Space Race

‘How did John Fitzgerald Kennedy’s actions impact the space race during his presidency (January 20, 1961-November 22, 1963)?’. I first explain and evaluate two sources: JFK’s Last Hundred Days, by Thurston Clarke, is a book detailing the last fourteen weeks of John F. Kennedy’s life. Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership, by Roger D. Launius & Howard E. McCurdy, is a book about the impact of presidential leadership on the space race. Both books hold relevance to my investigation…

Space is an amazing world that many people dream to know all about. The exploration of space all started with the Space Race. The Space started when the Soviets launched the first satellite called Sputnik 1. It was followed by Sputnik 2 carrying the first animal in space. After that the US launched Explorer 1 making them a part of the race. That was only the beginning, and what was to come was remarkable. Vostok 1 is the most significant historical event the in the history of space exploration…

At the end of the War World II, Germany faced “catastrophic” failure. In a final bid for victory, “Hitler ordered the launch of a new secret weapon” (Everest, Space Race)—the V-2 rockets, which “[took] just 6 minutes to travel 200 miles to London” (Everest, Space Race) and caused 134 people to die without any defense. Obviously, Hitler’s V2 Long Range Rockets were deadly. Hence, this attack soon drew Allies’, especially the Soviets’ and the Americans’, attentions. They realized that the V-2…

States how behind they were. After this, Sputnik 2 is launched containing a dog in it to see if a living organism can survive in space. Two months later the United States finally makes it a competition. They send Explorer 1, a satellite into orbit on January 31. They send three straight things into space, the Explorer 1 and 2 and the Vanguard satellite. The space race is dominated by the USSR until the 1960’s, and then John F. Kennedy is elected president. On May 25, 1961 Kennedy makes his…

they are hard...” Those are the famous words spoken by President John F. Kennedy during his speech at Rice University. Kennedy uttered these words during the height of the Space Race. The Space Race is defined as the time period where the Soviet Union and the United States were fighting to see who could get man up into space first. Both nations also had their sight set on the moon. The United States wanted to get to the Moon as quickly as possible. They did not want to get caught off guard…

United States (Dickinson). Before the launch, the US had the belief that they were far ahead of other countries in technological developments but after Russia launched its satellite, it was undeniable that the US had serious competition as far as space exploration. With the successful launch of the Sputnik satellite, the US was able to further understand Russia’s…

Cold War was well underway, and up until this point, the Soviet Union had greatly surpassed the United States in the space race. America’s space program, called the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was waning in comparison to the space program in the USSR. The successes of the artificial satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 and the launching of Yuri Gagarin into space in 1967 had greatly embarrassed the United States. This embarrassment prompted President Kennedy to become a man on a…

Until October 4, 1957 when the Soviet Union sent Sputnik 1 into space. So why was Sputnik such an important period in American History?? Sputnik was a creation of the Soviet Union and the size of it was surprising to the world. Sputnik 1 was a spherical little pod with 4 antennas sticking out behind it. It weighed only 183.91 lb. (83.6 kg.). It was only about as big as a beach ball. The main reason the Soviets were working to reach space was because it was for the International Geophysical…

Kennedy: Address on the Nations Space Program at Rice University The former 35th President of the United States of America John Fitzgerald Kennedy who served approximately 3 years running from 1961 of January to November 22, 1963 has had a great impact on the world from then to today. Of the many substantial widely known privileges we have in modern day, they were thoroughly discussed between Kennedy, the Senate and the House of Representatives. The ‘Address on the Nations Space Program at Rice…

The greatests impacts can come from thousands of miles away. NASA (abbreviation for National Aeronautics and Space Administration) crash landed in 1948, and was founded as a combatant against the growing communist USSR in the Cold War. Success immediately ensued after the formation of the program and they began to become a more influential in everyday life. NASA started off with space missions, and soon later developed into a multipurpose program. They quickly became a symbol for the…