# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Space Race and its Effects on the Cold War

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Space Race Begins | NASA: Challenging the Space Frontier | Scholastic.com

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Learn about the beginning of the space race when the Soviet Union launches Sputnik. Includes links to learn about other important times in space history, with photos, teacher's guide, and other activities.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The Space Race between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics post World War II was a tipping point in the history of mankind. This superpower race intensified the Cold War rivalry because for the first time mankind was looking to compete in the arena of space. Dominance over space and the race to outdo one another became a matter of pride for both the United States and USSR.

The competition to conquer space was so huge that a new benchmark was set by one of the two superpowers almost every year throughout 1950s and 1960s. There were many "firsts" during the Space Race. The first intercontinental ballistic missile in 1957, the first artificial satellite (Sputnik 1) in 1957, the first dog in orbit (sent by Sputnik 2) in 1957, the first solar-powered satellite, the first communication satellite, etc.

The Space Race didn't just leave an impact on the area of space research, it left a wider impact in the field of technology. The technological superiority required for the dominance of space was deemed a necessity for national security, and it was symbolic of ideological superiority. The Space Race spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites. It prompted competitive countries to send unmanned space probes to the Moon, Venus and Mars. It also made possible human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon.

The zeal the United States and USSR had to outperform one another proved quite beneficial to the progress of science. The work culture of the two superpowers was poles apart yet both were trying to be better than the other in order to become the best in the world. While the USSR had a highly centralized setup that had an impact on the source of investments in their space program, the United States, on the other hand, got private players to to invest in their space program. NASA, the premiere space research agency, was also built in 1958 during the Space Race to counter the early success in USSR in outer space.

The Space Race started with the USSR launching Sputnik 1 in 1957, which created a furor worldwide. The governments and masses were excited to see mankind taking another leap towards progress. When the human race ventured into space, it was a "paradigm shift" moment. Neil Armstrong landing on Moon is still regarded as one of the breakpoints in history and his words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for the mankind," are now one of the most quoted phrases in literature.

In a May 1961 speech to Congress , President John F. Kennedy presented his views on the Space Race when he said, "These are extraordinary times and we face an extraordinary challenge. Our strength as well as our convictions has imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom's cause."

"If we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. . . . Now it is time to take longer strides-time for a great new American enterprise-time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth," he added.

The space programs of both the superpowers were not just for civilian purposes; it was as much about the military-space program. Through this, the idea was to fight the battle with the rival by displaying power without actually having to fight an actual war. At that point, the United Nations had to step in to ensure that outer space didn't become a battleground for the superpowers.

That is when the Outer Space Treaty came into picture. The Outer Space Treaty represents the basic legal framework of international-space law. Formally known as Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, the treaty bars states party to the treaty from placing weapons of mass destruction in orbit of Earth, installing them on the Moon or any other celestial body, or otherwise stationing them in outer space.

It exclusively limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations and fortifications. Soviets were reluctant to sign this treaty because, in their opinion, the treaty would restrict their dominance over the United States in the Space Race. They later signed the treaty in 1967 when it was opened for signatures. To date, more than one hundred nations have become signatories to the treaty.

The Space Race didn't have an end date and in many ways the race still continues. But the "space rivalry" ended between the United States and USSR in 1975, when the first multinational human-crewed mission went to space under the Apollo-Soyuz joint-test mission. In that mission, three U.S. astronauts and two Soviet cosmonauts became the part of first joint U.S.-Soviet space flight.

The Space Race left a legacy in the field of space research worldwide. As the pioneers of space missions, both the United States and USSR helped their allies build their space missions through the training of scientists and engineers, the transferring of technology, and by allowing other researchers to visit their space laboratories. That way, both superpowers could learn and improve their knowledge and skills related to space research.

The Indian space mission was in its very nascent stage when the Space Race was at its peak. The Indian space program owes its development and expansion to the aid and assistance of both the United States and the USSR because Indian space scientists and engineers were sent to train in both those countries. As a nonaligned country, India maintained a delicate balance between keeping good relations with both the superpowers, especially in the arena of space cooperation. As a result, the Indian Space Research Organisation went on to become one of the best space research institutions in the world.

In conclusion, the Space Race is one of the most iconic moments in the history of mankind. It is quite difficult to assess its full impact in the area of space research and technology. One thing is for sure though-if there had been no Space Race, then surely the world of space research and space missions would be quite different from what it is today.
Martand Jha is a junior research fellow at Jawaharlal Nehru University's School of International Studies Center for Russian and Central Asian Studies in New Delhi, India. Image: Astronaut Piers Sellers during the third spacewalk of STS-121, a demonstration of orbiter heat shield repair techniques.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
This is How the Space Race Changed the Great Power Rivalry Forever

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Space Race between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics post World War II was a tipping point in the history of mankind. This superpower race intensified the Cold War rivalry because for the first time mankind was looking to compete in the arena of space.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle pitted the world's two great powers-the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union-against each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space became another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and-by extension-its political-economic system.

