Sputnik: Six Key Events Of The Space Race

In conclusion, the launch of Sputnik and the start of the space race (1957-1975) positively impacted American education by changing American mentality about education, changing the effectiveness of the curriculum, facilitating learning, and improving the quality of education. Sputnik can therefore be seen as responsible for a number of significant changes in American education as well as influencing the Americans directly to begin the space race and advance intellectually to surpass the Soviet

The Space Race was a crucial part in the advancement of technology. The United States of America and the Soviet Union were in a competition to get the first man in space. In 1957, a new era of space exploration had launched, this was known as the Space Race. The Space Race fueled the tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. Both countries were competing to get the first person onto the moon.

The main outreach of the United States government that explores new boundaries never touched before, invents products never thought possible before, and most importantly inspires people has had its budget slashed since its creation. In 1958, National Aeronautics and Space Administration was created in response to Sputnik, the first satellite launched by humans (Goldstein, 2007, p.1). Dwight D. Eisenhower did not want the United States to fall behind Russia in Aeronautics. This decision sparked what is known as the Space Race, within the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the US. Ever since then NASA has never been viewed in the same light as it was when the space race was going on. Currently, it has had to take a back seat to some other

After few years of alliance between The Soviet Union and The US. However, the peaceful was broken very soon when two superpowers got into a cold war which they were totally enemies in someways. Lots of issues occurred during such period, one of them was the Space Race. Vast number of innovations and high technology was coming out at the same time. Truly, those innovations did influence Canada in different fields during the period of Space Race. It influenced Canadian citizens’ lives a lot, simulating the cooperations with other counties and it also benefited the world a lot as well.

Furthermore, one long-term impact of the Space Race is the improvement of foreign relations as joint efforts between the nations achieved far more with cooperation rather than competition. The Cold War was between two superpowers, both of which tried to compete with each other relying on their own nation’s resources, but in doing so they proved that both sides were capable of great feats. Therefore, when the war ended with a period of detente, the two nations teamed up in 1975 to launch the Apollo-Soyuz project, the first joint US- Soviet space mission. NASA astronauts in an Apollo Command and Service Module met Russian cosmonauts in a Soyuz capsule, but most notably a jointly designed docking module fulfilled the main mission, evidently showing that two different nations with different space-craft had the potential to both dock in orbit. Moreover, the mission itself allowed both sides to alter misconstrued perceptions of the others. US astronaut Vance Brand, who was on the crew said in an interview, “ we thought they were pretty aggressive people and… they probably thought we were monsters, so we very quickly broke through that, because when you deal with people that are in the same line of work as you are, and you’re around them for a short time, why, you discover that, well they’re human beings”(Brand). Significantly, his words suggest a possibility, which has now become a reality with collaboration on the International Space Station as one example. The ISS is a

The Soviet Union has been an enigma, but still, a very significant contributor to the history of the world. There have been many rulers in Soviet Union history. The Soviet Union has been through economic successes and downfalls, ages of terror, a world war, was once an ally of the United States, today is an enemy of the US. If we were to add the history from the Soviet Union to our textbooks , what information should be emphasized? There are many important areas about the Soviet Union, three of them are: cultural achievements, military strength and political repression.

On September 12, 1962, at Rice University in Houston Texas, John F. Kennedy gave a powerful speech to garner support for the funding of the space race for the USA. He stated the importance of putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade in its efforts against the Soviet Union and the expectation was met in 1969 by the astronaut Neil Armstrong. His speech forged a new path that the US was heading and inherently started the revolution of the exploration of outer space. Kennedy’s “Moon Speech” makes use of ethos and Kairos to persuade the people of America to become interested in and invest in the ongoing space race.

In the 1960's many major events happened. On November 8th, 1960, John Kennedy wins presidency against Richard Nixon. On May 25th, 1961, Kennedy proposed the moon program, the space race had begun. On July 20th, 1969, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first two men to land on the moon, the U.S.A had won the space race. It took them a total of three days to reach the moon's lunar orbit. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16th, 1969, and it took a total of twelve minutes to escape Earth's atmosphere. It was an exciting time for people in the 60's.

