After World War II, the United States and Soviet Union engaged in an intellectual battle. Part of this competition involved efforts to reach space first.
USSR took an early advantage by launching the first artificial satellite and later, a manned space flight. Early American attempts using Navy Vanguard rockets met with spectacular failure.
The Cold War
The Space Race was an integral aspect of the Cold War, an international struggle between capitalism and communism that saw two superpowers vie for supremacy in various fields such as science, technology and weapons. Both countries competed to demonstrate their superiority by performing impressive rocketry feats or spaceflight missions. Many technologies developed for spaceflight applications had far-reaching implications such as missiles or satellites used to keep an eye on one another - all adding fuel to an already volatile political atmosphere.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union shocked the world by successfully launching the first artificial satellite into orbit. This momentous event signaled that their technology had quickly advanced compared with others involved in the race for space exploration.
After Sputnik was launched into space by Russia, the United States released Navy test pilot Alan Shepard aboard Mercury-Redstone 3 as its inaugural American in space. Shepard traveled 116 miles high and spent about 15 minutes in space; President Kennedy promised Congress that by the end of this decade we would land someone on the Moon.
Both nations invested heavily in their programs, with several milestones marking progress: Ham, an US chimpanzee, became the first great ape to enter space, becoming both first to survive this experience and first animal ever sent into space by NASA. Meanwhile, Soviet spaceflight pioneers made history themselves achieving groundbreaking firsts such as spacewalk and landings on the Moon for themselves.
After Apollo 11 successfully landed on the Moon in 1969, US and Soviet leaders successfully negotiated an end to their hostilities and began working together on future missions. While the US continued exploring extraterrestrial bodies with manned Apollo missions, while Soviet scientists focused on building their Salyut station and trying to land crewed spacecraft on Venus and Mars.
Some experts question a comparison between the U.S.-China technology competition and a new Cold War, due to how globalization has altered states' access to weapons that they can deploy against each other directly in their home environments. Yet this view of the contest highlights just how vital it is for America to maintain an edge in space, with resilient capabilities capable of being rapidly rebuilt if necessary.
The U.S. Space Program
After World War II, both nations began building rockets for defense purposes. Soon enough, though, this competition soon transitioned into an intense push to launch people into space and orbit Earth - commonly known as The Space Race. Spaceflight rivalries created many milestones that captured public imagination, including the first satellite, astronaut and moon landing. Each success served to showcase technological superiority before an eager public. Many technologies developed for spaceflight also had more practical uses - for instance rockets launching missiles or satellites providing intelligence about enemies.
President John F. Kennedy began the era of space exploration with a bold goal in 1961: landing a man on the moon by the end of this decade. Within weeks of Kennedy's announcement came Soviet reaction in 1957 with Sputnik's launch and its shockwaves, prompting America's federal government to act swiftly against their Communist foe in order to keep pace in space exploration race.
Today's space exploration has changed significantly in recent decades. Satellite launches per year have increased exponentially while launch costs have decreased 10-fold allowing more frequent launches. Furthermore, data prices have seen dramatic decreases making sending information out into space more affordable than ever.
These developments have changed NASA's role, shifting from leading space exploration efforts toward providing satellites and services that facilitate missions millions of miles away from Earth. Yet Americans remain strongly supportive of NASA; Partisans from both parties - Republicans as well as Democrats - agree on one thing - that it should play an active role in space exploration while monitoring asteroids is an essential task that NASA should undertake.
The U.S. Space Station
Early space exploration saw two global powers compete to achieve dominance over each other. Their efforts would produce astonishing advancements that continue to shape modern life; one such advancement was the creation of space stations like this one which have since enabled long-duration human spaceflight as well as scientific research that benefits Earth dwellers.
As the International Space Station orbits 250 miles above Earth, astronauts aboard spend most of their time conducting scientific research that cannot be accomplished elsewhere. This allows NASA to gain insights into what happens to humans when exposed to space for extended periods. Furthermore, astronauts gain experience using spacesuits and other equipment needed for future trips to other planets or the Moon.
Scientists aboard the International Space Station use various instruments to monitor environmental factors, such as air, water and energy cycles, climate change and ecosystem shifts. This data allows us to better understand Earth and improve disaster response efforts when storms or wildfires strike; additionally it offers greater detail than can be obtained via sun-synchronous orbits of most Earth remote-sensing satellites.
Braun initially imagined creating a space station as a temporary platform that could serve as a stepping stone on the journey towards the Moon and other planets, but due to Cold War politics President John F. Kennedy announced his pledge of landing men on the Moon by the end of this decade - forcing NASA into developing one spacecraft as opposed to creating an integrated lunar vehicle and station solution.
At present, the International Space Station is operated through a partnership of five nations and 15 agencies, constructed on Earth by thousands of engineers before being launched into orbit by NASA's space shuttles or Russia's Proton rocket. Once in space, its construction takes two years; shuttle launches from Earth use Russian Proton rockets; it provides more living space than five-bedroom homes can compare to while its size rivals that of a Boeing 747 jetliner. Due to its vast size, maintenance of ISS can be costly as Gatens notes its primary structure - made up from several large modules - has an established lifetime which eventually will cause wear-out as dockings from visiting vehicles dockings will place additional loads that eventually wear out its primary structure causing wearout over time.
The Soviet Space Program
For nearly half a century, the United States and Soviet Union were two of the world's two most powerful nations, engaged in a global struggle for supremacy across a variety of subjects from military might to consumer goods. Space became an arena for this competition as both nations attempted to show off technological prowess that extended far beyond our planet's atmosphere.
The Space Race officially kicked off with the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on Oct 4, 1957. A month later they sent Sputnik 2, which carried Laika, becoming the first country ever to send living being into space.
Next came the challenge of sending humans into space. Sergei Korolev of the Soviet Union used his incredible engineering genius to adapt an existing spy satellite design and construct the Vostok spacecraft which launched with Yuri Gagarin aboard on 12 April 1961.
After the success of their respective first spacecrafts, both countries quickly focused on advancing technologies necessary for larger space stations and launch vehicles - the US developed Apollo spacecraft and Saturn V rocket while Russia created Salyut stations and Almaz boosters.
As the Space Race progressed, both nations encountered several setbacks that impeded technological progress. Salyut 1, the original Soviet space station, experienced many failures including air loss and decompression issues as well as three first-generation spacecraft that transported crew to reach it failing prematurely.
Even with these setbacks, the US made progress against Soviet space exploration efforts. By 1960, US had achieved its first lunar landing while Soviets took nearly twice that long to develop their Lunar Module and land a crew on the Moon.
US dominance in spaceflight was also attributable to a more cohesive organizational structure. NASA was established in 1958 to replace an increasingly dispersed National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics; by comparison, Soviet spaceflight design teams often consisted of competing design groups led by different chief designers; Korolev's OKB-1 group for instance had random designations such as "object IIF63" or "object 8K72K" well into the 1960s.
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