One of the most emblematic episodes of Cold War went to racespatial, the dispute between the Americans and the Soviets, between 1957 and 1975, for the hegemony of space exploration. During the space race, the two world powers mobilized gigantic amounts of resources and personnel to promote the development of the technology necessary to carry out the exploration of the space.
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Context
The space race was an event that is inserted within the context of the Cold War, and only the political-ideological dispute fought by the Americans and the Soviets is what explains the enormous amount of resources used in space exploration.
The Cold War was a political-ideological conflict between StatesUnited (USA) and Unitysoviet(USSR) between 1947 and 1991. This dispute started shortly after the Second World War and it was the result of the geopolitical reorganization that took place at the end of that conflict. The two nations that emerged as powers began an ideological and political dispute that manifested itself at different levels.
With this dispute, the world lived a climate of polarization, in which several nations of the planet allied with one of the sides. Despite this, the Manichean discourse (discourse based on two antagonistic principles: good and evil) within this scenario, according to historians' analyses, was initiated by the Americans through the president's speech American HarryTruman, when he requested funding to contain the progress of the communism in Europe in 1947.
The dispute between the Americans and the Soviets was replicated in the most varied possible spheres. At diplomacy, the two countries acted to defend their interests and boycott their adversary; at economy, each nation sought to demonstrate its wealth; in military service, both nations invested in armaments to demonstrate their military power.
In addition, the dispute that marked the Cold War extended even to areas such as the sport, in which Americans and Soviets competed for the greatest number of medals in the Olympics, for example. At technology it would be no different, and, in this area, the Americans and the Soviets also disputed the position of hegemonic force.
The space race was, then, one of the forms that this technological dispute manifested. Thus, both countries carried out intense investment to encourage the development of scientific research and began to explore a new window of human progress: the space.
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Space exploration was a new feat of humanity, and the country that mastered the strategic and military advantages, in relation to its adversary, would be enormous, in addition to being able to demonstrate its strength before the planet. For this reason, from the 1950s onwards, the two nations endeavored to finance the development of technology for such a feat.
Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, numerous landmark events took place, such as the sending of artificial satellites into orbit terrestrial, the sending of living beings and then human beings into space and the great milestone of the space race was the sending of a manned expedition to the Moon, in 1969.
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space race timeline
As mentioned, the space race lasted from 1957 to 1975, and during this period, numerous important events marked it. In this part of the text, then, traversing a timeline, we highlight the main deeds of the North Americans and the Soviets, with regard to this period of world history.
Sputnik 1
The space race had as its starting point the sending of the first artificial satellite to the orbit of Earth. This happened on October 4, 1957, with the sending of the Sputnik 1, satellite that was in Earth orbit for 22 days and, in that period, it sent radio signals to our planet. This satellite weighed 83.6 kg and was made of aluminum.
The repercussions of this achievement were enormous, both in the Soviet Union and in the rest of the world. On November 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the Sputnik 2, which weighed about 508 kg and was manned by the laika, a dog collected in the streets of Moscow and who became the first living being to be sent into space.
The dog Laika died about 10 days later, from overheating the structure, but her death was hidden by the Soviet government. Sputnik 2 disintegrated upon entering the earth atmosphere on april 14, 1958. The Soviets ended up launching ten satellites with the name Sputnik, the last being released in March 1961.
NASA
The deeds carried out by the Soviets had a strong impact on American public opinion. the american president DwightEisenhower began to be pressured by the fact that the US was behind the Soviets in the space race. So, as a way to boost American scientific research in space exploration, it was decided to create the agency National Aeronautics Space Administration or NASA.
THE NASA was created in July 1958 and aimed to coordinate the American space exploration project. The American response was not just with the creation of the agency because, before it, in January 1958, the Explorer 1, the first artificial satellite of the Americans.
Explorer 1 was released on January 31, 1958, and this American satellite managed to prove the existence of radioactivity belts around the Earth. In addition, other sensors installed on the satellite were important for obtaining new information about space. Explorer 1 is considered to have obtained most expressive scientific results than those of the Sputnik launched by the Soviets.
Yuri Gagarin
Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first man to be sent into space.**
After some conquests made by the Soviets, the new dispute focused on who would send the first man into space. For this to happen, the Soviets selected two cosmonauts: YuriAlekseyevichGagarin and GhermanStepanovichTitov. Soviets and Americans were committed to the task, but again, the Soviets got the better of them.
The first Soviet cosmonaut to be sent was Yuri Gagarin, and he was transported into space on the mission. Vostok 1. The launch took place on April 12, 1961, and the spacecraft (with the same name as the mission) Vostok 1 was in Earth orbit for 108 minutes. During his journey, Gagarin uttered the famous phrase:
| “The earth is blue." |
NOTE
Vostok 1 was not maneuverable, so when it reentered the atmosphere, Yuri Gagarin was forced to eject, when it was time to eight thousand meters, and complete your parachute descent. Yuri Gagarin was made a Soviet national hero. Two years later, the first woman was sent to space, also by the Soviets. it was called Vladimirovna Tereshkova and was sent into space on June 16, 1963.
The Americans, once again surpassed by the Soviets, sent their first man into space on May 5, 1961. The astronaut sent by the Americans was Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr., which performed a suborbital flight (which does not complete a lap in Earth orbit). The flight that took the American astronaut was 15 minutes and he was on board the Freedom 7.
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US reaction
Neil Armstrong, commander of the Apollo 11 expedition, which took man to the moon in 1969.***
The Americans suffered a series of disappointments in the space race, as great innovations were carried out by the Soviets. Because of this, the American president John F. Kennedy announced, on 25th of May 1961, the intention that the United States took a man to the moon by the end of that decade.
Throughout the 1960s, Americans carried out a series of studies and tests to fulfill this mission. One of the important steps until man was sent to the moon was the programGemini, who did important tests, between 1963 and 1966, in the equipment and systems necessary to carry out the mission.
In 1961, the programApollo, responsible for the missions to send man to the moon. Until Apollo 6, missions were unmanned and aimed to test spacecraft equipment and systems. At Apollo 7, an electrical failure resulted in a fire that killed three astronauts during launch.
the ultimate expedition that took man to the moon went to Apollo 11. In it, Neilarmstrong, BuzzAldrin and Michaelcollins were sent to the natural satellite, in the Columbia, on July 16, 1969 and began their descent to the lunar ground on July 20 of the same year. The event was accompanied by about 600 million people, and the astronauts remained on the moon for more than two hours.
Altogether, there were six expeditions to the Moon that brought to Earth about 380 kg of moon rocks, which were used for scientific studies. The Apollo program mobilized about 400 thousand people, plus an amount corresponding to more than 100 billion dollars at current values.
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End
The space race ended in July 17, 1975, when Americans and Soviets carried out a cooperative space mission. During this mission, the ships Apollo18 and Soyuz 19 mated in space. This marked the end of the dispute between the two countries in this area and started a scientific cooperation phase between Americans and Soviets.
*Image credit: Tom Durr and Shutterstock
**Image credit: Arkady Mazor and Shutterstock
***Image credit: nephthali and Shutterstock
