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The Space Race A competition between the United States and USSR to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the Moon. It lasted from 1957 to 1975 It was set off by the launch of the Soviet Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957 It became an important part of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the USSR and the United States during the Cold War.

The Background Russian scientist Konstanti Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) theorized in the 1880s on multi-stage, liquid fuel rockets which might reach space and established the basics of rocket science. He also wrote the first theoretical description of a man-made satellite The American Robert Goddard designed the first practical liquid fuel rocket The German scientist Wernher Von Braun borrowed and expended on Robert Goddard's original research and came up with the first such projectile to reach space launched in 1942

Sputnik On 4 October 1957, the USSR successfully launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth Sputnik caused fear and stirred political debate in the United States and the formation of NASA The satellite questioned US technological superiority The National Defense Education Act was passed by Eisenhower in order to strengthen the defenses of the country Sputnik helped to determine the density of the upper atmosphere

Satellite 1958 Alpha – Explorer I The US answer to the Soviet Sputnik Launched on January 31, 1958 Explorer I flight data led to the discovery by James Van Allen of the Van Allen radiation belt

Satellite communications 1958: relayed a Christmas message from President Eisenhower to the world 1962: Telstar: the first "active" communications satellite (experimental transoceanic) 1972: Anik 1: first domestic communications satellite (Canada) 1974: WESTAR: first U.S. domestic communications satellite 1976: MARISAT: first mobile communications satellite

Animals in Space Laika was the first animal that traveled into space in the USSR's Sputnik 2 in 1957. She died of stress and overheating soon after reaching space In 1960 Russian space dogs Belka and Strelka orbited the earth and successfully returned The American space program imported chimpanzees from Africa, and sent at least two into space before launching their first human orbiter Soviet-launched turtles in 1968 on Zond 5 became the first animals to fly around the Moon

Humans in Space The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he entered orbit in Russia's Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, a day now celebrated as a holiday in Russia and in many other countries Alan Shepard first entered sub-orbital space for the U.S 23 days after Gagarin John Glenn became the first American to successfully orbit Earth, completing three orbits on February 20, 1962 Soviet Valentin Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16, 1963 in Vostok 6 Aleksei Leonov carried out the first spacewalk. This mission nearly ended in disaster, because Leonov almost failed to return to the capsule and due to a poor retrorocket fire the ship landed 1600 km off target.

Lunar missions Unmanned probes for the Americans The Pioneer program. The Ranger program The Lunar Orbiter program The Robotic Surveyor program Unmanned probes for the Soviet - The Luna program Luna 1 spacecraft Luna 2 - the first craft to land on the Moon

Lunar landing – The Soviet The Soviet showed a greater ambivalence about human visits to the Moon. Korolev, the Soviet Space Agency's chief designer, had started promoting his Soyuz craft and the N1 craft rocket that had the capacity for a manned Moon landing. In 1964 the new Soviet leadership gave Korolev the backing for a Moon landing effort and brought all manned projects under his direction. The failure of the first Soyuz flight was in 1967. The failures of the N1 booster in 1969.

Lunar landing – The U.S. Americans proposed joint programs, such as a Moon landing by Soviet and American astronauts and improved weather-monitoring satellites, but the Soviet rejected these ideas. American Neil Armstrong became the first person to set foot on the lunar surface on 21 July 1969. The event was watched by over 500 million people around the world.

The Soviet missions to other planets The Soviet Union first sent planetary probes to both Venus and Mars in 1960. The Soviet's Venera 7 became the first craft to land on Venus in 1971. Venera 9 transmitted the first pictures from the surface of another planet. Mars 3 was the first spacecraft to land on Mars in 1971 by the Soviet Union, but it did not return pictures.

U.S. missions to other planets U.S.'s Mariner 2 was the first spacecraft to successfully fly by Venus on December 14, 1962 The U.S.’s Mariner 10 was the first and the only spacecraft to fly by Mercury in 1974. Mariner 4 became the first probe to Mars in 1965 and it transmitted completely unexpected images. The U.S.’s Pioneer 10 had a successful flight by Jupiter in 1973 and Pioneer 11 by Saturn in 1979.

The "end" of the Space Race The first human meeting took place between Soviet crafts’ Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 , on August 12, 1962. The meeting of the Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft on July 17, 1975 traditionally marks the end of the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet. The Russians were the first one to send a man into space however their U.S. rivals were the ones to set their feet on the Moon.

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