Cold War: Space Race

Cold War :SPACE Race

Read through the following events of the Space Race, fill in your timeline, and then decide who the real winner was and why.

The Space Race was similar to the Arms Race between the USSR and the US. Both countries wanted to be the first, the best, the strongest.

Sputnik II

Mars Rover

Sally Ride

US vs USSR

JFK Moon Speech

Sputnik

Neil Armstrong

Hubble

Yuri Gagarin

GPS

Voyager

John Glenn

Space race - INDEX

in 1961, which was a big embarrassment to the US. In May 1961, the US sent their first man into space as well but was not up there as long as the Soviet's man. After consulting NASA he decided the Moon landing would be difficult but possible for the US to beat the Soviets to. This was achieved after his death in 1969 when Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon.

JFK announces the ambitious goal of sending an American safely to the Moon before the end of the decade. A number of political factors affected this decision and timing of it. JFK felt great pressure to have the US "catch up and overtake" the USSR in the Space Race. At the time, the USSR was far ahead of the US, they had launched the first satelite and sent the first human into space

May 25, 1961

President jfk

country. He set a transcontinental speed record by flying from LA to NYC in 3h 23min, the 1st transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed. After 3 years of training he rocketed aboard the Mercury capsule Friendship 7. He became the 3rd American in space & the 1st to orbit Earth. In 4h 56min, Glenn circled the globe 3 times, reaching speeds of more than 17,000 mph. The successful mission ended with a splashdown & recovery in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles SE of Bermuda. He was awared the Space Congressional Medal of Honor by JFK.

2/20/1962 NASA launched one of the most important flights in American history. The mission was to send a man to orbit the Earth & return him home safely. John Glenn was the pilot of this historic flight & soon became a national hero & symbol of American ambition. America's space program, NASA, was formed in 1958 after the Soviets took the lead into space. NASA recruited astronaut candidates across the US. They had to be test pilot school graduates, have at least 1,500 hours flying time and bachelors' degrees in engineering. Glenn met all the requirements. He also had a reputation as one of the best test pilots in the

Orbits the Earth - Februrary 20, 1962

John Glenn

About 15 min after the 1st step, Buzz Aldrin joined Armstrong as the 2nd man on the moon. They also planted the US flag. They conducted tasks to see how easily people can operate on the moon's surface, & left memorial items to deceased Soviet astronauts Yuri Gagarin & Vladimir Komarov, & Apollo 1 astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White & Roger Chaffee.

Apollo 11 Commander Neil Armstrong became the first man on the moon in 1969. A camera in Lunar Module provided live television coverage as Neil Armstrong climbed down the ladder to thte surface of the moon. He said the historic words, "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." The landing occurred at 3:17PM on July 20th. The 1st words Armstrong intentionally spoke to Mission Control & the world from the lunar surface were, "Houston, Tranquilty Base here. The Eagle has landed."

July 20, 1969

Neil armstrong

Sally Ride was one of the 8,000 people to answer an advertisement in a newspaper seeking applicants for the space program. Ride graduated with a bachelor's in English & physics & had a master's & Ph.D. in physics from Stanford as well. She did research in astrophysics & free electron laser physics.

She joined NASA in 1978. She helped develope the Space Shuttle's robot arm. On June 18, 1983 she became the 1st American woman in space as a crew member on Space Shuttle Challenger for STS-7. However, she was preceded by 2 Soviet women, Valentina Tereshkova in 1963 and Svetlana Savitskaya in 1982. She spent more than 343 hours in space.

June 18, 1983

Sally Ride

The Hubble Space Telescope was carried into orbit by a space shuttle in 1990. Although it is not the first space telescope it is one of the largest and most versatile. It can take extremely sharp images with almost no background light and many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics, such as accurately determining the rate of expansion of the universe.

1990

Hubble telescope launch

Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the US Department of Defense (USDOD). GPS was orginally intended for military applications, but is now available for civilian use. President Reagan made it availbe to civilians for the common good in 1983 after Korean Air Lines Flight 007, carrying 269 people, was shot down after straying into the USSR's prohibited airspace. The 1st GPS satellite was launched in 1989 & the 24th & last satellite was launched in 1994 - making GPS fully operational and free to use for ALL.

1989 - 1994

GPS Postioning made possible

The Voyager program is a series of US unmanned space missions that consists of a pair of unmanned probes, Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. They were launched in 1977. Although they were officially designated to study Jupiter & Saturn, the 2 probes were able to continue their mission into the outer solar system. They are currently on course to exit the solar system. They are still functioning today. These were built & funded by NASA. Voyager 1 is currently the farthest human-made object from Earth. Both missions have gathered large amounts of data about the gas giants of the solar system, of which little was previously known.

1977

Voyager Program

The Mars rover is an automated motor vehicle which propels itself across the surface of Mars. There have been 5 successful Mars rovers, all of which were robotically operated. The 1st successful Mars rover was Soujorner. It was launched by NASA on Dec. 4, 1996 & landed July 4th, 1997. Mars rover Spirit launched June 10, 2003 & landed Jan. 4, 2004. Opportunity launched July 7, 2003 & landed Jan. 25, 2004. Aug. 6, 2012 - Mars rover Curiosity landed to investigate Martian climate & geology to prepare for future human exploration & possiblity of life. July 30, 2020 - Mars Rover Perseverance launched

1996

Mars rover

Sputnik I was the 1st Earth-orbiting satellite. It was launched by the Soviet Union & was the 1st in a series of satellites collectively known as the Sputnik program. This launch is what ignited the space race between the US & USSR. Sputnik I burned up on January 4, 1958 as it fell from orbit upon reentering the Earth's atmosphere, after traveling about 37 million miles and spending 3 months in orbit.

October 4, 1957

Sputnik satellite

After the success of Sputnik I, the USSR began a plan to put an animal into space to test the effects space would have on it. The program was called Sputnik II. There was no expectation of the animal's survival because the technology to return did not yet exist. Viewed it as necessary to study the effect on living beings before sending humans into space. The Soviets chose a stray dog named Laika who was chosen for the 1957 launch. She likely died within hours after the launch from overheating due to some technological failure. But this proved a living passenger could survive going to space. In 2008 they unveiled a monument to her in Moscow.

Novemeber 3, 1957

Sputnik II - Dog in space

Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the 1st human to journey into outer space and 1st to orbit Earth. he recalled his experience, "The feeling of weightlessness was somewhat unfamiliar compared with Earth conditions. Here, you feel as if you were hanging in a horizontal position in straps. You feel as if you are suspended." The space flight consisted on a single orbit around Earth. It took 108 minutes from launch to landing. This was his only space flight.

April 1961

Yuri gagarin

US vs. USSR - Space Race Firsts. . .

What did the Soviets accomplish before the U.S.? Answer at bottom of timeline

Soviet Union

What did the U.S. accomplish before the Soviets? Answer at bottom of timeline

United States