Kevin R. Harmon
Bethel University
4/11/17
Abstract
The Space Race, a conflict between the United States and the Soviet Union, also known as the U.S.S.R. The Space Race started as a result of rising tensions between these two very powerful nations. At the time, Soviet Russia was a heavily communist country and considered the greatest threat to our nation. As a result of this view on the soviet’s intentions, the American people were highly suspicious when they encountered the first man made satellite put into orbit known as Sputnik 1. Sputnik 1 was the first successful venture by any organization to make it into space, which was conducted by the Russians. After the Americans …show more content…
The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the 1950’s and 60’s was by far a major landmark in the history of technological achievements for mankind and could, at the time, be considered the pinnacle of human ingenuity. With this in mind, we must understand that the Cold War was a fragile time period full of a plethora of exploration into various scientific fields and political conflict as we pushed the limits of mankind’s inventiveness and the measure of our hatred when we challenged the communist menace, the Soviet …show more content…
With only a ball of metal, the Soviets had managed to achieve what they were unable to convey with decades of rhetoric on the virtues of socialism: that the USSR was a power with which to be reckoned” (Siddiqi 171).
In 1960 John Franklin Kennedy posed the statement that it was necessary to put a man on the moon by the time the next decade had concluded. As tensions rose, a heightened sense of urgency to compete with the soviet nation, americans strived to reach higher and farther than had ever been accomplished by mankind by way of putting a man on the moon. Meanwhile civilian feared the soviet threat of a preemptive strike by russian powers by way of atomic