Space Race - Adrian C.
During the Cold War, a competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to see who would dominate space emerged. In 1955, both countries announced that they would be sending satellites into space. The Soviet Union took this as a challenge and sought to become the first to conquer the challenge presented before them. Many German scientists were brought over to both countries, and after many failures, the Soviet Union finally succeeded in putting a satellite named Sputnik 1 into orbit on October 4, 1957. The Soviet Union was boasting to the United States about what they had done and America was shocked at the achievement of their competition, because they had hidden their new technology. However, the Americans quickly caught up in the race with the launch of the Explorer 1.
On April 12, 1961, Soviets claimed another victory by sending the first man in space who orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok 1. Once again, the U.S. followed shortly when Alan Shepard entered space in the Freedom 7, but he did not orbit Earth. The United States did not like coming in second everytime, and president Kennedy thought it would be important if America was the first to put a man on the moon, so the Apollo program was created. 8 years later on the 16th of July, the American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, was the first man to set foot on the moon and he uttered the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” With the addition of the Gemini program, the United States took a huge lead in the space race and eventually the two countries conducted a mission together named the Apollo-Soyuz project, effectively ending the Space Race.
On April 12, 1961, Soviets claimed another victory by sending the first man in space who orbited the Earth aboard the Vostok 1. Once again, the U.S. followed shortly when Alan Shepard entered space in the Freedom 7, but he did not orbit Earth. The United States did not like coming in second everytime, and president Kennedy thought it would be important if America was the first to put a man on the moon, so the Apollo program was created. 8 years later on the 16th of July, the American astronaut, Neil Armstrong, was the first man to set foot on the moon and he uttered the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” With the addition of the Gemini program, the United States took a huge lead in the space race and eventually the two countries conducted a mission together named the Apollo-Soyuz project, effectively ending the Space Race.