After the long, hardships of World War Two the Cold War had begun. This was a period of distrust between global superpowers Russia and the United States of America. This brought Kennedy into the limelight with his ambitious desire for America to be the first out of the two to have a man on the Moon this then commenced the highly competitive space race. The decision was announced to the general public

During the beginning of WWII it was clear that the Nazis had better military technology. As the war went on the allies were eventually able to catch up and be on the same level technology wise. Once the war ended and the allies stormed through Germany and were able to find all the data and technological advancements that the Nazis had made. The United States was impressed by their research and findings that they decided to pardon Nazi scientists if they brought their research to the United States. This is what led to the infamous operation paperclip were many of the scientists that worked for the Germans now began to work for the U.S. When President Harry Truman formally ordered the operation

Began the Space race in America against the Soviet Union to close the “space gap”

From a meeting of President Eisenhower’s National Security Council, a conclusion was reached, “…we could not permit ourselves to be panicked by the Soviet Achievement [Sputnik]” (Document 3). The launch of the Sputnik only encouraged Americans to accomplish more scientific breakthroughs—before the Soviets. Before the release of the Sputnik, President Truman had dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. Shortly after, the Soviets had detonated their first atomic bomb in the late 1940s. Since the U.S. and the Soviets had both achieved a level of destruction through the atomic bomb they became engaged in an “arms race.” The United States and the Soviet Union kept trying to out-produce each other in nuclear weapons. The competition between Americans and Soviets led to the U-2 spy plane incident. The U-2 spy plane, an American plane, was shot over Soviet territory. The Soviets accused America of spying and the incident caused “…a tremendous increase in international tension and placing peace on the brink of war” (Document 6). After the U-2 spy plane, the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 began to take shape (Document 8). On the island of Cuba, proof of possible nuclear weapon bases was found and evidence showed that

The Americans, obviously, directly responded with the “Mercury” space capsule controlled by Alan B (“The Space Race”). One year later the American finally reached to send a man into orbit, John Glenn (“Cadbury”). The Soviets were winning everything, they sent the first satellite into space, the first dog into space, the first man, the first duo, the first trio, the first space walk and many other achievement. Many American saw Russia as the enemy, and the enemy was winning. Space Race had a national interest in the USA, and for the prosperity of their country, the Americans had to come up with a great idea that could beat the Russians. NASA scientist needed a major achievement to turn it around. In 1961, President Kennedy explained to the population of America in a speech, that the United States of America will send a man to the moon within the next ten years. He launched the Moon Race. It was a major challenge that cost 25 Billion dollars to the Americans(“NASA”), but that could have an incredible impact on the world by improving technology and how people were perceiving the world. The Soviet proposed a moon program, so that both nation could collaborate effectively together in order to develop new technologies and be on the moon faster, unfortunately because of their opposite opinions and point of view this program failed and both countries worked alone (“The Space Race”). The USA were determined, this could really change their position on the international scene. NASA scientists developed the Apollo 11 (“Cadbury”), a rocket capable of sending three astronauts to the moon and come safely back on Earth. The astronauts were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins (University Nebraska). The Launch was on the 16th of July 1969, more than 500 millions people were

The race to the moon began on October 5, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit around the earth: “When the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, on October 4, 1957, the United States experienced a technological identity crisis”(Olson). The United States retaliated by trying to beat the

Throughout the 20th century, our views of space have changed. We started thinking about space, with the same way we started thinking about Pythagoras’s theory of how the world is round. Curiosity and rivalry have ignited the space race, but rivalry between United States and Soviet Union has boosted the development of the space race. The Cold War was ongoing so neither of country wanted to lose to each other. Also, this race determined which country was more advanced compared to another. With their passion, humans have achieved many accomplishments within 18 years and it is still being explored. Major accomplishments such as orbiting the Earth and landing on the moon were not easy as how our textbooks were written. Our textbooks briefly talk about it, but not so detailed. This paper will discuss the cause and effect, process, major space expedition made by both countries, and similarities they share.