Harrison Holstein

CP US History II

Mr. Sarajian

4/12/10

The Space Race (Rough Draft)

From the late 1950s to mid 70s the innovation, creativity, and the pure

competitive nature of two nations was tested in what was known as the Space Race. This

race for scientific triumph between the United States and the USSR certainly changed the

future of space exploration. Each nation pushed the other to great heights. The question at

hand is what actually was achieved through the Space Race and how does this

achievement affect us today? Any person interested in science knows that what was

accomplished in this era was simply amazing. I chose this topic because I would like to

make clear to anyone not familiar with what happened that many of the luxuries we enjoy

today would not have been possible if it was not for the hugely significant gains in space

exploration.

Rockets have been around in human history for hundreds of years. The very first

people to use rockets were the Chinese as far back as 1200 CE (Irvine). They used them

in combat and their enemies described them as “arrows of flying fire”. They were viewed

as some sort of magic because no one knew how they worked. Since then all kinds of

rockets were used in battles across the world. Not many people had decided to develop

rockets for launch or scientific reasons. Anyone who did this was just a scientist

experimenting without much funding. What really started the development of scientific

rockets was World War II. As allies in WWII, both the US and Soviets captured German
engineers and rocket assets after winning the war (Irvine). America most notably had

gotten Wernher von Braun, a German rocket engineer with hopes of flying men to the

moon (Irvine). He would eventually be a key player in the NASA space program.

America had used the first nuclear weapons and the world saw how destructive they

could be. The Soviet Union tested their first successful atomic bomb in 1949; just four

years after the US dropped their bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima. This created an arms

race between the two nations also known as the Cold War.

The next challenge for each nation was to develop an Intercontinental Ballistic

Missile (ICBM), which could deliver a nuclear weapon from that nation's soil to its

respective enemy's cities and military bases (Irvine). The US had a much bigger air force

and bases in Europe close to Russia. Josef Stalin, leader of the soviets, needed to counter

this by developing these missiles that could reach the US all the way from Europe

(Irvine). Creating these missiles was the first step to creating rockets for launch because

they required the same fundamental ideas. Because of fears of nuclear attacks throughout

the 1950s bomb shelters were created. In schools kids were taught to “duck and cover”.

The arms race was in direct contest with the space race. The 1950s were a very tense time

in the states. All Americans feared the over take of communists. Americans on the home

front in the 50s did not want to lose to the Soviets in anything and in 1957 they were hit

with a surprise.

On October 4, 1957 the first ever artificial satellite, named Sputnik (Russian for

Traveler), was launched by the Soviets. The world’s first satellite was about the size of a

beach ball and weighed only 183.9 pounds (Irvine). The significance of the satellite was

that it sent out a “beep-beep” radio signal every two seconds that radio operators could
hear throughout the world. Americans heard this sound on their radios and they felt

defeat. Many kids of the time remember listening on the radio with their parents and

feeling defeat. The moment is captured greatly in the book October Sky by Homer

Hickam who was a young boy fascinated by space explorations. The book reads, “I threw

on my clothes and ran downstairs to the kitchen…Instead of Rock n Roll what I heard on

the radio was a steady beep-beep-beep

sound. Then the announcer said the tone

was coming from something called Sputnik.

It was Russian and it was in space.”

Americans, who thought of themselves as

the world's technology pacesetters, felt

vulnerable. While the Sputnik launch was a

single event, it marked the start of the space age and the U.S.-U.S.S.R space race. Then

just about a month later the USSR struck again launching Sputnik II that delivered a dog

named Laika to space (Mintz). It was time for the US to react to this. President

Eisenhower sent a bill to congress to pass funding for the National Aeronautics and Space

Administration (NASA). This bill was of course passed and the US could start building

their own satellite (Irvine).

The US responded to Sputnik with their first successful satellite named Explorer 1

in 1958. This was a bittersweet accomplishment because all Americans knew they were

still way behind the Russians. The USSR was first to many of the major preliminary

accomplishments. In 1959 they put the first rocket into orbit around the Earth named

Luna 1 ("Race to the Moon"). Luna 2 would be the first to make contact with the moon
and Luna 3 was the first to successfully orbit the moon and take the first pictures of the

dark side of the moon ("Race to the Moon"). The USSR also accomplished the first

manned flight in 1961. During this time the US had done many minor missions including

the first weather satellite, the first photograph of earth from orbit, and the first satellite

received intact from orbit ("Race to the Moon"). These were all minor endeavors and

when John F. Kennedy became president in 1961 he knew that we must catch up to the

Soviets. He started by passing new education standards, which would make science a

priority in Universities and schools (Mintz). He understood that the coming generation

would be important to future science exploration.

On May 25, 1961 President Kennedy gave a speech to congress, "I believe that

this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of

landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space

project...will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind, or more important...and

none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish...." (Irvine). Congress decided to

fund Kennedy’s goal in landing a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Both

countries understood that landing a man on the moon would be the holy grail of space

exploration and the first nation to do it would certainly be recognized as the superior

nation. Until 1966 there were no real important advancements except for minor

technologies created solely for the purpose of flying to the moon. This included Wernher

Von Braun working on the Saturn V booster that would take the Apollo astronauts to the

moon (Irvine). In 1966 the Soviets were the first to make a soft landing on the moon with

Luna 9 ("Race to the Moon"). At this time the Apollo mission had been created. Both
countries had been sending multi-manned crews into orbit and back in the late 60s and

these missions paved the way to the historic launch in 1969.

