The Space Race

“I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth.” - President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961

 The Space Race began in 1957, and ended in 1975, and it was between the United Sates, and the Soviet Union. It was also one of the largest parts of The Cold War, along with The Korean War, and the Vietnam War. The first event in The Space Race was First intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), but the most famous early event was the Soviet launch of Sputnik One. Sputnik One was just a satellite, orbiting the Moon, but the Soviets made an even more impressive discover in Sputnik Two, which carried a dog. The Soviets and the United States take turns launching Stuff into space, but the next big breakthrough happened in April 12,1961, Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin, was the very first man in space.Finally the United States started to work hard to land a man on the Moon. Carrying Commander Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot Michael Collins, and Lunar Module Pilot Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin took liftoff on July 16, 1969. It took them three days to reach the Moon, and three days to return. There are many conspiracy theorists that think the Moon landing was fake, but some of our greatest scientific minds, (The Mythbusters) proved them wrong. Several more Apollo missions and Russian Soyuz programs followed. By landing one the Moon the U.S. figuratively won, but the Race didn't end until 1975. Little side information the word Luna or Lunar is Latin, adoption in Russian, to mean Moon. And this is Sputnik (left) and Apollo 11 (right).