This was primarily a competition between The United States of America and The Soviet Union. The Soviets were the first to send a satellite into space and then sent a human to space a few years after. Although it appeared that it was simply a competition between the U.S. and the Soviets, Canada played a role in this race as well. Canadians were the third country to construct a satellite to send to space with the Canadian built Allouette I. This was impressive because Canada was part of a smaller space race between the countries that weren’t part of the Soviet-U.S.A. space race. Allouette I was sent into orbit September 29, 1962, which was just one year after the Soviets had sent the first man into space. The Allouette’s purpose was to perform research on the ionosphere and how it affected climate and seasons. Possibly the most recognizable Canadian piece of technology was the Canadarm. The arm, also known as the Shuttle Remote Manipulator System, was another example of Canada and NASA working together on impressive technology. The arm established Canada 's international reputation for robotics innovation. Chris Hadfield is a retired Canadian astronaut who was the first Canadian to walk in space said, “We’ve been in the game longer than just about anyone, apart from the Soviet Union and the United States. We built world-class hardware from the very …show more content…
Canada’s war contributions didn’t only come in battle, but also back home at the National Research Council. The NRC’s research on explosives led to the development of RDX, an explosive stronger than TNT. The NRC was a military science and weapon research organization. They participated with the allies to perform important research that lead to many of the important developments that helped to protect the military. The NRC (National Resource Council) developed nylon Parachutes, and chemicals to improve oxygen supplies in submarines and to produce drinking water from seawater. Donald Higgs created the “packset” which is now known as the walkie-talkie. The walkie-talkie was used during the world war as a method of portable communication. Canadian scientists developed processes to preserve food. This includes powdered eggs, and powdered milk. These helped solve some of the problems of food transportation and led to the development of some of the powdered and condensed foods still in use today. Artificial fur arose out of Canadians work in developing improved Arctic clothing for the military. The Canadian Anti-Acoustic Torpedo (CAT) gear was developed as a counter-measure to enemy acoustic torpedoes. This invention is credited with saving many ships from torpedo attacks. A very impressive aspect of the NRC is that the average age of members who