The race to the moon began on October 5, 1957, when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit around the earth: “When the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, on October 4, 1957, the United States experienced a technological identity crisis”(Olson). The United States retaliated by trying to beat the
The year was 1962. John H. Glenn, Jr., is first American to orbit Earth three times in four hours and 55 minutes. The Cuban missile crisis creates an act that USSR to build missile bases in Cuba and Kennedy ordered Cuban blockade, then lifted the blockade after Russians back down. Cuba released 1,113 prisoners of 1961 invasion attempt by the US. John F. Kennedy spoke with hope while addressing the United States on September 12th.
During the Cold War there was a fight for economic and political dominance between the United States and their allies, and the Soviet Union and their allies. This struggle brought a lot of tension between these two countries as they both searched for newer ways to develop and enhance their rocket systems to deliver nuclear pay loads. It was during this time that an elaborate competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to be the first to land a man on the moon developed. This competition was known as the Space Race. The Soviets started out way ahead of the Americans in this race.
By 1961 it was clear that the USA was losing the arms race with the Soviet Union, how far do you agree? The nuclear arms race could be said to have been central to the cold war. Many began to fear where the Cold War was going whilst the USA and the USSR where building up stock piles of nuclear weapons. But was the USA really losing the arms race or was in in fact the USSR who was falling behind? It could be said that the USA was actually ahead of the Soviets by 1961 with the creation of the Atomic bomb in July of 1945.
This involved three core projects- A Space Shuttle- A reusable transport vehicle A Space Station- The launch platform Manned Mars exploration Due to budgetary constraints, only one of these NASA projects could be supported. The Space Station concept was favoured by President Nixon. However, this required the development of the Space Shuttle to support the project. The NASA Space Program after Apollo • 4. The Space Shuttle Challenger Disaster An initial 1972 study by the Mathematica organisation found that the space shuttle could orbit payloads for as little as $100 US per pound, on sixty launches per year with the initial shuttle design specifications (69,000 pound payload capacity).
Thus, the Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile was born. The USSR went on to brag about its possession of an inter-continental missile, 1-Upping the US’s recently developed B52 bombers. However, even this was exaggerated in the soviet’s policy of bluffing. US military planners feared that they’d fallen behind in the race. Of course, this drove the US to increase development its own ICBMs, continuing
The U.S. was determined to be a World superpower. During WWII, this weapon was used as a deterring device and then used as a rebuttal to a Japanese attack on the United States. The catastrophic destruction caused by the delivery of this weapon could bring nuclear winter to the world. The nuclear bomb has shaped foreign relations since used in the early 1940’s, specifically between the U.S. and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Furthermore, nuclear weapon technology in non-state groups could result in more impulsive use.
The aim of this "quarantine," as he called it was to prevent the Soviets from bringing in more military supplies. He demanded the removal of the missiles already there and the destruction of the sites. On October 22, President Kennedy spoke to the nation about the crisis in a televised address. No one was sure how Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev would respond to the naval blockade and U.S. demands. But the leaders of both superpowers recognized the devastating possibility of a nuclear war and publicly agreed to a deal in which the Soviets would dismantle the weapon sites in exchange for a pledge from the United States not to invade Cuba.
A fear that the Soviets might become technologically superior is seen in Document E. Americans feared that the Soviets would dominate modern warfare, putting the United States in the weaker position. A prime example of the technological race was the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957. Although Sputnik was not a war vessel, Americans believed that the Soviets now could, and would, wage warfare on them from orbit. Thus the United States desperately began to try to establish a spaceship of there own. When their first attempts failed, Congress passed the National Defense and Education Act, to "assist in greater efforts in specific areas of national concern."
The Moon Landing Briefly describe the background of the debate. The United States’ Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the moon on 20 July, 1969. Nine years earlier, U.S. President John F. Kennedy had said that by the end of the decade the country would put a man on the moon and return him safely to Earth. There have been six manned landings up until 1976, as no landings have occurred since then. The Moon landing conspiracy theories claim that some or all elements of the Apollo program and the associated Moon landings were hoaxes staged by NASA and members of other organizations.