Gagarin onboard. He would become the first to orbit the earth. These blows hard the US, however they were not out of the fight. The US was on the ropes and need some motivation… who would inspire out fighter? Our sitting US president, John F. Kenney to deliver and refocus the whole country. They set up the Mercury with a chimpanzee inside. On May 5, 1961, the US sent their first man mission into space. Astronaut Alan Shepard onboard the Freedom 7 enter space however he didn’t orbit. The Soviets cosmonaut Gherman Titov launch for a day-long orbital flight in August 9, 1961 onboard the Vostok-2.
Let’s take a quick look at the score card so far, the Soviets have the edge with the most time in space. Fortunately, the US had prepared their fighter well… This battle did get interesting the Soviets had a lot the first title under their belt like the first dual man flight, first woman in space, the three-man flight, and the first space-walk. In 1962, John Glenn was their first astronaut to orbit the Earth in the Apollo. He accomplished three orbits around earth before returning. The US wasn’t going to give up this battle that easy. So, they set their eyes on the knock-out blow, for the Moon. The Apollo program will provide the edge they need. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 landed on the Moon with two astronauts onboard. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had reached and walked on the surface of the moon. The US had its first claim to the moon, but the Soviets proved that it was not done. The next day they launched Luna 15, an unmanned mission to the moon, however they inadvertently crashed it on the surface trying to land. Unfortunately, with this crash the Soviets threw in the towel. This bout was over and the US claimed the
title.
Today, the technical dominance is all but shared. They are working together despites their differences on other worldly issues. Currently, we can take notice the partnership established by them living and working together onboard the international space station. There they are conducting various experiment that will benefit all mankind. By them pushing the reach into space then we can see the vast a lot of technical advancements that is available now i.e. satellite television, satellite navigation, weather satellites, and communications satellites. The possibilities are endless, just think someday there will be space tourism and space colonization.