The Space Race: Competition Between The United States And The Soviet Union

The ‘Space Race’ was an unofficial competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, the focus of which was space exploration. It began after World War II, in the mid-1950s, when Russia launched a satellite into space. After this, the race was on between America and Russia to gain as much ground in space as possible.

The Space Race began in 1955, when both the United States and the Soviet Union announced they would be launching artificial satellites into space. Russia took the announcement from the US as a contest to see who would accomplish the task first. In October 1957, Russia successfully launched the first satellite into orbit. It was named ‘Sputnik’, and came as a surprise for the USA, who still saw Russia as the enemy. In November that same year, Russia launched ‘Sputnik II’ into orbit. This satellite was different than the first; it contained a living creature – a dog named Laika. She was the first living creature to be launched into orbit. This proved that living beings would be able to survive the zero-gravity environment. This experiment by the Russians created a newfound urgency for the US, and America rushed to launch their own satellite. They succeeded when, four months later, their satellite ‘Explorer I’ successfully
In 1969 the US safely successfully landed men on the moon. On the 21st of July, NASA sent three men into space to travel to the moon on what was called the ‘Apollo Moon Program’. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were aboard Apollo 11 when it landed on the moon. People worldwide were tuned in to watch the moment the men would step out onto the moon. Armstrong made history that day when he stepped out the shuttle onto the moon, famously saying, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” This mission put the Americans in the lead of the Space Race, and marked the beginning of the end of the