Space race was a period of intense competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to achieve supremacy in space exploration. The space race originated at the end of World War II (1939-1945). During the war, the two countries fought together against Nazi Germany. When the war ended, however, the United States and the Soviet Union found themselves in conflict over political and economic philosophies. This conflict led to an intense rivalry that became known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, the threat of nuclear war between the two countries motivated them to develop space technology. Neither side wanted to appear too warlike. For this reason, they competed in the peaceful use of rockets as well as in their military use. The rapid development of space exploration technology in the United States and the Soviet Union also helped attract other nations to ally with them.
During World War II, countries developed simple rockets for launching missiles. Germany had developed the most advanced rockets in the world at that time. It used them to bomb the Netherlands and Great Britain. Following the war, the Soviet Union and the United States captured and recruited German scientists to develop rocket technology. Both sides quickly started trying to outdo each other by building better rockets that could go great distances.
The United States and the Soviet Union each aimed to impress other nations with advanced space technology. Each country wanted to keep its own allies, and to prevent other nations from allying with the opposite side. At this time, new nations were emerging around the world, including many that were achieving independence from European colonial rule. The United States was especially interested in persuading these new nations to become American allies. They wanted to prevent them from allying with the Soviet Union. Many Americans feared that there would be more nations like Cuba, which had allied with the Soviet Union after a revolution in Cuba in 1959. Americans did not trust Soviet allies, and they were uncomfortable that Cuba was so close to the United States. They feared spying and military attacks.
The Soviet Union accomplished several of the space race’s earliest and most notable achievements. On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik, into Earth orbit. The United States did not launch its first satellite, Explorer 1, until Jan. 31, 1958. On Nov. 3, 1957, the Soviet space program launched the first living thing to orbit Earth, a dog named Laika. In 1959, Soviet probes took the first clear, close-up pictures of the moon’s surface.
One of the most important milestones of the space race took place on April 12, 1961. On that day, the Soviet air force pilot Yuri Gagarin entered orbit aboard the spacecraft Vostok 1 and became the first person to travel in space. After several delays, the United States sent its first astronaut into space on May 5. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr., flew into space aboard the Project Mercury rocket Freedom 7. Shepard did not complete an Earth orbit, however. The first American astronaut to orbit Earth was John H. Glenn, Jr., on Feb. 20, 1962.
After these early missions, the two powers continued to compete. They launched larger crews for longer flights. They also built larger and more advanced satellites. In addition, they sent more probes to the moon, and sent probes to Mars, Mercury, and Venus. In 1963, the Soviet Union launched the first woman to travel in space, Valentina Tereshkova. Tereshkova’s mission was intended to show that in the Soviet Union, women were officially equal to men.
On May 25, 1961, U.S. President John F. Kennedy essentially challenged the Soviet Union to a race to the moon. Kennedy declared it a U.S. goal to put an astronaut on the moon before the decade was over. For a time, the Soviet Union took up the challenge. Both the U.S. and Soviet space programs practiced docking (coupling spacecraft together), carrying out longer missions, and other skills needed to land a person on the moon. In 1961, the United States began the Gemini program to develop these skills. In 1964, the Soviet Union launched the first multiperson space mission, Voskhod 1. The Soviets also built the N1 moon rocket and a lunar lander. But the Soviet effort suffered major setbacks, including four N1 launch failures. Meanwhile, the U.S. Apollo 8 mission successfully sent astronauts into orbit around the moon in 1968.
Loading the player...John Kennedy on going to the moon
The moon race ended on July 20, 1969. On that day, U.S. Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin reached the lunar surface. The six Apollo moon landings remain the only missions to successfully land humans on the moon.
Space exploration: Apollo 11
After the moon landings, the space race eased. Historians often date its end to the joint U.S.-Soviet mission known as the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. On July 17, 1975, a U.S. Apollo capsule and a Soviet Soyuz capsule linked together in Earth orbit. The Soviet and American crews performed experiments together in space.
The successful Gemini and Apollo programs persuaded many nations to become American allies. Pakistan, for example, was enthused by both American and Soviet successes, but eventually entered agreements with the United States to cooperate on scientific efforts. International cooperation in space blossomed in the decades following the space race.
See also Space exploration (The space race begins).
