1960s Space Race

The cold war was a dramatic set of events that Russia and America went through. On October 4, 1957 the soviets launched the world’s first satellite ‘Sputnik.’ This was not appealing to the American’s it was a demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 Missiles which was capable of delivering a nuclear war. Because of this the U.S. launched its own satellite by the name of ‘Explorer’ which launched the same year that President Dwight Eisenhower created NASA. However, Russia then succeed the U.S. in sending the first human into space in 1961 with astronaut Yuri Gagarin. The United States retaliated with Apollo 11 that sent three astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin ALdrin, and Michael Collins. By landing on the moon the United States effectively won the space race. The space race came to an official ending in 1975 with the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission that sent three American astronauts aboard an Apollo spacecraft that docked in orbit with the Soviet made Soyuz vehicle. The two commanders of the spacecraft officially greeted the each other to symbolize gradual improvement of the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union. The outcome of the space race was positive, because it included rapid improvements and advancements in telecommunication, solar power, computer science, etc. The innovations led to the inventions of other technologies today like the GPS and more.