Space Race

The Space Race was a competition of space exploration between the United States and Soviet Union, which lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the efforts to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the Moon.

Though its roots lie in early rocket technology and in the international tensions following World War II, the Space Race effectively began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky theorized in the 1880s on multi-stage, liquid fuel rockets which might reach space and established the basics of rocket science. Tsiolkovsky also wrote the first theoretical description of a man-made satellite. In 1926, American Robert H. Goddard designed a practical liquid fuel rocket.

In the mid-1920s, German scientists began experimenting with rockets powered by liquid propellants that were capable of reaching relatively high altitudes and distances. Wernher von Braun developed long-range artillery fire weapons for Nazi Germany's use in World War II.

As World War II drew to a close, U.S., UK and Soviet military and scientific crews raced to capture technology and trained personnel from the German rocket program installation at Peenemünde. The United Kingdom and the Soviet Union had some success, but the United States arguably benefited most, taking a large number of German rocket scientists - many of them members of the Nazi Party, including von Braun.

On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, thus beginning the Space Race. In the Soviet Union, a country recovering from a devastating war, the launch of Sputnik and the following program of space exploration were met with great interest from the public. It was important and encouraging to for Soviet citizens to see the proof of technical prowess in the new era.

Nearly four months after the launch of Sputnik 1, the United States launched its first satellite, Explorer I. In the meantime, several embarrassing launch failures had occurred at Cape Canaveral. Sputnik helped to determine the density of the upper atmosphere, and Explorer I flight data led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt by James Van Allen.

The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he entered orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok 1 on 12 April 1961, a day now celebrated as a holiday in Russia and in many other countries. He orbited the Earth for 108 minutes. 23 days later, on mission Freedom 7, Alan Shepard first entered sub-orbital space for the United States. Soviet Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on 16 June 1963 in Vostok 6. The first flight with more than one crew member was the Soviet Union's Voskhod 1, a modified version of the Vostok craft, took off on 12 October 1964 carrying Komarov, Feoktistov and Yegorov. This flight also marked the first occasion on which a crew did not wear spacesuits.

Aleksei Leonov, from Voskhod 2, launched by the Soviet Union on 18 March 1965, carried out the first spacewalk. Following the Soviet success in placing the first satellite into orbit, the Americans focused their efforts on sending a probe to the Moon. American Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the lunar surface on 21 July 1969, after landing the previous day.

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