Cold War: The Space Race
The Space Race
The space race began in 1957 after the cold war. The Soviet Union and The United States of America were fighting for superiority in the cold war. They thought that the first in space would be more superior. This was only the beginning of the race for space.
The First Satellites
After Russia heard rumors that the U.S. was planning on launching a satellite into space, they hurried and built Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space on October 4, 1957. Sputnik one was about the size of a beach ball. Sputnik 1 had weight of 183.9 lbs. and a diameter of 22.8 inches. The U.S. was afraid that with Russia having great accomplishments, that they would be able to drop bombs on the U.S.
After Russia built sputnik 1 they wanted to go further …show more content…
with its accomplishments, so they built Sputnik 2. Sputnik 2 held one of the first animals to go to space and the first animal to orbit the earth, a dog named Laika. Russia knew that Laika wouldn’t survive because the technology was in a developing state. Sputnik 2 and Laika were sent into space on November 3, 1957. After a few hours Laika died a painful death from overheating. On April 11, 2008, Russia had a memorial placed by a military research center in Laika’s honor. This monument featured a dog on a rocket.
NASA
On July 29, 1958, NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration were formed in Washington D.C. by President Eisenhower. This was formed as a response to Russia. This organization was devoted to the study of space.
On December 4, 1959, the U.S. sent the monkey, Sam, into space in the Little Joe 2 space craft. Sam had a special space suit that allowed him to move his arms around freely. Sam was in space for approximately 1 minute before his capsule detached from the main engines. The capsule fell safely into the Atlantic Ocean. He was recovered several hours later with no injuries.
First Human in Space
On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space and the first to orbit earth. He was on the space craft Vostok 1. He was in space for approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes. He orbited earth and when he was over Africa the engines fired and he was brought back to earth. When he was approximately 7 miles above the ground he was ejected and he parachuted the rest of the way to the ground.
On May 25 1961, 43 days later, President John F. Kennedy gave a sensational speech to a special joint session of congress about his goal to get to space. He talked about how our country has advanced throughout history. He did this to give inspiration and motivate NASA to work hard on the mission to go to the moon. He needed to get approval from this congress to start this project. He made his date to go to the moon as February 21 1967. He got approval from the congress.
First Woman in Space
On June 16, 1964, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She returned home to Russia after 48 orbits around earth and 71 hours in space. She spent more time in space than all of the United States’ astronauts combined. This shows that Russia had better educated space students than the U.S. did. After this accomplishment of Russia, the U.S. was falling behind.
Failures of the space race
On January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 had a small cabin fire which then turned to a large fire having 3 fatalities.
Aboard the cabin were the astronauts: Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee. Before the fire there were already some problems. First, there was a foul odor in one of the space suits. After some talking, they decided to continue the tests. Next, the communications was cutting out. The fire started when they were doing a launch rehearsal test. The fire started at 6:31 the fire was spotted. The fire was presumed started from some wires underneath Grissom’s seat.
On April 23, 1967, the Soyuz 1 was sent into orbit. This space craft was carrying the cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The Soyuz 1 was supposed to be sent into space, stay there, and then another space craft, Soyuz 2, was going to rendezvous the Soyuz 1 and then dock. This did not happen. One of the solar panels on Soyuz 1 space craft was damaged. Although Russia knew that Soyuz 1 still had problems, the government overruled the engineers and launched it anyway. Russia planned on sending Soyuz 2 to fix the solar panel the next day but, a heavy rain the made it impossible for that to happen. When the space craft passed over Russia, Vladimir Komarov decided to try and fall to Russia and deploy a parachute so it would land safely. He tried this plan and during the descent the parachute failed to deploy and it fell into a field at 4,000 mph. Afterward there was a state
funeral.
America: Back in the Lead
On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 left earth. It went into orbit on December 24, 1968, Christmas Eve. This space craft was the first manned space craft to leave orbit, reach the moon, orbit the moon, and return safely to earth. They did a total of 10 lunar orbits around the moon. This space craft had the astronauts Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. These astronauts were the first to see the far side of the moon, witness earthrise, and see earth as a whole planet. They took 3 days to reach the moon. While the space craft was orbiting, the crew did a television broadcast, and read some verses from the book of Genesis. They returned on December 27, 1968. They landed safely in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Now the U.S. needs to go to the moon to win this race for space.
Success
On July 20, 1969, the United States was going to attempt putting a man on the moon. At 9:32 A.M. the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins are in the Apollo 11 space craft, taking off for space. They leave earth’s atmosphere. They orbit earth about 2 times before making their attempt to land on the moon. Three days later they are in lunar orbit. Collins gets in the command module Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin get into the lunar module Eagle. At 4:18 PM, Armstrong and Aldrin have landed on the moon. Over the radio to mission control Armstrong says, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." The command center explodes into celebration.
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong is ready to be the first man on the moon. He opens the hatch and while stepping of the ladder he says those legendary words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Millions of people from around the world were watching this legendary event on television. They stayed for a few hours collecting rock samples and exploring before returning home safely to earth.
The United States won the race for space. Later Russia and the U.S. became partners for space explanation and together they have made extraordinary accomplishments.
The space race began in 1957 after the cold war. The Soviet Union and The United States of America were fighting for superiority in the cold war. They thought that the first in space would be more superior. This was only the beginning of the race for space.
