The Cold War: The Space Race In The United States

The Space Race
After fighting alongside each other in the Second World War to defeat a common enemy, differing political ideologies resulted in high tensions between the United States and the U.S.S.R.
The Soviet communist government, initiated during the Bolshevik Revolution, posed a direct threat to the goal of the United States to spread democracy and capitalism across the globe.
These rising tensions manifested themselves in the form of the Cold War-a series of conflicts and antagonism between the two nations that did not involve any direct warfare between the two opposing powers but surprisingly lasted for more than thirty years. In the United States it can be known as lasting for nine presidential administrations from Truman until the
first Bush administration while in a Soviet outlook, more than four Soviet presidential administrations. The height of the Cold War was known as the Cuban missile crisis, a 1962 show of military force by both sides that occurred not far from the coast of Florida and almost resulted in an all-out war. Other Cold War conflicts include trade embargoes, the Berlin blockade, the construction of the Berlin Wall, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, and the Space Race. The Space Race was a competition between the world’s largest political superpowers at the time—the United States of America and the Soviet Union; spanning nearly two decades, from 1957 until 1975, each side of the rivalry aimed to prove that it had made more technological advancements than the other and could send men into outer space before the other could. Each side invested millions of dollars into space programs and technologies over the eighteen year period.
The Space Race was initiated by the Soviets. The spark of this competition was the
Soviet launch of Sputnik. According to NASA, during World War II, around the same time that the United States had Robert Oppenheimer, and other top scientists working to develop the atomic bomb, the U.S.S.R. also employed all its top scientists for military contracts, however, instead of a bomb, the Soviets believed focused their attention on rockets and similar space technologies, which they believed would be a key advantage in future military conflicts
(Sagdeev, Eisenhower). The History Channel states that, “On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik...the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit” (“The Space Race”). The launch of
Sputnik was unexpected to the majority of the American population, who were in utter disbelief that their rival in the Cold War was somehow able to beat the United States, a country with an extensive history of pioneering endeavors, into space (“Sputnik Launched”). Furthermore, the launch of Sputnik heightened Cold War tensions between the rival nations because, “this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile–seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. airspace–made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent” (“The Space Race”). Less than one year from its launch, Sputnik burned up in space, but nonetheless the Soviets were still triumphant in being the first to send a satellite into space. From this point the competition commenced as the United States raced to catch up to and then exceed the scientific and technological achievements made by the Soviet Union by the launch of Sputnik.
The launch of Sputnik was met with an almost immediate response from the United
States, ensuing a chain of actions and counteractions by the two competing nations. The year following the launch of the Russian satellite the United States successfully launched its own satellite-Explorer 1. This satellite was designed by scientists contracted by the Department of
Defense lead under the instruction and guidance of head scientist Wernher von Braun (“The
Space Race...). The data collected by this satellite allowed Dr. James Van Allen, a coordinating researcher for the project, to discover the existence of strips of radiation that surround the planet but are stuck in space because of magnetism (Of). This satellite was the beginning of the Explorer series of satellites that were developed and operated by the United States all within the first half of the year 1958. The first of these was Explorer 2, which failed to launch, there were then two successful launches in the Explorer series and then an unsuccessful fifth attempt to send one of these satellites into orbit (Loff). The Explorer series of satellite launches was the preliminary attempt of the United States to gain a competitive edge against the Soviet Union in the Space
Race.
As part of their competition against each other, both countries saw a necessity to create a government organization responsible solely for the nation’s initiatives in outer space. The key difference between the two organizations that were formed is that the Soviets chose to leave their space exploration operations in the hands of an elite group of strategists employed by the military, whereas American space exploration was lead by a government-funded organization of civilian scientists, engineers, and other necessary personnel (Sagdeev, Eisenhower). The United
States program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was created in
1958 by President Eisenhower and is still in existence today. Furthermore, Eisenhower also created two national security-oriented space programs that would operate simultaneously with NASA’s program. The first, spearheaded by the U.S. Air Force, dedicated itself to exploiting the military potential of space. The second, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Air Force and a new organization called the National Reconnaissance Office (the existence of which was kept classified until the early 1990s) was code-named Corona; it would use orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union and its allies. (“The Space Race”) The development of these agencies further ensued the progression of the competitiveness of the
Space Race.
After the initial satellite launches and the creation of government-funded space programs the competition of the Space Race only continued to increase. 1959 was highlighted by the first-ever space probe to land on the surface of the moon, this probe was of Soviet manufacture.
The 1960s were characterized by a competition to send living beings into space. This started with the 1957 orbit around Earth by a dog named Laika in a Soviet spacecraft (Barksdale), and was succeeded by the Soviets’ successful mission to send a human being, Yuri Gagarin, in orbit around Earth in 1961(“Space Race”). The following year, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit around the planet and the Apollo project to send a man on the moon had commenced (“Space Race”). According to the History Channel, “December 1968 saw the launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon... On July 16, 1969, U.S.
astronauts
Neil Armstrong, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt...landing successfully on July 20” (“Space Race”). By becoming the first competitor in the Space Race to successfully send men on to the moon. The
United States became the victor of the Race.
Despite the competitiveness of the Race and the desire of the two competitors to outdo each other, there were some instances in which leaders tried to bring about cooperation and teamwork between the two rivals. At the beginning of the Race, it was American President
Dwight D. Eisenhower who yearned for a cooperative agenda between the two nations for the scientific exploration of space.
He did so, through a series of letters he sent in 1957 and 1958 to the Soviet leadership, first to Prime Minister Nikolai Bulganin and then to Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Eisenhower suggested creating a process to secure space for peaceful uses. Khrushchev, however, rejected the offer and demanded the United States eliminate its forward-based nuclear weapons in places, like Turkey, as a precondition for any space agreement. (Sagdeev, Eisenhower). Eisenhower’s initial inability to create a peaceful multinational space exploration endeavor consisting of the U.S.S.R. and the United States is a possible cause for the extreme competition of the Space
Race.
The Space Race was a major occurrence of the Cold War, pinning the Soviet Union and the United States of America against each other in a battle to achieve new technological advancements and make new scientific breakthroughs. The United States became the victor of the Race when it made the ultimate scientific achievement in 1969-sending a man onto the surface of the moon. The eighteen years that this race spanned were characterized by hostility and high tensions between the two nations in competition against each other. The Space Race was a Cold War conflict that resulted in many advancements and scientific discoveries. Works Cited
Barksdale, Nate. “What Was the First Animal in Space?” History.com, A&E Television
Networks, 29 Apr. 2015. Web. 4 Jun. 2018.
Loff, Sarah. “Explorer 1 Overview.” NASA, NASA, 18 Mar. 2015. Web. 4 Jun. 2018.
Sagdeev, Roald, and Susan Eisenhower. “United States-Soviet Space Cooperation during the
Cold War.” NASA, NASA, 28 May 2008. Web. 4 Jun. 2018.
“Sputnik Launched.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009. Web. 4 Jun. 2018.
“The Space Race.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010. Web. 4 Jun. 2018.