Causes of the Space Race

By the mid-1950s, the U.S.-Soviet Cold War had worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in both countries, fueled by the arms race and the growing threat of nuclear weapons, wide-ranging espionage and counter-espionage between the two countries, war in Korea and a clash of words and ideas carried out in the media. These tensions would continue throughout the space race, exacerbated by such events as the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the outbreak of war in Southeast Asia.

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for "traveler"), the world's first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth's orbit. Sputnik's launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile-seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space-made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.

Did you know? After Apollo 11 landed on the moon's surface in July 1969, six more Apollo missions followed by the end of 1972. Arguably the most famous was Apollo 13, whose crew managed to survive an explosion of the oxygen tank in their spacecraft's service module on the way to the moon.

NASA Is Created

In 1958, the United States launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. That same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration.

Eisenhower also created two national security-oriented space programs that would operate simultaneously with NASA's program. The first, spearheaded by the U.S. Air Force, dedicated itself to exploiting the military potential of space. The second, led by the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA), the Air Force and a new organization called the National Reconnaissance Office (the existence of which was kept classified until the early 1990s) was code-named Corona; it would use orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union and its allies.

Space Race Heats Up: Men (And Chimps) Orbit Earth

In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon. In April 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth, traveling in the capsule-like spacecraft Vostok 1. For the U.S. effort to send a man into space, dubbed Project Mercury, NASA engineers designed a smaller, cone-shaped capsule far lighter than Vostok; they tested the craft with chimpanzees and held a final test flight in March 1961 before the Soviets were able to pull ahead with Gagarin's launch. On May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space (though not in orbit).

Later that May, President John F. Kennedy made the bold, public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, and by the end of that year, the foundations of NASA's lunar landing program-dubbed Project Apollo -were in place.

Achievements of Apollo

From 1961 to 1964, NASA's budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. Apollo suffered a setback in January 1967, when three astronauts were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch simulation. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union's lunar landing program proceeded tentatively, partly due to internal debate over its necessity and to the untimely death (in January 1966) of Sergey Korolyov, chief engineer of the Soviet space program.

December 1968 saw the launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon, from NASA's massive launch facility on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, Florida. On July 16, 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt. After landing successfully on July 20, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon's surface; he famously called the momen t "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

Who Won the Space Race?

By landing on the moon, the United States effectively "won" the space race that had begun with Sputnik's launch in 1957. For their part, the Soviets made four failed attempts to launch a lunar landing craft between 1969 and 1972, including a spectacular launch-pad explosion in July 1969. From beginning to end, the American public's attention was captivated by the space race, and the various developments by the Soviet and U.S. space programs were heavily covered in the national media. This frenzy of interest was further encouraged by the new medium of television. Astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American heroes, and earth-bound men and women seemed to enjoy living vicariously through them. Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power of the communist system.

With the conclusion of the space race, U.S. government interest in lunar missions waned after the early 1970s. In 1975, the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent three U.S. astronauts into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft that docked in orbit with a Soviet-made Soyuz vehicle. When the commanders of the two crafts officially greeted each other, their " handshake in space " served to symbolize the gradual improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations in the late Cold War era.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Space Race: Timeline, Cold War & Facts | HISTORY

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Space Race refers to the period of competition over space exploration between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. during the Cold War.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/apollo11.html

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
On Jan. 27, 1967, Apollo 1's crew

Credit: NASA

Since the 1960s, spaceflight missions have resulted in the accidental deaths of more than 20 astronauts. The most recent disaster, occurring near the end of the space shuttle Columbia's STS-107 mission in 2003, caused NASA to ground its shuttle program for more than two years.

Here, a list of the men and women who have lost their lives during spaceflight.
Got a question? Send us an email and we'll crack it. Follow Remy Melina on Twitter @RemyMelina

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Reaching the final frontier requires a tremendous commitment from those who dare reach for the stars. Here, we pay respect to the men and women who lost their lives during spaceflight missions.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
NASA.gov brings you the latest images, videos and news from America's space agency. Get the latest updates on NASA missions, watch NASA TV live, and learn about our quest to reveal the unknown and benefit all humankind.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In 1964, artists Pierre Mion and Davis Meltzer were working in a private room illustrating NASA's plans for Apollo 11, the mission that ultimately placed the first humans on the moon in 1969.

"We were looking at the actual plans of the spacecraft, and that was classified information." Mion remembers. "We were literally locked in that room."

