Space Race
The Space Race began in 1955 when both countries (US and Russia) announced that they would soon be launching satellites into orbit. The Russians had placed the first successful satellite into orbit on October 4, 1957, called Sputnik l. Americans then successfully launched their first satellite just four months later called Explorer l. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin was the first man to orbit the earth in spacecraft Vostok l. Three weeks later, the US launched Alan Shepherd in. Freedom 7. However, it did not orbit the earth. On spacecraft Friendship 7, John Glenn was the first American to orbit earth on February 20, 1962. In 1961, President Kennedy had announced putting man on the moon, calling it The Apollo Moon program. After many years of experiments, test flights, and training, Apollo 11 was launched into space on July 16, 1969, with astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. The trip took these man three days to get to the moon. Upon arrival, Armstrong and Aldrin moved to the Lunar Module called 'Eagle'. Eagle finally landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. With Neil Armstrong being the first man to step on the moon, his first words were, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". With this, the US had a huge lead in the Space Race. Relations between the United States and Soviet Union had began to chill out in July of 1975, which had finally resulted in the Space Race. |
Videos on the topic
http://www.history.com/topics/space-race
http://www.history.com/topics/space-race/videos/space-race-cold-war-front
This page was worked on by Gracie and Jordan