The Space Program: The "Space Race"

During the late fifties, the Soviet Union and the United States battled over who could be the first to send something up into space. October 4, 1957 the Soviet Union won this race when they launched Sputnik, a satellite that circled the globe. It traveled 18,000 miles per hour. It completed a rotation around the Earth within only 96 minutes! Immediately after this shocking event, the United States poured their efforts into making their own satellite. Their first attempt failed when the rocket toppled onto the ground. Finally on January 31, 1958 the first American satellite was launched.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union felt a need to push their space program in order to go above and beyond each other. The Soviet Union was the first to send a man into space, which was a risky decision. On April 12, 1961 Yuri A. Gagarin was the first to travel into space, surpassing the American’s for the second time in this “space race”.
The United States government wanted to out shine the Soviet Union, but simply sending a man into space was not going to do it. One month after Gagarin was launched, an American astronaut followed suit. Meanwhile, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was developing a way to send a man to a moon. They set up testing launch sites to develop their plans further.
Finally, after working diligently for seven years, the U.S. was able to beat the Soviet Union for the first time. On July 20, 1969 Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Thousands of American citizens learned of this through television sets that broadcasted it. Kennedy was thrilled to have been a part of this event, which became the biggest bookmark in American history.
With this final feat, the Soviet Union was unable to compete with America’s latest achievement. This concluded the infamous “space race”. As a result of the countless months spent on developing new technologies, space and defense related industries expanded and the federal government provided funding for more research.

By: Liz and Noel