The New Frontier--Space

On April 12th, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri A. Gagarin became the first human to visit "the new frontier," or Outer Space. The U.S.A's president at the time, John F. Kennedy, saw this as a challenge between the two super-powers and pledged to surpass it. Less than a month later, American astronaut Alan Shepard climbed into Freedom 7, a small capsule on top of a huge rocket, and blasted into space and back, reassuring the nation of its ingenuity. Later that year, America launched its own communications satellite, Telstar, to send live television pictures across the Atlantic. America's National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was also constructing new launch facilities in Cape Canaveral, Florida and a mission control center in Houston, Texas. The Space Race with the Soviets had begun. Addressing a crowd in Houston on September 12th, 1962, President Kennedy expressed his spirit and excitement for the space race by promising a man on the moon later that decade. Seven years later, on July 20th, 1969, the nation watched breathlessly as astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon to achieve this magnificent goal.

The Space program stimulated America in ways never expected, as the huge federal funding for research and development led to new industries and technologies, some of which were used in business and industry, and also consumer goods.

By Matt, Paris