THE space race was one of the best known chapters of Cold War, happened between 1957 and 1975 and was held between StatesUnited and Unitysoviet. The space race was responsible for mobilizing large amounts of money in order to promote space exploration. In it, Soviets and Americans encouraged the scientific development, performed manned space expeditions, and, as the apex of this dispute, an expedition was organized by the Americans that took the man to Moon.
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Context
The space race was one of the most remarkable events of the Cold War, a political-ideological conflict that divided the world during the years between 1947 and 1991. The Cold War started shortly after the end of the Second World War. At the end of this war, which lasted from 1939 to 1945, the United States unquestionably emerged as the great world power.
The rise of the Soviet Union during the war and its role as a communist bloc power led the US government to develop a rhetoric that guided the world to
polarization. Thus, already in the 1940s, the speech and diplomatic actions taken by the American government were aimed at combat the growth of Soviet influence.The action of the United States in transforming the Soviet Union as its great adversary was aimed at guaranteeing the strength of the american presence on the european continent and thus keep your heated economy. In this way, throughout the 1940s and 1950s, the two blocs organized themselves, each grouping the nations in its area of influence.
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Throughout the Cold War years, the dispute between the Americans and the Soviets took place in different instances. diplomatically, each nation sought to secure its interests; economically, disputed the world hegemony; militarily, the hegemony of force was disputed; and in the technological scope the dispute also happened.
One of the offshoots of the Cold War turned out to be the technological dispute conducted by Americans and Soviets. In this dispute, the two nations invested massively in education and promoted rapid scientific advances. THE space race was result of this dispute at the scientific scope.
The space race took place after the launch of artificial satellites, space probes, sending manned expeditions into space and trips to the Moon. The "conquest" of space was something fundamental within the dispute waged by the Americans and the Soviets, as the mastery of this new frontier would make it very clear the world power roleof the one who did it.
Furthermore, dominating space could be used in strategic matters in the military sphere. That's because dominating the space could allow monitor the enemy via satellites, perform attacks if necessary, etc. That's why the dispute for space was so important. It was a new frontier of human progress to be crossed by the winning nation.
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Main events
In this excerpt of the text, we will bring a summary of the main events that took place during the space race.
Sputnik
On October 4, 1957, the Soviets sent Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in earth orbit.*
The Soviets took the first step in the space race, and on October 4, 1957, the first satellite in orbit, the Sputnik 1. It was this event that started the space race, and Sputnik 1 worked in the orbit of Earth for 22 days. During this period, the satellite sent radio signals that were fundamental to the study of the planet.
Shortly after the launch of the satellite, the Soviet press celebrated the event as a great landmark of Soviet science, and the launch of Sputnik 1 reverberated around the world, including the States United. The Soviet satellite was a sphere made of aluminum with 58 centimeters in diameter and weighed about 83 kg.
The dog Laika was the first living being to be sent into space and was aboard Sputnik 2 in 1957.**
The Soviets continued to innovate and, a month later, launched the Sputnik 2, which weighed 508 kg and was responsible for taking the first living being to space. On that occasion, the Soviets sent to space the bitch laika, who died 10 days after launch due to overheating of the structure. Sputnik 2 disintegrated upon entering the atmosphere, on April 14, 1958.
In all, the Soviet Union sent 10 satellites designated Sputnik into space, the last of which was launched on March 25, 1961. Sputnik 10 sent another dog into space (called Zvezdochka), and this one, unlike Laika, was brought to Earth alive. To learn more about this subject, read our text: Sputnik.
NASA and Explorer
NASA was created as part of American efforts to compete against the Soviets in space exploration.***
In response to the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 and 2, the United States announced the launch of its own artificial satellite. So the Americans launched the Explorer 1, on January 31, 1958. This satellite was responsible for discovering a radiative region around the Earth. This region was known as Van Allen belt.
Explorer 1 stopped sending signals about four months later and only entered the atmosphere in March 1970. Then, still as part of the American reaction to the Soviet launches, the National Aeronautics Space Administration, More known as NASA. Its creation took place on July 29, 1958, during the government of Dwight D. Eisenhower (1953-1961). Are you curious about the subject of this topic? Read our text: NASA.
lunik
Another important event in the space race took place with the launch of Lunik 1, a probe that was launched on January 2, 1959. About 34 hours later, the spacecraft had passed the Moon and, after that, entered the Sun's orbit, being the first probe to orbit this star. A second probe was launched on September 12, 1959, and a third was launched on October 4, 1959.
man in space
Soviet Yuri Gagarin was the first man to be sent into space in 1961.****
The Soviet Union was the first nation to send an artificial satellite, send a living being into space, and send a probe that orbited the Sun. After having done all that, the Soviets were still the first to send a man into space. The selection for this undertaking was initiated by them in January 1961.
