Space_Race

The race for the moon was instrumental in the United States emerging to the forefront of technology. Military applications of the “Space Race” were the catalyst for civilian applications of space technologies that the United States became the leader for. The United States and the Soviet Union were involved in a competition for over a ten year period. The space race had begun in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. The American presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, along with the soviet leader of that time period all agreed that conquering outer space was a very important factor in that time period. Both countries wanted to win to prove their scientific superiority and to show their military strengths on there end and to basically proved one was better than the other. Soviet Premier Khrushchev wanted to show that communist technology was superior. President Kennedy wanted to beat the Soviets to the moon. Speaking about the prospect of sending astronauts to the moon in 1961, Kennedy said, "No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space. And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish." He was referring to the mission to space and what it would be like if we explored the outer world. To go some place where no one else has gone would be a great deal of history. In the book, “Epic Rivalry: The Inside Story of the Soviet and American Space Race”, it was dually noted that the successful launch of the V-2 arguably signaled the advent of a new rocket technology. The competition of the V-2 rocket set the stage for the epic rivalry that would shape the course of the new space age. There are a number of events leading up to the Americans first walking on the moon. For starters in 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik which was the first artificial Earth satellite. The launch of the Sputnik brought in new political, military, technological, and scientific developments. One year later the United States launched its first satellite called the Explorer 1 which led to the formation of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The Soviet Union and the United States were competing to be the first ones to actually walk on the moon, in which one or the other would make a great deal of history if they had achieved this. The first space probe to hit the moon was the Luna 2 in 1959 by the Soviet Union. When it came to orbiting the Earth it was the Soviet Union that gained the first on this in 1961 when Yuri Gagarin was the first to orbit. The first American astronaut in space was Alan Shepard, Jr during that time period. Roughly one year later, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth was John Glenn, Jr. Between 1962 and 1963 there have been controversy of sending women to outer space, but when 1963 came around, the first woman in space was a Soviet “cosmonaut” by the name of Valentina Tereshkova. After about a five year hold, the United States made the final decision to push the space race a bit further by launching the Apollo 8 which was the first manned space mission to orbit the moon. Then roughly one year after the Apollo had launched, the first walk on the moon was in order and led by Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong was the first to actually walk on the moon while the other men followed right behind him. “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, as Neil Armstrong said when he took his first steps on the moon. Because the United States reached the moon first, they won the space race. The leaders of the Soviet and the United States knew that if one or the other was the first country to land on the moon that there would be an extremely important media event. Also, because of this space race and what the media had influenced the world watched each country’s progress with great interest. Scientists and government leaders in both of the countries were under intense pressure to meet tough deadlines. The space race allowed for the rapid advancement of technologies in which the United States became the leader. Telemedicine has been named as one of the ten technological breakthroughs resulting from the “Space Race”. The space program has resulted in “dozens of healthcare applications designed to help astronauts stay healthy”, including programmable pacemakers and blood pressure monitors. Telemedicine that strived from the result of the “Space Race” also included satellite television, laptop computers and non-glare screens, three dimensional graphics, virtual reality, and global differential Global Positioning System (otherwise known as GPS). As another result of the “Space Race”, NASA was the only one that attempted to put people on the Moon. In the book, “Who Really Won the Space Race”, by Thom Burnett, he explains that this book looks at the history of the “Space Race” between America and the Soviet Union, and asserts that America could have put a satellite into orbit a whole year before the Russians. This goes to show that American technology had been rapidly changing and growing over time. As a result of the “Space Race”, the space program has enjoyed spectacular successes, but also suffered several disappointments such as the tragic explosion of the Challenger shuttle and the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Again, the “Space Race” had a major impact on society. It was a result of great scientific discoveries for both the Soviet Union and the United States. The “Space Race” was a stimulus for scientific research, since the problem of space travel, or landing on the moon, is basically a scientific and engineering problem. To a large degree, the advanced technology of the 21st century got its start in the “Space Race”. Technological advancement in the end was a result of the “Space Race”. It shaped technology today. As scientists continue to explore space we have the results of the “Space Race” to thank. We have the Americans to thank for winning and the Soviets to thank for forcing us to pursue the first landing on the moon. It is in the words of Neil Armstrong that we will never forget though, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”.