Their illustrations of several moon missions-and some predictions for next steps in lunar living-ultimately appeared in National Geographic and other magazines throughout the Apollo era, offering eager readers a glimpse at off-world exploration based on the best science available at the time. (Here's what NASA is planning now to send humans back to the moon.)

"Knowing what the future would look like may have sapped from spaceflight some of its romance," Matthew Hersch, science historian at Harvard University, says in an email. "But the knowledge that real spaceships would fly to the moon made up for it in public excitement."

A painting of the lunar module Eagle flying above the moon's surface, which appeared in the March 1964 issue of National Geographic, includes a lunar landscape that doesn't look much different from those in the satellite images we see today. In the early 1960s, however, the idea of crater-worn lunar terrain was at the cutting edge of planetary geology.

Some scientists at the time thought that the moon would have harsh, jagged mountains without rain and wind to erode the surface. Others worried that moon dust would be so loose that anything that landed there would sink into it completely.

Mion's illustration is so accurate because he worked closely with astrogeologist Eugene Shoemaker, whose study of the moon's craters showed that our natural satellite is covered in just a thin layer of fine dust, called regolith.

"If he worked with Shoemaker, he couldn't have been working with anybody better at that time," says Tom Watters, senior scientist with the Center for Earth and Planetary Studies at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. "[Shoemaker] did some of the most seminal work in planetary science."

Watters is currently a co-investigator with the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera, or LROC, which orbits the moon and takes high-resolution photographs of the surface. The camera can distinguish objects on the moon as small as three feet wide, including some of the remains of Apollo landing sites and the footprint paths the astronauts left behind.

Watters compared LROC images of the Apollo 11 landing site with a December 1969 painting Mion made of the Lunar Module lifting off, an imagined view based in part on photographs taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as they walked on the moon.

"That's a pretty good depiction," Watters remarked. "That's not a bad job at all."

From Engineering to Art

The illustrators also brought this attention to detail and scientific accuracy to their more predictive works.

A close look at Meltzer's 1969 illustration of a moon colony reveals a cafeteria, a hydroponic farm, and a ping-pong game. According to the original caption, "a small observatory studies the heavens, undimmed by Earth's atmosphere." In the distance, a "commuter rocket" is poised to return to Earth. (Also check out Carl Sagan's 1967 predictions for what life on Mars might look like.)

Most importantly, the base is situated almost entirely underground to protect the inhabitants from radiation, extreme temperatures, and other dangers they would face on the moon's airless surface. For instance, between 2009 and 2016, LROC spotted over 200 new impact craters on the moon measuring up to 140 feet across.

"This one impressed me not so much in terms of the accuracy of the terrain, but the thinking about how you would build a habitat on the moon," says Watters. "You would not want to have a habitat on the moon sitting on the surface and get hit by something that could create a ten-meter crater." (Moon rocks collected during the Apollo missions are also revealing a surprising amount of water deep inside the moon.)

While imaging the lunar surface, the LROC team also identified locations that might work well for moon bases. Watters says a top candidate would be a lava tunnel, a large cavern left behind after an ancient lunar lava flow. By building a base in a lava tunnel, future settlers could avoid the lengthy process of excavating a construction site underground.

When Meltzer's moon base illustration was published, a lunar colony seemed like a straightforward next step in space exploration. Arthur C. Clarke's 1968 The Promise of Space was quoted alongside Meltzer's illustration: "It is strange to think that in a few more years, any amateur astronomer with a good telescope will be able to see the lights of the first expeditions, shining where no stars could ever be, within the arms of the crescent moon."

But so far, no country has accomplished that feat. After the first U.S. astronauts reached the moon in 1969, Hersch says, "changing priorities, economic difficulties, and the Vietnam War sapped funding for follow-up programs." The last astronaut to stand on the moon, Eugene Cernan, left the lunar surface in December 1972.

Still, as NASA makes progress with commercial spaceflight partnerships and its next rocket powerful enough to carry humans into deep space, the Space Launch System, these colorful visionsare a reminder of humanity's potential and an inspiration to keep reaching for the stars.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
See How Apollo-Era Experts Envisioned Lunar Life

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In 1964, artists Pierre Mion and Davis Meltzer were working in a private room illustrating NASA's plans for Apollo 11, the mission that ultimately placed the first humans on the moon in 1969. "We were looking at the actual plans of the spacecraft, and that was classified information." Mion remembers.

# data[].attributes.body
How they thought we'd live

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Having identified these conditions, the Board addressed the question of how these conditions came to exist. Careful consideration of this question led the Board to the conclusion that in its devotion to the many difficult problems of space travel, the Apollo team failed to give adequate attention to certain mundane but equally vital questions of crew safety.

