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Asa Montgomery
Ms. Hermes
AP US History
14 November 2013
The Space Race
The space race was a global competition between the Soviet Union and the United States
of America to gain an edge on one another in space exploration. The Cold War rivals brought
their political rivalry to this new competition to attain firsts in space exploration. The space race
involved launching satellites and sending people and animals up to space to get as much
information as they could. . It was the responsibility as Americans for the pride of the country, to
show our advancements in technology and beat out the Soviet Union to be the first to get in
space and or on the moon.
At the end of World War II, the U.S. and Soviet Union both battled for supremacy on a
global scale. Both had major advances in rocket technology and they dueled to control space and
even the moon. The first satellite launched was the Sputnik 1. The Sputnik 1 was launched into
orbit on October 4, 1957, this would be just the beginning of a very important space race
(Garber, 2007). After this the U.S. created NASA (National Aeronautics and Space
Administration). NASA is a space program and they were dedicated to beating out the Soviets in
the Space Race. America scramblked to catch up. Education systems around the country
increased focus on teaching science and mathematics. The next steps would be to get a man into
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space and to then get a man on the moon. The Soviets then took another lead against the
Americans launching the Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961. Yuri Gagarin was the man who went up
with the shuttle and therefore he was the first man in space and the first man to ever orbit the
earth. (Yuri Gagarin Biography, 2013) (Garber, 2013)
After losing the battle to get a man up in space the Americans felt it was their
responsibility to match the Soviets and not lose all of their pride. Two American men were very
frustrated at how the Soviets got the first man in space. So the U.S. not long after sent up Alan
Shepard and John Glenn the two men that were very mad about the outcome of the first battle in
the Space Race. “On May 5, 1961, American astronaut Alan Shepard climbed into Freedom 7, a
tiny capsule on top of a huge rocket booster. The capsule left the earths atmosphere in a ball of
fire and returned the same way, and Shepard became the first American to travel into
space.(Littell, 2007)After accomplishing this goal the American pride didnt stop there, they felt
it was their responsibility to beat the Soviets in the more important goal, get the first man on the
moon. And if they complete this task first they will have come out victorious in the infamous
battle The Space Race.
In 1961 the Soviets got the first man into space, after this incident President Kennedy
said that the U.S. will be the first country to get a man on the moon “We choose to go to the
moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are
hard.” (Garber, 2013), the sworn enemies from the cold war would yet have another battle to
fight, and America is not going to give in. The Americans were the first to get a man on the
moon and his name was Neil Armstrong. “Employing a travel technique called lunar orbit
rendezvous championed by NASA engineer John Houbolt, the astronauts of Apollo 11 journeyed
to the Moon and back in the summer of 1969.” (Richie, 2002) The Americans than edged out the
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Soviets and won the space race. This was a very important boost to the United States ego, even
though at the time they were still struggling with Cold War problems. This proved to everyone
all around the world that the U.S. was the most advanced in technology and especially space
technology. Now being on top of the world as all the Americans believed at the time especially
the brave astronauts the U.S. had to focus on new things like The Cold War. But for the Soviets
they received a crushing blow to their pride the Soviets then decided to mainly focus on orbital
space stations. Now faced with a huge loss and disappointment from all the Soviets participating
in the Space Race they all tried to focus on the Cold War and what else they could do in space
that could surprise and bring an uproar across the world.
The Americans believed it was their responsibility to win the race to the moon and space
and them thinking that made them push harder to achieve their goals. After the win in the Space
Race the U.S. was not really concerned much about space travel anymore. Unlike the Soviets
who still to this day send men up into space and are now the leaders in the world of space travel.
But the U.S. after a long 50 years of space travel decided there was not much more they could
gather with the technology they had and that sending people up to space was a waste of money
and too much of a risk. The responsibility to win the Space Race was important to the American
pride at the time and still is today. It really proved the U.S. as a country to worry about.
Especially after World War II where even though the U.S. lost many men they still came out on
the victorious side. To this day though “Russia sends at least four cosmonaut-carrying capsules
and 20 more unmanned cargo launches into space every year. This year the Russian government
earmarked $900 million for the building of a new cosmodrome in Blagoveshchensk in Russia’s
Far East to replace the old Baikonur base, now inconveniently located in the former Soviet
republic of Kazakhstan.”(Matthews, 2011) It is clear from that quote that the Russians still do
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deeply care about space travel and that they might be able to discover something huge before the
Americans do. Yet if something comes up where there is a chance something strange or
completely new is out there the U.S. will find it their responsibility to be the first to get to it and
show their dominance yet again.
Political competition led to huge and very important scientific advancements for both the
U.S. and the Soviets. The Space Race was not only a huge step in the American advancement in
technology but a big boost in their pride. The two Cold War rivals went neck and neck for a good
amount of time to be the first to accomplish getting a man on the moon. This battle went on to
become a huge victory for the Americans and a crushing blow to the Soviets pride. The Soviets
and now today the Russians still work on their space exploration and seem to not have forgot
about the devastating loss they suffered many years ago. But the Americans do not focus on
space travel as much anymore. As of right now the U.S. is satisfied with a big victory under their
belts, the Space Race.
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Works Cited
Littell, M. (2007). The Americans. Houghton Mifflin Company.
Matthews, O. (2011, July 8). Russians Win the Space Race. Retrieved November 13, 2013, from
thedailybeast.com: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/07/08/it-s-goodbyeshuttle-hello-soyuz-after-atlantis-last-flight.html
Garber, S. (2007, October 10). Sputnik and the Dawn of the Space Age. Retrieved November 7,
2013, from nasa.gov: http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/
Richie, J. (2002). Space Flight: Crossing the Last Frontier. Minneapolis: The Oliver Press Inc.
Yuri Gagarin Biography. (2013). Retrieved November 13, 2013, from biography.com:
http://www.biography.com/people/yuri-gagarin-9304838
Garber, S. (2013, October 29). NASA History Office. Retrieved December 4, 2013, from
history.nasa.gov: http://history.nasa.gov/moondec.html