The Space Race
A Race to Space!
The Cold War
The cold war pitted two of the greatest powers against each other, the capitalist United States, and the communist Soviets! In the late 1950's, the two battled against each other, attempting to prove their superiority, in the great unknown arena known as......THE MOON!
Space Exploration
In 1957, the Soviets threw the first punch when an intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to be launched into the earth's orbit! This worried the U.S. enough to gather information on the Soviets.
U.S Fights Back
In 1958, the U.S. launched a satellite of it's own called Explorer I, designed by the U.S. army, and NASA was created that same year, a federal agency or space exploration! Eisenhower later created two more space programs.
It's Heating Up!
The Soviet's upped their game by launching Luna 2, the first ever space probe to hit the moon, and in April of 1961, Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first person to orbit the moon. The U.S. then decided to create a smaller capsule, which they tested with Chimpanzees. There then was a test flight in 1961, and then Alan Shepherd became the first American in Space!
Apollo
The U.S then planned Apollo, a plan to send the first man to walk on the moon. On July 16, 1969, Neil Armstrong, Edwin Aldrin, and Michael Collins went on the Apollo 11 space mission, a lunar landing attempt. On July 20, Neil Armstrong became THE FIRST MAN TO WALK ON THE MOON! And so, in conclusion, as Armstrong would say, this was "One step for man, one giant leap for mankind."!