# data[].attributes.body
taken on moon!

# data[].attributes.body
Apollo 1 fire

# data[].attributes.body
pic of Apollo 1 crew

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The end of January marks a somber time for NASA with the anniversary of the three major tragedies in the history of U.S. spaceflight.

On Jan. 27, 1967, three of the first group of NASA astronauts - Virgil ?Gus? Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - died during a routine ground test of the Apollo capsule, later named Apollo 1.

The astronauts suffocated when an electrical spark ignited a fire that engulfed their high-pressurized, pure-oxygen cabin. The Apollo 1 ground test had not been designated as potentially hazardous, the NASA History Web site said.

These were the first U.S. astronaut deaths associated with spaceflight. Sadly, that accident was not the last such tragedy.

The highly anticipated Jan. 28, 1986, launch of Space Shuttle Challenger, which carried the first teacher-astronaut, Christa McAuliffe, was watched live by many around the nation, including school children. But 73 seconds after takeoff, the shuttle erupted in a fireball that killed the entire crew.

In June 1986, the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident, chaired by William P. Rogers, found that the O-ring seals in the right solid-rocket booster failed in the cold temperature, eventually causing the booster to rupture and explode, taking the lives of McAuliffe and astronauts Francis ?Dick? Scobee, Ron McNair, Mike Smith, Ellison Onizuka, Judy Resnik and Greg Jarvis. A complete failure of the O-ring was not expected at frigid temperatures, said Roger Launius, chairman of the Washington-based space history division of the Smithsonian Institute.

Seventeen years later, tragedy struck NASA once again. On Feb. 1, 2003, following a 16-day science mission, the space shuttle Columbia broke apart upon re-entry, killing the entire crew: U.S. astronauts Rick Husband, Willie McCool, Michael Anderson, Kalpana Chawla, David Brown, Laurel Clark and Israeli astronaut Ilan Ramon.

A gouge in the shuttle?s left wing absorbed too much heat as the shuttle re-entered Earth?s atmosphere. NASA officials did not believe that the gouge on the wing - caused by the impact of insulating foam from the shuttle?s external tank during its Jan. 16 liftoff - was severe enough to cause the loss of the shuttle, Launius said.

?The problem with all three of these accidents is they really didn?t know they had a problem,? Launius said in a phone interview.

However, certain individuals did in fact raise awareness about these and other issues. Roger Boisjoly, an engineer for Morton Thiokol which built the space shuttle rocket boosters, warned his superiors and NASA officials that the O-rings might not hold up in cold temperatures. While there had been problems with the O-ring seals during previous shuttle flights, there never was a total breach, Launius said. And without the necessary amount of hard evidence, those objections were not seen as sufficient enough to stop a shuttle launch, he said.

There was not a thorough enough understanding of these risks, he said.

The inability to communicate potential problems in an understandable way between the different groups working on the spacecraft contributed to the accidents that led to the astronauts? deaths, Launius said.

After all three accidents, new protocols immediately were implemented to prevent the problems in the future, including:

The hatch for the Apollo capsule was reworked to allow faster egress, wiring was redone, flammable materials inside the cabin were replaced with flame-retardant items and the cabin pressure was lessened.

The O-rings for the shuttle?s solid-rocket boosters were redesigned after the Challenger disaster.

Foam debris hitting the shuttle was strictly scrutinized after the loss of Columbia, according to the NASA History Web site.

Despite the risks, astronauts continue to risk their lives. ?The spirit of exploration is truly what it is to be human,? astronaut Stephen Robinson said in an August 2005 audio message on flight STS-114, which directly followed the Columbia disaster.

?[W]e hope if anything happens to us, it will not delay the program,? Grissom said just a few weeks before he died, the NASA History Web site said. ?The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.?

VIDEO: NASA's Apollo 1 Tragedy

VIDEO: Columbia?s Crew: In Their Own Words

GALLERY: Columbia?s STS-107 Shuttle Crew

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The end of January marks a somber time for NASA with the anniversary of the three major tragedies in the history of U.S. spaceflight. On Jan. 27, 1967, three of the first group of NASA astronauts - Virgil ?Gus? Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee - died during a routine ground test of the Apollo capsule, later named Apollo 1.

# data[].attributes.body
Tragedy of the space race

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Tragedy of the Space Race and the Triumph of Its Ending

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was a competition between the two nations for superior space technology. This race had both triumphs and tragedies. The first tragedy of the space race was that it even happened. During Eisenhower's presidency, the US initially intended to not become involved in a space race with the USSR.

# data[].attributes.body
article from the moon landing

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Soon after the landing, upon checking and finding the spacecraft in good condition, Mr. Armstrong and Colonel Aldrin made their decision to open the hatch and get out earlier than originally scheduled. The flight plan had called for the moon walk to begin at 2:12 A.M.

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/A11_MissionReport.pdf