Space Race Research Paper

The Space and Arms race was an event during the Cold War. It was a test to see

which of the two great superpowers, the US or the USSR, was the superior one.

Throughout the Cold War, both of the countries believed that the more nuclear weapons

you had, the more powerful you were. It was also to see which country was more

technologically advanced.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviets had launched that which was the spark for the

Space Race. They had launched the Russian satellite Sputnik (which is the Russian word

for “traveler”). This was a surprise because this was the first artificial satellite and the

first object to be sent to space and placed around the Earth’s orbit. However, this was not

a pleasant surprise for
the US, as they wanted to be more technologically advanced. So,

in order to retaliate, the US had launched their satellite, the Explorer I. This had then

caused tension to the two superpowers.

During the same year, President Dwight Eisenhower had created the National

Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Eisenhower had also created the Central

Intelligence Agency (CIA) to look for any intelligence regarding the Soviet Union or its

allies. In 1959, the Soviets took it another step forward and launched the Luna 2, the first

space probe to hit the moon. In 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, was the first

person to orbit around. The US had then seen this and launched Project Mercury, which

was the development to send a man to space. On May 5th 1961, Alan Shepard became the

first American to go into space. Later that May, John F. Kennedy made the pubic

announcement of “Launching a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth,”

before the decade is out. They then dubbed this NASA mission “Project Apollo”.

From 1961 to 1964, NASA 's budget increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar

landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000

employees of industrial and university contractors. Apollo had a major setback in January

1967, when three astronauts were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch

simulation. On July 16th, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, and Michael

Collins set off to the Apollo 11 space mission, the first attempt at the Lunar Landing.

After successfully landing four days later, Armstrong was the first person to walk on the

moon’s surface and to say his famous line, "One small step for man, one giant leap for

mankind.”, and thus, ending the space race.
Around the time during the 1950’s, another race was then beginning. This was

called the Arms Race. During the Cold War, many people feared with the growing belief

that the more nuclear arms the nation had built, the more powerful the nation was. Both

America and the Soviet Union had massively built up stockpiles of nuclear weapons. The

world had changed when the US had exploded the H-Bomb, which was smaller than the

atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima, but 2500 times more powerful. The Soviets

had built their own H-Bomb later, making the world much more dangerous.

The US produced a bomber - the B52 - that could fly 6,000 miles and deliver a

nuclear pay-load. Such a development required massive financial backing from the

government - something which America could afford to do and which Russia could not.

Russia concentrated on producing bigger bombs - a far more cost effective procedure.

When Sputnik was launched, many of the people had feared that the Soviets
were

getting ready for an attack by one of the nuclear missiles. This was to lead to ICBM’s:

Inter-Continental Ballistic Missiles. As a result, the US had created DEW (Defense and

Early-Warning) lines around the Artic.

During the 1960’s, the Russians put their money into producing more missiles

regardless of quality while America built fewer but better quality missiles - the Atlas

could go 5,000 miles at a speed of 16,000 mph.
By 1961, there were enough bombs to

destroy the world.

The arms race came to an inevitable end in 1994. This was the time when the

USSR had been dissolved and Russia’s economy reached its lowest point. But by 1986, it

is estimated that throughout the world there were 40,000 nuclear warheads - the

equivalent of one million Hiroshima bombs!

[pic]

This political cartoon portrays soldiers fighting and the nuclear weapons in the

background. The sign says “on no account to be used because the enemy might retaliate.”

This cartoon was mainly on the conflict between the US and Soviet Russia. Its basically

saying that the US and Russia are building these nuclear weapons but not use them

because they might think that the other side might retaliate

The Space and Arms race

[pic]

By Jose Uruchima

Bibliography
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/nuclear_arms_race.htm

http://www.history.com/topics/space-race

http://www.atomcentral.com/the-cold-war.aspx

https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&sugexp=les%3B&gs_rn=5&gs_ri=psy-ab&pq=missiles&cp=11&gs_id=q&xhr=t&q=missiles+during+the+cold+war&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.43287494,d.dmQ&biw=1366&bih=667&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=8pQ2Uf62KcjD0QGg84DwAw#imgrc=dJvf97Qm-lrkEM%3A%3BCuUfZoeWhm4VeM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Falpha.fdu.edu%252F~bender%252FP_HERC-LCH.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Falpha.fdu.edu%252F~bender%252F%3B400%3B265

The Cold War by Sean Sheehan