Space Race Thesis
you
Jericho Middle School
Race to the Frontier: How the United States
Won the Space Race
Arav Shelat
Social Studies: Period 4
Teacher Name: Michelle Vivante
Date Due: December 12, 2022
Thesis
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."- Neil Armstrong
In the 1950s the USSR launched a satellite called the Sputnik in space. When the US heard of this they were shocked and began to expedite their efforts to go to space thus starting the Apollo missions. The Apollo missions began in the 1960s as NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) was directly competing with the SSP (Soviet Space Program). With a team of hundreds of scientists, the Apollo missions were successful in the
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The space race began somewhere around the 1960’s when the USA announced they would put a satellite in Earth's orbit but unfortunately the Soviets won that part of the race when they launched Sputnik 1. In response Edward Teller, the father of the Hydrogen bomb, described the event as, “a greater defeat for our country than Pearl Harbor.” In 1957 the Soviets also accomplished the first ever space walk. With these events, Senator Mike Mansfield stated that what is at stake is nothing more than our survival. One Congressman even quipped that Soviet’s success was just, "an intercontinental outer-space raspberry to a decade of American pretensions that the American way of life was a gilt-edged guarantee of our material superiority" Indeed, American superiority itself was being challenged when the Soviets began to enjoy the success of their labors by having frequent success with their space program. Great quotes. You need to remember to add your in-text …show more content…
A NASA space engineer named James Oberg who speaks Russian and has written multiple books about the U.S. and Soviet space programs wrote in Reason Magazine, “Many of the same elements that characterized preparations for the Apollo Moon Landings also showed up in the Soviet program.” Mr. Oberg also noted that Soviet cosmonauts during the 1960s spoke as though they were in a race with the U.S. to the moon citing Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, “I can positively state that the Soviet Union will not be beaten by the United States in the race for a human being to go to the moon.” Komorov added, “The U.S. has a timetable of ‘1969 plus X,’ but our timetable is ‘1969 plus X minus one’!.” implying that the Soviets would make it the moon a year before the
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1083 Words | 5 PagesAs a result, both countries were constantly in fear of one another because each had the power and resources to destroy the other. If America could get to space first, it would mean we had a huge advantage over the USSR. Reagan put forth the ‘Space Defense Initiative’ which would protect us from the USSR space missiles (The History Rat, “Ronald Reagan and the Space Defense Initiative). Unfortunately, the USSR made it to space before us, but America was not far behind. For some Space Wars are viewed as a failure compared to the USSR, but for Reagan and most Americans, they view Space Wars as a success and a huge accomplishment for our country as a whole.
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1960s Space Race
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1028 Words | 5 PagesAfter the launch of Yurin Garry President John F. Kennedy made a famous speech which included a goal for the U.S., which was to make it to the moon before the decade ended. This is important (in my opinion) because it showed that he believed in America and that space is the next frontier for us. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first men to set foot on the moon right before the decade ended. This accomplishment made President John F. Kennedy's goal, and completed one of the biggest accomplishments the U.S. had made in the Space Race. Not only did the U.S. make it to the moon first but but by default they won the Space Race, making Russia the “loser” and the “Villain” of the story.
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871 Words | 4 PagesThe United States' success in landing on the moon with Apollo 11 gave it a clear advantage over the Soviet Union in the space domain. This achievement opened up opportunities for diplomatic engagements, as the United States showcased its scientific and technological capabilities to the world. It also led to exchanges and collaborations with other countries in space exploration
How Did The Space Race Affect The Cold War?
983 Words | 4 PagesThe race continued until 1969 when Niel Armstrong set foot on the moon (Seedhouse 128). The first satellite the Soviet Union launched into orbit was called Sputnik and it came as an unpleasant surprise to many Americans (“The Space Race”). Historians argue that the Soviet Union won the space race on October 4 1957 with the launch of Sputnik, but most agree it was just the start to the race (Seedhouse 128). After the launch of Sputnik the United States launched their own satellite in 1958 called explorer 1 which was designed by the United States army. The race began to heat up and the Soviet Union launched Luna 2 which became the first space probe to hit the moon (“The Space Race”).
