The space race, a 20th century competition between the capitalist US and communist Soviet Union, was to prove one’s supremacy. US and the Soviet Union were the main rivals during the Cold War, wanting to show the other how much they’re really worth through the development of their technology.
The Cold War led to the Space Race because of how it was a competition of space exploration. It included exploring outer space and sending people into space as well. The Space Race was an important event during the Cold War because of how it developed technological advances within the military fields, as well as containing social benefits for the Soviet Union especially. The reason why the Space Race would be a significant part of the Cold War is because space exploration was another competition for the cold war battle. Though, it was the Soviets who first created the space program. The reason for this was because during World War II, they were behind in terms of technological advances and space exploration was the only way for them to prove to the world that the communist party are capable of technological development.
On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union missiles a Sputnik, which meant ‘traveller’ and became the first man-made satellite within the earth’s orbit. The Soviets were the first group of people to create the first artificial satellite and this took the Americans by surprise, and influenced them to launch their own satellite as it was seen by the government as an important technology. The launch of Sputnik wasn’t of course a pleasant surprise to the Americans as they tried their best not to lose to the Soviets, because of how this was seen as a threat militarily. This caused the Americans to create an espionage in order to gather information about the Soviet Union’s military activities. In 1958, the United States decided to launch their own satellite called Explorer I. During that same year, president Dwight Eisenhower created NASA, which was used solely on space exploration. Along with the space exploration, NASA, there were two other security programs operating at the same time. These were the CIA and the U.S Air Force. This shows the development of the United States, as they were able to spend their time focusing on the military aspect of space. This enabled them to find out more information about the Soviets and their allies, and gave them the advantage of being able to fly ahead of the Soviet Union by creating better, and greater space crafts. In 1959, the Soviets decided to step up their game by launching Luna 2 to become the first probe to land on the moon. In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the earth in Vostok 1, a capsule-like spacecraft. Unfortunately, before the Soviets were able to launch Gagarin into space, the US were able to launch Alan Shepard to become the first man in space in March 1961.
In conclusion, it was America who were able to win victory during the Space race. It all started with the launch of Sputnik in 1957 on the Soviet’s side. The Soviets had 4 failed attempts into the launch of Luna between 1969-1972, along with a launch pad explosion in July 1969. Interest in the Space Race was influenced through the use of television where men and women could watch the American Astronauts in space, and were seen as heroes. Whereas the Soviets were seen as villains because of how they tried to surpass the US and prove their communist power. The victory of America was influenced through the American propaganda. America saw ‘landing a man on the moon’ as a way out to victory over the Soviets, and were able to achieve it before the Soviets were able to catch up. Through the use of espionage and propaganda, this is what caused people to believe that the Americans won the Space Race.