Race to the Moon
by: Madeline, Izabel, Dylan, & Ramsey
Who was involved?
Yuri Gagarin
Telstar
Neil Armstrong
NASA
Sputnik
Alan Shepard
He was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, NASA astronaut, and businessman, who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American to travel into space.
John Glenn
He was the first American to orbit the Earth.
The Kennedy Family
Buzz Aldrin
The second person to walk on the Moon. He was the lunar module pilot on Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing in history.
When and where did it happen?
July 16, 1969. The American population thought that whoever got to the moon first was the ultimate deciding factor in the cold war.
Popular culture of the time period
Television and the movies, as evidenced by examples like "Plan 9", "Lost in Space" and "Invasion of the Saucer Men", in which an alien's severed hand crawled around wreaking havoc on the big screen.
There was a lot of anti-Russian propaganda throughout the space race.
How it resonates today
The technology that was created during the space race is used everyday with satellites for GPS and cell phone signals.
NASA has given a lot of useful tools such as the calculator and the Harmonica was the first instrument played in space.
What effect did it have then?
It showed American dominance and technological advances. It showed the superiority of the US and we came up with freeze dried food which contributed to the development of better MRE's. It encouraged patriotism and our competition toward the Soviets. It gave the United States a sense of pride.
Scale of importance in American History
It had a small effect then but it increased over time in culture.
Who did what?
Izabel gathered information, attentive, and got the materials needed to complete the project.
Dylan gathered enough information.
Ramsey provided comic relief.