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496 Words | 2 Pages"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind. " This well known quote by the renowned astronaut Neil Armstrong forever marked the beginning of a new age as the Space Race came to its final chapter. The Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War era was a pivotal period in the history of space exploration, where these two global superpowers aim to compete for technological superiority in military and space. While both the United States and the Soviet Union gained significant benefits from the Space Race in terms of technological advancements, scientific discoveries, and national prestige, the United States emerged as the primary beneficiary due to its long-lasting impact on space exploration and technological innovation.
What Are The Significant Advances In The Space Race
717 Words | 3 PagesThe period between 1945 and 1989 saw significant advancements in both space travel and information technology, which revolutionized the way we explore space and conduct research. The Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957 marked the beginning of the Space Race between the Soviet Union and the United States. Rapid advancements in rocketry and propulsion systems were made, ultimately resulting in the US landing the first humans on the Moon in 1969. Reusable spacecraft, such as the US Space Shuttle, made space travel more cost-effective and accessible. Additionally, many artificial satellites were launched for communication, imaging, and navigation purposes.
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483 Words | 2 PagesIn the beginning of the race, many failed to achieve this goal. They had lost the race for the first satellite, first unmanned lunar probe, and first human in space. NASA soon accomplished all of this shortly after the Soviet Union had but they were still losing the
The Pros And Cons Of The Space Race
1166 Words | 5 PagesRussia accomplished many of the milestones in the beginning but the US prevailed when they successfully landed a man on the moon on July twentieth, nineteen-sixty-nine. This moon landing marked the ending to a twenty year "Space Race" against the Soviet Union, which would end up costing America over thirty billion dollars. Because of the enormous price tag and the twenty years of attempts filled with multiple failures, many Americans both present and past have questioned whether or not the Space Race was worth the absorbent resources it took, especially when America could've focused on other things such as the inequality of African Americans and the movement towards equality.
Short And Long Term Effects Of The Space Race
1900 Words | 8 PagesIt’s the 1950’s, World War II has just ended, the world is still recovering from the damages caused by the war. However, from the ashes of the war two countries rose to superpower status, The United States and The Soviet Union. During World War II these two countries were allies but after the war they became sworn enemies engaging in the Cold War to see who could get ahead on one another. One of the events sparked by the Cold War was the Space Race, again involving the U.S. and the Soviet Union. The Space Race started after the Soviet Union managed to launch a beach ball sized satellite named Sputnik into orbit around the Earth thanks to the help of Sergei Korolev and his team.
Short And Long Term Effects Of The Cold War
906 Words | 4 PagesDuring the Cold War the US and USSR believed they needed to one up each other in technological advances to stay on top, when the USSR launched the world’s first satellite “Sputnik” into orbit in 1957, US citizens became worried that the US was falling behind in space exploration which many saw as the next American frontier. Shortly after this in 1958, NASA was created and launched its own satellite “Explorer I” designed by the US army, a year later, the USSR launched “Luna 2” which was the first space probe to hit the moon. In another big win for the Soviets, in 1961 they launched the first person to orbit the Earth, just a month later the US sent an American into space . Later that month President Kennedy made a bold claim saying that the US would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, later that year, Project Apollo was put in place. The government upped NASAs budget by nearly 500% in the following years, in 1968 Apollo 8 was launched which orbited the moon, and just a year later Apollo 11 was launched which put the first people on the moon.
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1230 Words | 5 PagesThe Space Race had an enormous impact on the way people viewed the world and changed the way the United States approached education. Science and math began to be encouraged in schools, NASA was founded and saw a massive increase in funding within nine years, and scientific achievements were more common than ever before. The Race took place between 1957 and 1975, and the world saw a large amount of technological and scientific advancements during this time. Ten years after The Cold War had started, the Soviet Union decides to launch their first satellite called Sputnik into space. In fear of the Soviets taking control of space, the United States scrambles to put a rocket of their own into space.
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