This selection led to the choice of Yuri Alekeseyevich Gagarin and Gherman Stepanovich Titov. Yuri Gagarin was a suitable biotype for the expedition and was a man of humble origins. His choice, above all, happened as a form of propaganda, as he was the ideal of a Soviet man.
Gagarin was sent to space in the Vostok 1, and the launch took place on April 12, 1961. The spaceship Gagarin was on was in Earth orbit during 108 minutes and on that occasion Gagarin uttered the famous phrase "the Earth is blue." During the return to the planet, Gagarin ejected from the ship at 8000 meters high and completed the parachute descent. that made him the first man in history to go to space.
The Americans, in the wake of the Soviets, sent their first man into space on May 5, 1961. Alan Bartlett Shepard Jr. was dispatched on Freedom 7 and spent 15 minutes on a suborbital trajectory. The first woman sent to space was the Soviet Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova, on June 16, 1963. She was in space for almost three days.
man on the moon
American Neil Armstrong was the first man to set foot on the lunar surface, in 1969.*****
The American project to send man to the moon began in 1961, through a speech by the then president John F. Kennedy. At this point in the space race, the Soviets had made all the great innovations. As mentioned, they were the first to send an artificial satellite, a lunar probe, a probe that orbited the Sun, a living being and man into space.
Thus, sending man to the Moon was an obsession for the American government, which spared no efforts (and money) to make this project viable. To make this possible, NASA created the Apollo program (named after Apollo, a Greek god related to colonization).
Those involved with the Apollo Program chose the “Moon Orbit Encounter” strategy to proceed with the mission. Brazilian scientist Elbert Einstein defined this strategy as follows:
The spacecraft would be modular, consisting of the Command and Service Module (CSM) and the Lunar Module (LM). The CSM would contain the entire life support system so a three-man crew could travel to and from the Moon plus the heat shield for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. The LM would detach from the CSM in orbit around the Moon and take two astronauts to the Moon's surface and from there back to the CSM.|1|
The Apollo Program selected Neil Armstrong, EdwinAldrin and Michaelcollins as part of the program. The three American astronauts were sent to the Moon on July 16, 1969, as crew members of the Apollo 11. Twelve minutes later, they were in Earth orbit, on the 19th, they were already in lunar orbit, and on the 20th, they began their descent to the Moon.
The American Aircraft alunisou (landed on the Moon) at 5:17 pm on July 20, 1969, and at 11:56 pm, Neil Armstrong set foot on lunar ground. At the time, the astronaut uttered the phrase: "This is a small step for man, but a giant leap for humanity." two of astronauts (Armstrong and Aldrin) explored the lunar surface for 2 hours and 31 minutes, and on July 24, 1969, landed on the moon. Pacific Ocean.
From this expedition, 21 kg of lunar rocks were brought in for scientific analysis and a huge amount of rubbish was left on the lunar surface. The Apollo Program directly employed about 400 thousand people and involved more than 20 thousand industries and universities Americans.|2| It was spent, in values at the time, about 24 billion dollars to send man to the moon. This amount of money, readjusted in 2006 values, corresponded to 136 billion dollars.
Also access: Learn more about the spacecraft sent towards the Sun by NASA
End of space race
It is considered the end of the space race, the joint mission carried out by the Americans and the Soviets on July 17, 1975. At the time, an American and a Soviet spacecraft docked in Earth orbit. The ships that participated in this joint mission were Apollo 18, on the American side, and Soyuz 19, on the Soviet side.
The astronauts involved were Thomas P. Stafford, Vance D. Brand, Donald K. Slayton, Alexei Leonov and Valeri Kubasov. This event marked the end of the space dispute and started a process of rapprochement and scientific cooperation between nations on the space issue.
Also know: End of Soviet Union
|1| MACAU, Elbert Einstein. No. We arrived at the moon. In.: PRADO, Antônio Fernando Bertochini de Almeida and WINTER, Othlon Cabo. the conquest of space: from Sputnik to the Centenary Mission. To access, click on here.
|2| NASA Langley Research Center's Contributions to the Apollo Program. To access, click on here [in English].
*Image credits: Aleks49 / Shutterstock.com
**Image credits: Shan_shan / Shutterstock.com
***Image credits: hbw_pictures / Shutterstock.com
****Image credits: Arkady Mazor / Shutterstock.com
*****Image credits: nephthali / Shutterstock.com
By Daniel Neves
Graduated in History
