007 a picture of him was put up to honor him at the US Space Camp Hall of Fame.

Wernher von Braun was born on March 23, 1912, in Wirsitz Germany. He was born into a very wealthy family. From an early age, von Braun always showed a great interest in science. This interest however increased after his mother got him a telescope as a gift. Later at the age of 11, von Braun was enrolled in the Französisches Gymnasium. While he was there he showed a decent ability to perform in math and sciences. Soon, when he grew a little older his father moved him to another school where he truly excelled and grew in his math and science abilities. His great interest inspired him to read books in his favorite fields. One of his favorite books was Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen (The Rocket into Planetary Space) by Hermann Oberth. However, he soon realized that he would need to master his skills to be

Von Braun the leader of the scientists had discussed with the other chief designers about the possibility of surrendering to the Americans. Cadbury states that the German scientists decided that the best solution would be to go to the Americans because they had the capabilities of creating a functional space program (14). In order to achieve this they would have to be very careful not to get caught because if they were it would be considered treason and they would be executed by the government. A few months before the war ended the entire V2 experimental team and their research made the move from Peenemünde to Mittelwerk which was the production base for the V2 missile which was made with slave labor. At Mittelwerk the German scientists were “guarded” by the SS who had orders to shoot them rather than let them fall into enemy hands. The German scientists meanwhile made plans for their getaway by buying an abandoned mine in order to store the years of research that they had gained and also turned their guards away from their mission and had them become regular soldiers and surrender to the Americans alongside them. The U.S army and the Soviet intelligence agency NKVD had been tracking the rocketeers and had been trying to recruit them. On the second of May the German scientists finally encountered the Americans and they were all taken by the American Army into