Did you know that Yuri Gagarin, the first man to enter space, died at the age of 34 in a plane crash in 1968? Gagarin was an astronaut of the Soviet Union, also known as the USSR. In April of 1961, aboard the Vostok 1, Gagarin earned his place in the history books by being the first man to enter space. However, a few years before this in August of 1957, history is was also made when the USSR successfully developed a sufficient space launch vehicle in the form of the R7 Semyorka. Thus, the space race had begun. In broad terms, the space race was a competition between the US and the USSR for space dominance. Also, the ultimate goal of both countries was to put a man on the moon. Two months later, the successful launch of Sputnik, the first man-made
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It had not only been the government and NASA who had been interested in winning the space race. Although, they were interested, as demonstrated by President Kennedy’s quote, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things – not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win” (Llewellyn 1). However, the people of both the US and the USSR also were involved in their respective space programs. They used the success of their country’s space program as a way to show their superiority over the other, especially since the Cold War included both countries and had occurred at the same time as the space race. Space travel and exploration became a fascination and a large part of pop culture in the US at the time. For example, the late 1960’s and early 1970’s witnessed the introduction of many new programs about space. There was the ever-popular television series Lost in Space. Also, there was Star Trek, with its idea that Captain Kirk and his spaceship would go where no man had gone before. Even today, Star Trek has maintained a cult-like following. And, looming above all the others, there was 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film came out in 1968, and received excellent reviews. Also, magazines such as Popular Mechanics displayed pictures of space stations and flying cars, which had become popularized by the fascination of the space race and space exploration in general. In addition, things like cars began to be modeled more aerodynamically and similar to spaceships. Not only was culture in the 1950’s and 1960’s affected by the space race, but even our culture today is affected by the space race that
It had not only been the government and NASA who had been interested in winning the space race. Although, they were interested, as demonstrated by President Kennedy’s quote, “We choose to go to the moon in this decade, and do the other things – not because they are easy, but because they are hard. Because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills. Because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win” (Llewellyn 1). However, the people of both the US and the USSR also were involved in their respective space programs. They used the success of their country’s space program as a way to show their superiority over the other, especially since the Cold War included both countries and had occurred at the same time as the space race. Space travel and exploration became a fascination and a large part of pop culture in the US at the time. For example, the late 1960’s and early 1970’s witnessed the introduction of many new programs about space. There was the ever-popular television series Lost in Space. Also, there was Star Trek, with its idea that Captain Kirk and his spaceship would go where no man had gone before. Even today, Star Trek has maintained a cult-like following. And, looming above all the others, there was 2001: A Space Odyssey. The film came out in 1968, and received excellent reviews. Also, magazines such as Popular Mechanics displayed pictures of space stations and flying cars, which had become popularized by the fascination of the space race and space exploration in general. In addition, things like cars began to be modeled more aerodynamically and similar to spaceships. Not only was culture in the 1950’s and 1960’s affected by the space race, but even our culture today is affected by the space race that