The First Satellites
After Russia heard rumors that the U.S. was planning on launching a satellite into space, they hurried and built Sputnik 1, the first satellite in space on October 4, 1957. Sputnik one was about the size of a beach ball. Sputnik 1 had weight of 183.9 lbs. and a diameter of 22.8 inches. The U.S. was afraid that with Russia having great accomplishments, that they would be able to drop bombs on the U.S.
After Russia built sputnik 1 they wanted to go further …show more content…
with its accomplishments, so they built Sputnik 2. Sputnik 2 held one of the first animals to go to space and the first animal to orbit the earth, a dog named Laika. Russia knew that Laika wouldn’t survive because the technology was in a developing state. Sputnik 2 and Laika were sent into space on November 3, 1957. After a few hours Laika died a painful death from overheating. On April 11, 2008, Russia had a memorial placed by a military research center in Laika’s honor. This monument featured a dog on a rocket.
NASA
On July 29, 1958, NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration were formed in Washington D.C. by President Eisenhower. This was formed as a response to Russia. This organization was devoted to the study of space.
On December 4, 1959, the U.S. sent the monkey, Sam, into space in the Little Joe 2 space craft. Sam had a special space suit that allowed him to move his arms around freely. Sam was in space for approximately 1 minute before his capsule detached from the main engines. The capsule fell safely into the Atlantic Ocean. He was recovered several hours later with no injuries.
First Human in Space
On April 12, 1961 Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space and the first to orbit earth. He was on the space craft Vostok 1. He was in space for approximately 1 hour and 48 minutes. He orbited earth and when he was over Africa the engines fired and he was brought back to earth. When he was approximately 7 miles above the ground he was ejected and he parachuted the rest of the way to the ground.
On May 25 1961, 43 days later, President John F. Kennedy gave a sensational speech to a special joint session of congress about his goal to get to space. He talked about how our country has advanced throughout history. He did this to give inspiration and motivate NASA to work hard on the mission to go to the moon. He needed to get approval from this congress to start this project. He made his date to go to the moon as February 21 1967. He got approval from the congress.
First Woman in Space
On June 16, 1964, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space. She returned home to Russia after 48 orbits around earth and 71 hours in space. She spent more time in space than all of the United States’ astronauts combined. This shows that Russia had better educated space students than the U.S. did. After this accomplishment of Russia, the U.S. was falling behind.
Failures of the space race
On January 27, 1967, the Apollo 1 had a small cabin fire which then turned to a large fire having 3 fatalities.
Aboard the cabin were the astronauts: Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom, Edward H. White II and Roger B. Chaffee. Before the fire there were already some problems. First, there was a foul odor in one of the space suits. After some talking, they decided to continue the tests. Next, the communications was cutting out. The fire started when they were doing a launch rehearsal test. The fire started at 6:31 the fire was spotted. The fire was presumed started from some wires underneath Grissom’s seat.
On April 23, 1967, the Soyuz 1 was sent into orbit. This space craft was carrying the cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov. The Soyuz 1 was supposed to be sent into space, stay there, and then another space craft, Soyuz 2, was going to rendezvous the Soyuz 1 and then dock. This did not happen. One of the solar panels on Soyuz 1 space craft was damaged. Although Russia knew that Soyuz 1 still had problems, the government overruled the engineers and launched it anyway. Russia planned on sending Soyuz 2 to fix the solar panel the next day but, a heavy rain the made it impossible for that to happen. When the space craft passed over Russia, Vladimir Komarov decided to try and fall to Russia and deploy a parachute so it would land safely. He tried this plan and during the descent the parachute failed to deploy and it fell into a field at 4,000 mph. Afterward there was a state
funeral.
America: Back in the Lead
On December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 left earth. It went into orbit on December 24, 1968, Christmas Eve. This space craft was the first manned space craft to leave orbit, reach the moon, orbit the moon, and return safely to earth. They did a total of 10 lunar orbits around the moon. This space craft had the astronauts Commander Frank Borman, Command Module Pilot James Lovell, and Lunar Module Pilot William Anders. These astronauts were the first to see the far side of the moon, witness earthrise, and see earth as a whole planet. They took 3 days to reach the moon. While the space craft was orbiting, the crew did a television broadcast, and read some verses from the book of Genesis. They returned on December 27, 1968. They landed safely in the Northern Pacific Ocean. Now the U.S. needs to go to the moon to win this race for space.
Success
On July 20, 1969, the United States was going to attempt putting a man on the moon. At 9:32 A.M. the astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins are in the Apollo 11 space craft, taking off for space. They leave earth’s atmosphere. They orbit earth about 2 times before making their attempt to land on the moon. Three days later they are in lunar orbit. Collins gets in the command module Columbia while Armstrong and Aldrin get into the lunar module Eagle. At 4:18 PM, Armstrong and Aldrin have landed on the moon. Over the radio to mission control Armstrong says, "Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed." The command center explodes into celebration.
"That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind."
At 10:56 p.m., Armstrong is ready to be the first man on the moon. He opens the hatch and while stepping of the ladder he says those legendary words, "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind." Millions of people from around the world were watching this legendary event on television. They stayed for a few hours collecting rock samples and exploring before returning home safely to earth.
The United States won the race for space. Later Russia and the U.S. became partners for space explanation and together they have made extraordinary accomplishments.