3. Americans got the
best Nazi scientist and V-2. After the collapse of Germany forces collapsed,
the Allied forces (the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Soviet Union)
raced to capture German manufacturing technology. But, American got to them first,
and Wernher von Braun and over 100 key V-2 personnel surrendered and ended up
working at the Redstone Arsenal.
4. Even
though Stalin's “Great Purge” severely damaged its progress of technology by
killing and imprisoning many leading engineers, USSR managed to get remains and
drawings of German V-2 inspecting its remains at Peenemünde and Mittelwerk
after the end of the war. The heads of USSR’r research on blueprints of V-2
were Dimitri Ustinov and Kolorev who were helped by German scientist Helmut
Gröttrup and other captured Germans until the early 1950s. They managed to build
a replica of the V-2, called the R-1, although the weight of Soviet nuclear
warheads required a more powerful booster. Korolev's OKB-1 design was dedicated
to the liquid-fueled cryogenic rockets that he had been experimenting with in
the late 1930s. His research resulted in the design of the R-7 Semyorka, intercontinental
ballistic missile (ICBM) which was successfully tested in August 1957. The
remake of V-2 took Russian’s approximately 7 years.
5. The USSR was ahead
at the start of the space race due to more advanced technology, but was
overtaken by United States. This surprise success of Sputnik, was
the first artificial Earth satellite, precipitated the American Sputnik crisis
and triggered the Space Race which resulted in American victory (Apollo landing
on the Moon). The launch ushered in new political, military, technological, and
scientific developments.
6. Although the USSR
had the leading hand in the beginning of the Space Race, the death of heads of
the USSR’s research team Korolev and Komarov and the death of astronaut Yuri
Gagarin between 1966 and 1968. The setback, apart from their deaths, was development
failure of the huge N-1, a rocket intended to power a manned lunar landing, which
exploded shortly after lift-off on four unmanned tests.
7. Walt Elias Disney helped Wernher
von Braun (who V-2 rocket for Germas, but intentionally for space exploration,
not war) to change and fundamentally reshape American past perceptions. He had
used film as a powerful medium to entertain and inform Americans since the
1940s. They collaborated on three space-related television films that Disney
produced in the 1950s and used television to illustrate how high man might fly
on the strength of technology and the spirit of human imagination.
8. President at the
time Harry S. Truman who served as the 33rd President of the United States, was
indecisive about letting German scientists and employing them in the United
States because of their possible connections to the Nazi Party and their
crimes. Some of the scientist who were found guilty were sent on trial or sent
back to Germany, such as Walter Schreiber who was linked by the Boston Globe to
human experiments conducted by Kurt Blome at Ravensbrück.
9. The name of the
first satellite is Sputnik 1 which was launched by USSR on
October 4, 1957. Sputnik 1 was the
world's first artificial satellite which was actually about the size of a beach
ball (58 cm. or 22.8 inches in diameter).
10. The name of the
second satellite was Sputnik or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 which was launched by USSR on November 3, 1957.
Sputnik 2 was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit and was the first
to carry a living animal – a dog named Laika. Laika unfortunately died few hours after the launch.
11. Explorer 1 was the
first satellite of the United States which was launched on January 31, 1958. Explorer
1 was the first spacecraft to detect the Van Allen radiation belt and return
data until its batteries were exhausted after nearly four months. Explorer 1
remained in Earth’s orbit until 1970.
12. The overall feeling
in the United Stated in 1957. was the feeling of struggle and defeat. The Cold
War between United States and USSR build a tension, even though the forces never
officially clashed directly. The conflict was expressed through military
coalitions, strategic conventional force deployments, a nuclear arms race and
technical competition which was called the Space Race. The year 1957. was the
year of loss for the United States as the USSR was the first one to successfully
launch first artificial satellite called Sputnik 1.
