What is a general summary of the events of in the Space Race?
How it started, major people, ETC...
How it started, major people, ETC...
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Wernher Von Braun invented accurate long-range rockets for Nazi Germany. They hoped to use them to get to space eventually, but they lost the war. Von Braun was captured by the Americans and some other Germans were captured by the USSR. The Russians had their own chief scientist, Sergei Korolyov.
In the late 1950's the Russians sent up the first satellite, catching the Americans off guard. In the early 60's they launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit, a short time later America launched Alan Shepard, but not into orbit.
John F Kennedy made a big speech where he said the US should land people on the moon.
During the rest of the 60's, the US concentrated mainly on getting to the moon. Meanwhile the Russians sent a bunch of robots to the moon. They also competed to spy from space. The Russians built Almaz, a manned spy station, and used it for a while. The US planned a manned station but never launched it, deciding on unmanned spy satellites instead. At the end of the 60's the US landed on the moon, scoring a propaganda victory.
During the 70's both sides launched many interplanetary probes that found out interesting things about other planets.
During the late 70's and 80's, the US was planning on a big space station, with an airplane-shaped launch and reentry vehicle to capture the public imagination, so the moon thing wouldn't be its only victory. The public loved the shuttle, and still does, but it was so expensive that they had to forget about the space station part, making the shuttle mostly useless as well as extravagant. Meanwhile the Russians used their regular rockets and capsules to assemble a nice space station.
After the 90's it was no longer much of a race, though the Russians seem pretty proud that the US hasn't got a manned launch method anymore because of the shuttle. The shuttle was the worst mistake in space-faring history so far.
In the late 1950's the Russians sent up the first satellite, catching the Americans off guard. In the early 60's they launched Yuri Gagarin into orbit, a short time later America launched Alan Shepard, but not into orbit.
John F Kennedy made a big speech where he said the US should land people on the moon.
During the rest of the 60's, the US concentrated mainly on getting to the moon. Meanwhile the Russians sent a bunch of robots to the moon. They also competed to spy from space. The Russians built Almaz, a manned spy station, and used it for a while. The US planned a manned station but never launched it, deciding on unmanned spy satellites instead. At the end of the 60's the US landed on the moon, scoring a propaganda victory.
During the 70's both sides launched many interplanetary probes that found out interesting things about other planets.
During the late 70's and 80's, the US was planning on a big space station, with an airplane-shaped launch and reentry vehicle to capture the public imagination, so the moon thing wouldn't be its only victory. The public loved the shuttle, and still does, but it was so expensive that they had to forget about the space station part, making the shuttle mostly useless as well as extravagant. Meanwhile the Russians used their regular rockets and capsules to assemble a nice space station.
After the 90's it was no longer much of a race, though the Russians seem pretty proud that the US hasn't got a manned launch method anymore because of the shuttle. The shuttle was the worst mistake in space-faring history so far.
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USSR preceded US in sending both the first satellite and human into space.America soon followed and after that real fight was in sending humans to moon...Both countries tried hard and finally Apollo 11 series broke the ice and US became undisputed champions
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When the USSR sent the first satellite(Sputnik) into space and scared us Americans thinking they could send nukes into space and drop them in america
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_race