Cold War: The Space Race

Soon after the Cold War came to an end, the United States and the USSR both began military technological advancements. If the USSR could get missiles into space, they could set them off at anyone anywhere. In the interest of protecting America and possibly the rest of the world, the main objective for the Space Race was to protect us against missiles from the USSR military. These advancements led to a competition between the US and the USSR to see who would be the first to space. America and the USSR were two of the most powerful countries in the entire world at that point in time.

As trivial as it may seem, at one time in order to prove America had stelar science and technology we had to rush to get men into space. In Tom Wolfe’s The right stuff a group of military test pilots are given the opportunity to be part of the space race against the soviets. Each one of these pilots had their qualms about joining the program due to the fact that many of them wanted to become career pilots. For instance, in order to become a good pilot one would have to log a lot of flight hours, and joining the space program would prevent them from flying for a prolonged period of time.

The space race of 1955-1975 impacted Florida, particularly with the establishment of NASA's Kennedy Space Center on Merritt Island. This event brought a significant influx of people, jobs, and investment to the area, stimulating the local economy and leading to significant development and growth. One of the most significant effects of the space race was the creation of new jobs. With the establishment of NASA's Kennedy Space Center, thousands of people were employed as scientists, engineers, technicians, and support staff.

After the US landed the Apollo on the moon, even the Soviets admitted defeat, that they were bested in the Space Race. With the adamant success of the Apollo space program, Soviets practically stopped their space development. There was no need to rush and take risks anymore. After all, the whole point of the Space Race was originally a bragging right showcasing science, technology and the strength of the determination of the people of the respective country. Unfortunately, the hectic and irresponsible tactics used on the Soviet side led to multiple deaths.

On one hand, the desire to be the first superpower in space became a catalyst to new technological development in America and in Russia. The citizens of both countries were inspired to achieve greatness. On the other hand, an arms race developed between these two superpowers which turned into The Cold War. With the Space Race, each country struggled to outmaneuver the other in space exploration; first, the goal was to orbit the earth, then it was to get to the moon, then it was to go beyond the moon, later it was to land humans on the moon, and the final goal was cooperative space exploration with the creation of the ISS.. With the Cold War, each country struggled to outmaneuver each other by developing multiple types of missiles, and reconnaissance satellites.

and the Soviet Union. This war was not fought with weapons but with technology to see who could out due each other. The space race came from this. Both the U.S. and Russia were trying to see who could send satellites and people into space. In the end the U.S. won the space race.

"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.

The United States viewed the space race as a way to stop the spread of communism and prevent the spread of the Soviet Union's influence on Western European nations including France, Italy, and Greece (“The Space Race”). They also used their acomplishments to create new alliances or strengthen old ones as well as spread capitalism. While In the Soviet Union the race and war were seen as a way to strengthen and expand the communist system. They used their success to showcase the superiority of communism (Schlesinger,

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.

Social and political factors are the driving force behind successful innovations. Political intervention can help open up new markets, which would otherwise remain unavailable. During the cold war, the United States funded and pushed many innovations in order to ensure its success in the space race. The reason the government spent so much money and put in so much effort was that they wanted to improve the country’s national defense. They were concerned with the Soviet Union’s scientific and technological research so they decided to combat them by increasing funding in R&D.

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.

Introduction The world has seen a lot, but space exploration has had the most significant effect on the world since sugar. The space race and things like the Sputnik change the way the world thinks. While space exploration can be very expensive, space exploration has had the greatest effect on the world because it has exponentially changed the world in education, culture, global challenges, and has created life changing innovations for many people. The thought of "discovery" and "exploration" Space exploration has been the best thing since sugar because it brought the world together.

Out of the selected choices we had to choose from I decided to research were the Space Exploration: Apollo missions. My motivation for this is that I’ve always been interested in outer space and when of my favorite shows on TV is called ancient aliens and it’s about pretty much ancient civilization being visited by other worldly astronauts or aliens. The motivation that lead to space exploration in the United States was born out of the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union in the 1950’s. The United States that the Soviet Union was building rockets but in actuality they were sending satellites the first being Sputnik.

When Neil Armstrong first touched down on the moon in 1969, millions of people watched him take the first step and create history (Villard). Yet even as we’ve moved on from the moon landings and consider them as a pivotal point for mankind, “Forty years after U.S. astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to set foot on the moon, many conspiracy theorists still insist the Apollo 11 moon landing was an elaborate hoax”(Than). The idea that our voyage to the moon was deliberately staged seems to resurface year after year. While the conspiracy theorists claim the moon landing was a hoax, creating a fake moon landing would have been more expensive and difficult than actually reaching the moon. 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).

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.