First Paragraph
Topic sentence: During the Cold War the USA and the USSR were in a race to space.
First Topic: The beginning of the space missions
Second Topic: The race back and forth between the USA space program and the USSR space program
Third Topic: The Summary of the space race, who got farthest and who put a man on the moon first
Thesis: The space race had many aspects to it that got the USA to advance in technology in order to beat
the USSR to the moon
Second Paragraph
Links First Topic to Thesis: Russia made the first move in space race, making the USA want to get further
in their exploration of space
Fact that backs up first topic: After the launch of the Sputnik 1. The USA quickly launched their own
spacecraft into space
Fact that backs up first topic: USSR try to send animals into space and originally fail, but then they will
succeed.
Fact that backs up first topic: Once the USSR gets ahead of the US the US are swift in getting their
satellite into orbit.
Proving the point: When the USSR got ahead of the US the US did not give up, they just worked harder
to get caught up in the race to space.
Third paragraph
Link Second Topic to thesis: After falling behind at the start the US wanted to make up for lost time
Fact that backs up second topic: the US were the first to actually get something to the moon, putting
them in the lead
Fact that backs up second topic: the USSR then started to run man missions into space, forcing the US to
again catch up, which they do easily.
Fact that backs up second topic: the US then proceeds to launch several more manned missions into
space.
Proving the point: When the US was behind they always strived to catch up, and when they were in the
lead, they would try to widen the gap. Proving the point that the space race made America do great in
building technology.
Fourth Paragraph
Links third topic to thesis: Now that the space race is basically neck and neck, both sides had to really
stretch for that technology that would change everything.
Fact that backs up third topic: The first move was made by the USSR and putting the first woman into
space
Fact that backs up third topic: The USSR also were able to successfully land a spacecraft on the moon
before the USA, but what the US did will pretty much end the race…
Fact that backs up third topic: Finally after being pushed to the best they can possibly do, the USA
successfully puts American astronauts Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin on the moon.
Proving the point: The USSR’s program to get into space pushed the US, and if we had not been pushed
to go and advance, then perhaps we would have not been the first people to walk on the moon.
Fifth Paragraph
Restate thesis: The space race had many aspects to it that got the USA to advance in technology in order
to beat the USSR to the moon
Proving the point to 1: When the USSR got ahead of the US the US did not give up, they just worked
harder to get caught up in the race to space.
Proving the point to 2: When the US was behind they always strived to catch up, and when they were in
the lead, they would try to widen the gap. Proving the point that the space race made America do great
in building technology.
Proving the point to 3: The USSR’s program to get into space pushed the US, and if we had not been
pushed to go and advance, then perhaps we would have not been the first people to walk on the moon.
Conclusion sentence: The US space exploration would not have been as successful if we did not have the
competition of the USSR to make us want to advance in our technology.