Space Race Research Paper

Did you know that the space race was really a competition between two large countries? The Space Race was primarily between the U.S.A. and the U.S.S.R and began in 1949. They both wanted to prove that they were the best country by betting into space first. The U.S.A. and the Soviets believed that getting into space would prove that they had a better military, and better technology and were stronger economically and politically. Winning the space race would put that country as the top world leader. The space race was part of a much bigger race, the larger arms race which was more about military research and power than anything. There was a threat of nuclear weapons between both countries. It was a race against time. Both countries were …show more content…
October 1, 1958, Dwight Eisenhower signed and supported an order that created NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. On, May 25, 1961, John F. Kennedy told the nation that the U.S. would put the first man on the moon and he was right! There were hundreds of other people that were involved in the space race too. These people included scientists, inventors, politicians, astronauts and cosmonauts. One specific person is George Kovich, my great-great uncle. He was a research scientist for NASA and he worked in Cleveland, OH. George was one of the scientists that helped to develop the outer tiles for the space shuttles. They were made of pure quartz sand, which helped to prevent heat from burning up the shuttle as it came back to …show more content…
had great achievements during the space race. June 14, 1949, an American V2 Rocket took the first monkey into space. His name was Albert II. The U.S.S.R. launched the Vostok 1 Spacecraft on April 1, 1961 and put the first man in space, Soviet Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. Then, on May 5, 1961 the United States sent the first American into space, Alan Shepherd in the Freedom 7 Spacecraft. On January 27, 1967, The Outer Space Treaty was signed. It was an international space law that banned placing weapons of mass destruction into outer space or on the moon. Just over two years later the U.S.A. had a great accomplishment. At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, the United States launched the Apollo 11 mission, and the Saturn V rocket was sent into space. On July 20, 1969, the United States put the first man on the moon! His name was Neil Armstrong. He went there with his crew, Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin and Michael Collins.
The United States won the space race, when they put the first man on the moon. In 1975, the space race came to an end. The U.S.A. sent an Apollo spacecraft into space that docked with a Soviet Soyuz vehicle. The commanders greeted each other, and their ‘handshake in space’ became a symbol of better relations between the U.S.A. and the

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