The Space Race
Cold War
The Space Race Begins
In October, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnick, into orbit around Earth. It put America into a scare, not knowing what the satellite was capable of. This is when the Space Race began. US leaders thought if Russia had a powerful enough rocket to launch a satellite, they could launch nuclear and/or atomic bombs. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA, was created in 1958 to bring competing military space programs into one.
The First on the Moon
July 20, 1969, America was the first to land on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin had the amazing opportunity to be the first people in space.
Neil Armstrong
American astronaut and first person to walk the moon.
Sputnick Satellite
No larger than a beach ball, it sent meaningless signals back to Earth. It was a shiny steel sphere about 23 across with four antennas. Russia was the first to send a probe to space.