Space is the void that exists between celestial bodies, including the Earth. This unknown area is a major interest by the large world powers. The thought of being able to control this infinite far-off territory compelled people to attempt to explore. In 1957 the Soviet Union and the United States became eager in learning about this remote abyss. The “race to space” quite clearly reflected the political, social and economic aspects if the Cold War because it was a fight for supremacy between two superpowers, both powers wanted to be the first to do everything including go to space and lastly both the Cold War and the “race to space” overall cost a great deal of money.
The Cold War was a fight between the powers of the Western Bloc and the powers …show more content…
The main idea was to be beat the other superpowers. In this case, everyone wanted to be first. This certainly displays the social aspect of the “race to space”. As technology becomes more prominent, the Soviet Union and The United States competed to produce new and advanced machinery. Not only did the nations want the superior and progressive technology, they wanted it before everyone else. As it stood, The US was well ahead of everyone in technology, but as a matter of fact, Russia launched the first satellite. George Reedy, one of Johnson’s aides, summed this up by saying “the simple fact is that we can no longer consider the Russians to be behind us in technology. It took them four years to catch up to our atomic bomb and nine months to catch up to our hydrogen bomb. Now we are trying to catch up the their satellite.” America new they had to step up their game and beat Russia. It only took 4 months to catch up to Russia and launch our first satellite, as shown in document E. President John F. Kennedy truly believed that it was vital to win the race to space and made it a top priority. He said “With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space …show more content…
Politically, both were a battle for superiority. Socially, both superpowers wanted to be the best and accomplish all their goals first. Economically, they both took a lot of money overall. Throughout all the struggles and controversy, America ended up landing and returning the first man on the moon and in the end winning the race, even if it took a lot of time, energy, money and perseverance. Afterall that is the American way of
The Cold War was a fight between the powers of the Western Bloc and the powers …show more content…
The main idea was to be beat the other superpowers. In this case, everyone wanted to be first. This certainly displays the social aspect of the “race to space”. As technology becomes more prominent, the Soviet Union and The United States competed to produce new and advanced machinery. Not only did the nations want the superior and progressive technology, they wanted it before everyone else. As it stood, The US was well ahead of everyone in technology, but as a matter of fact, Russia launched the first satellite. George Reedy, one of Johnson’s aides, summed this up by saying “the simple fact is that we can no longer consider the Russians to be behind us in technology. It took them four years to catch up to our atomic bomb and nine months to catch up to our hydrogen bomb. Now we are trying to catch up the their satellite.” America new they had to step up their game and beat Russia. It only took 4 months to catch up to Russia and launch our first satellite, as shown in document E. President John F. Kennedy truly believed that it was vital to win the race to space and made it a top priority. He said “With the advice of the Vice President, who is Chairman of the National Space Council, we have examined where we are strong and where we are not, where we may succeed and where we may not. Now it is time to take longer strides—time for a great new American enterprise—time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space …show more content…
Politically, both were a battle for superiority. Socially, both superpowers wanted to be the best and accomplish all their goals first. Economically, they both took a lot of money overall. Throughout all the struggles and controversy, America ended up landing and returning the first man on the moon and in the end winning the race, even if it took a lot of time, energy, money and perseverance. Afterall that is the American way of