At 4:17 p.m. Eastern time, July 20, 1969 astronaut Neil Armstrong announced,

"Houston...the Eagle has landed" (Mintz). Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had been the

first to land on the moon while Michael

Collins orbited above in the Command

Module (Irvine). To this day this moment

is known as one of the greatest

accomplishments in human history. For

thousands of years men have dreamed

what it would be like to walk upon the

surface of the moon. This event was

watched by over 500 million people

worldwide. It is remembered by astronaut Neil Armstrong’s famous words as he stepped

onto the moon, “That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind” (Irvine).

Because of the successful Apollo 11 mission that landed these astronauts on the moon the

United States is viewed to have won the space race. Eight years after President Kennedy

had promised to land a man on the moon, the mission was finally accomplished. The

Apollo program had employed over 400,000 Americans from 20,000 companies (Mintz).

The total cost was 25 billion dollars (Mintz). To this day Russia still hasn’t landed an

astronaut on the moon. Although this event marked the victory of the US in the space

race it did not constitute an end.

 After the landing on the moon most Americans were overjoyed with excitement.

But, this did not last very long. After the first steps on the moon there were no more great

feats to accomplish. The public lost its interest in the space programs. These space

programs did continue and their next projects would be to build space stations for

observing the earth. For the next couple years NASA built objects to do fly bys past

Venus, Jupiter, and Mercury (“Race to the Moon”). Many people viewed the landing on

the moon as the end to the space race. Many others and myself believe that the real end

came in 1975 when the first multinational mission occurred. This was named the Apollo-

Soyuz Test Project. This was a brief break in the Cold War; President Richard Nixon and

Soviet Premier Leonid Brezhnev wanted to prove the United States and the Soviet Union

could cooperate in space (Irvine). The mission entailed the docking of the Apollo rocket

with the Russian rocket. This is what ended the tensions in the Space Race and set the

precedent for the worldwide collaboration of the International Space Station. Although

the space race was over the Cold War unfortunately would continue for about 20 years

after the lunar landing.

This time period from the late 50s to mid 70s known as the Space Race can be

very closely related to another time in world history. In the Age of Imperialism Africa

was left open for countries to conquer. This was known as the Scramble for Africa or the

Race for Africa ("Unit Two: Studying"). During this time period many countries wanted

to grab as much African land as they could ("Unit Two: Studying"). They all were

competing to be the first to set foot on certain countries. Although in the Space Race it

was just two countries fighting over who would be first in many scientific

accomplishments during the Race for Africa many countries competed over who could
gain the most land. In both cases these world powers wanted to beat out the other nations

and show their superiority.

The effects of this age of exploring our final frontier can defiantly still be seen

today. Today, over a thousand artificial satellites orbit earth, relaying communications

data around the planet and making possible the precise measurement of our weather,

vegetation, and human movements to nations who employ them (“Satellite”). There are

currently 11 nations capable of launching satellites(“Satellite”). They serve for important

military advantages to many nations as well as to serve for many luxuries in our lives that

we take for granted. The GPS that we use in our cars today would have never been

created if not for the space programs. They were originally created to aid in the flying of

spacecrafts. Also cell phones, Internet, and radio all rely on these satellites orbiting our

planet (“Satellite”).

Besides from our space endeavors providing us with materialistic needs they have

helped us further our knowledge about our place in the universe. Most people do not

realize that we are extremely tiny. If the Earth were compared to a period typed up, 12

font on a piece of paper than the size of the Milky Way Galaxy would be about the size

of the entire continental US ("Beyond the Big Bang"). And what is even crazier is that

the Milky Way is only one of around 150 billion known galaxies. These 150 billion

galaxies are all that the laws of physics will allow us to see ("Beyond the Big Bang").

Once one realizes how much more is out there then they will come to the conclusion that

there is still much more to learn about. This information is what the future of NASA

strives to obtain. Today most of NASA’s missions involve up keeping the International

Space Station and adding new modules that will help the scientists living up there
(Whatmore). Other future missions include sending space instruments to Jupiter because

scientists believe it holds secrets to the beginning of our universe (Whatmore). In the way

future NASA hopes to visit Mars. Although in the near future no planning for leaving

Earth’s orbit is likely (Chang). President Obama called for an end to the Lunar Program

and wanted to focus on many other projects (Chang). These included new types of

engines to accelerate spacecraft through space and robotic factories that could churn soil

on the Moon (and eventually Mars) into rocket fuel (Chang). Many people are calling for

a new reform to NASA because the program is at a standstill right now. They are not

headed anywhere new with the same technology they developed in the 50s and 60s.

In the end it is clear that without the fierce competition between two nations we

would not have advanced this far in space exploration. There is no way either nation

would have invested the amount of money it had in science if it was not for the tensions

from the Cold War. The United States is considered the winner of the Space Race but the

real significance is not who won or lost but the gains we achieved for mankind. From

Sputnik to Apollo 11 the innovation of American and Russian scientists was tested.

Today we continue to discover new data and information about our place in the Universe.

It was the dream of so many great men before us to travel to the moon and it was

accomplished by not only NASA scientists but also by the Russian scientists who pushed

us to our limits.