The Race To The Moon
At the start, there were no set rules for the Space Race. What would count as winning? What was the goal? For Americans, President Kennedy's declaration narrowed the Space Race down to one precise goal: landing a man on the Moon before the Soviets. The Space Race became a race to the Moon. For years, the Soviets officially denied being in a race to the Moon. Now there is countless evidence proving that they indeed competed to reach the Moon first. This fierce competition between the USSR and the USA in the late 50's, led directly to America's determination to be "masters of space."
The Space Race became a symbol of the political contest between the two rival world powers. The way ...
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the early years of the Space Race, success was marked by headline-making, historical "firsts." Some of these firsts included the first satellite, the first robotic spacecraft to the Moon, the first man in space, the first woman in space, and the first spacewalk. To the chagrin of the United States, each of these early firsts were achieved by the Soviet Union, thus sparking the United States to not only catch up with the Soviets, but also to surpass them. (Alexander 37-39).
The Soviet Union stunned the world with the launch of the Sputnik "satellite" on October 4, 1957. Sputnik was a shiny basketball-size sphere containing radio transmitters. Sputnik announced to the world the beginning of the Space Age. Coming only a few weeks after the Soviets' successful test launch of the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), Sputnik marked the USSR's proficiency in rocketry and their potential to conquer space. (Gold 30).
Only one month after its "October ...
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a satellite launch of their own. On January 31, 1958, a modified Redstone missile, the Jupiter-C, lifted America's first satellite, Explorer 1, into space. This 31-pound satellite was only 1/36th the size of Sputnik II, but its miniature instruments transmitted valuable information about the conditions that lurked in space. Then in March, the Vanguard finally succeeded on its third attempt to launch a satellite. Although still in second place, America had recovered from its initial stumble and was now firmly in the Space Race. (Baker 159).
In April, of 1958, a determined President Eisenhower asked Congress to create a civilian agency charged with the scientific exploration of ...
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"The Race To The Moon." Essayworld.com. January 26, 2005. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Race-To-The-Moon/21228.
"The Race To The Moon." Essayworld.com. January 26, 2005. Accessed November 23, 2024. http://www.essayworld.com/essays/The-Race-To-The-Moon/21228.
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