The Space Race Essay

Submitted By trancer85
Words: 1580
Pages: 7
Open Document
The Start of a Space Race

The Space Race was race for supremacy between the superpower nations of Soviet

Union and The United States, triggered during the cold war, and marked by high tensions

and paranoia. “The first man who puts his foot on the Moon or another planet, declared

von Braun, will be in much the same position as Columbus, when he discovered the New

World.” (Cadbury 107). Not only was victory attainable by claiming the moon, the

security of Americans was dependent upon the outcome of the Cold War. German

technology and the assistance of scientists became critical for either nation involved.

Korelev was the researcher that worked behind the scenes for the Soviet Union and

helped launch the first satellite and man into space with his ingenuity, while Von

Wernher Braun was the captured mastermind of the V-2 Rocket who worked for The

United States.

The Soviet Union launched its first Rocket Sputnik into space, taking the Americans

by surprise. Although America embarrassingly failed to launch their first rocket,

“Kaputnik” in 1957, the Explorer 1 eventually became its successor and America’s first

satellite launched around 1958. Establishing control and dominance over technology and

weapons were fundamental aspects of the cold war, resulting from the notion that the

ability to orbit the satellites flown into space meant dominance over earth. The Cold

War’s attention quickly shifted to the opposing nation’s political aspects of communism

in Russia versus the imperialistic America. These two opposing politics in the nation became an additional driving factor for the Cold War and escalated the urgency of either

nation’s push for the technological supremacy over space.

Meanwhile in Soviet Russia, Stalin was aware of his country’s lack of technology in

rocketry. In 1945 Stalin assigned George Malenkov the authority to instruct a group of

engineers to gather necessary information on the V-2. Meanwhile, Braun gained the

interests of other world leaders. Braun was a scientist associated with the Nazis in

Peenemunde. He was a vital character in the development of secret weapons for Adolph

Hitler in Germany. His favorite childhood pastime was experimenting with rockets at the

age of twelve. At the age of twenty, he was hired by the army to build rockets with

devastating capabilities. He designed his first rocket known as A-1, ready to be tested in

1933. Although he had many other rockets under construction, the army’s goal was to

build a rocket with the ability to travel 160 miles before detonation.

Braun was frequently under a lot of pressure while working for the Nazis, under a

rigid supervision of an infamous SS officer, Hans Krammler. When the Soviets

began infiltrating Prussia in January 1945, Krammler was indifferent for the safety of

Braun and other researchers. Things began to look grim when Krammler expected every

man to fight to his death while on their duties. Braun had mentioned a possibility of an

escape to his team, from the Nazi control. One day he finally managed to escape from the

SS soldiers by jumping off a train during a trip. While escaping from the control of the

Nazi, he faced extremities of danger and risks.

The United States 104th Army Infantry Division arrived at the concentration camp

located in Nordhausen premises, a site that used prisoners to build the V-2 Rockets.

Horrible stench filled the airs of the site the Nazis have been using to build their V-2

rockets. Dead corpses of starved prisoners were lying around everywhere and the ones

that were still alive appeared to be destined to fall into the same fate. Some of the

prisoners were victims of mass murders. In April 19 the United States forces witnessed a

barn that was lit on fire to exterminate all of the prisoners locked inside. Americans later

discovered 1,016 dead
Show More

Related Documents: The Space Race Essay

The Space Race

The Cold War and the competition for more advanced space technology helped develop the setting of science and technology that exists today. The Space Race was accompanied by many changes, including technological, school systems, and the way we view outer space today. The effect outer space exploration has on the human race, and that new discoveries will have on the way we live our lives in the future, is enormous. The conclusion of The Space Race not only put an end to the U.S. and Russian conflict…

Words 804 - Pages 4

Space Race Competitiveness

of positive competition is the space race. Without competition, we as Americans wouldn’t have won, or maybe never would have even tried to win the space race. Some people may argue that cooperation is better than competition. “Don’t you think that without cooperation, we never would have won the space race? If we hadn’t worked together, we never could have done it.” But if we as Americans didn’t feel the collective competitive spirit and need to win the space race and bring pride to America, we never…

Words 477 - Pages 2

Kennedy And The Space Race

Kennedy believed that America should compete with the Soviets in the Space Race because space “must be won and used for the progress of all people.” If the Soviets were to win the Space Race, Kennedy feared, then space would become “a new terrifying theater of war.” According to Kennedy, the United States would use space to make new technological breakthroughs and scientific discoveries. The Soviets, on the other hand, would use space as a new platform for war, and this would create more chaos, rather…

Words 392 - Pages 2

Sputnik's Race To Space

In 1957 the U.S. Space Program, NASA, began as a result of the Cold War and the “race to space”. The “race to space” took place took place during the height of the Cold War and was initiated on October 4, 1957 with the successful launch of the Soviet Union’s artificial satellite, Sputnik I – the first of the Sputnik satellites. The Cold War can be explained as political and military tension between the Soviet Union and the United States. It started after World War II as arguments arose between…

Words 612 - Pages 3

Essay On Race To Space

Race to Space By: Cole Hagedorn The “Space Race” was a showdown between the Soviet Union and The United States of America, the goal was to beat the other into a pulp, revealing the true champion, democracy or communism. This race was a challenge, who could put a man on the moon first. The Space Race reflected political, social, and economic features for both countries, through this war. Neither wanted to back down, no matter what the other threw at them. This was a must win war for Democracy…

Words 801 - Pages 4

Kennedy Space Race

President Kennedy’s speech regarding the ‘Space Race,’ at Rice University on September 12, 1962, was used to encourage the competition America faced with the Soviet Union following the Cold War. His speech examines the importance of being the first country to explore space and land on the moon, calling attention to the value of American space involvement through its growing industrialization and the Soviet threat towards national security. Soviets Sergei Korolev and Valentin Glushko, two known competitors…

Words 1927 - Pages 8

Space Race History

and one day space exploration could even save mankind from extinction. There is way to explain the size of space within a logical or real number. But yet we push on wanting to explore every corner of this universe, discover every planet, and answer every question. In 1608, the first creation that allowed men to look and the study the stars more closely was invented. Little is known…

Words 1687 - Pages 7

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…

Words 808 - Pages 4

Space Race Research Paper

The International Space Station has been in orbit for over 25 years, but neither that nor the countless discoveries in space exploration made over the last 68 years would have been possible without the advancements made during and since the Cold War’s Space Race. During the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, which lasted from 1947-1991, there was a competition to prove technological and intellectual superiority by putting the first man on the moon. It began in 1955 and ended…

Words 1118 - Pages 5

Space Race Research Paper

Since the creation of man, humans have pondered and hypothesized what is out in space. Ever since the inventions of the telescope and the invention of planes, humans keep getting closer and closer to venturing out into space. With the Industrial Revolution exploding behind humanity and propelling technology into a new century of evolution. With the questions growing and the technology getting better, scientists open more inventions and innovations to already astounding aircraft. By unlocking the…

Words 633 - Pages 3