During the Cold War, the Space Race became an important competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. Use the Internet and any text resources available to you to research the Space Race. Then write a 3-5 paragraph essay about this historical event.
Address the following in your essay:
• Explain why the United States and the Soviet Union engaged in the Space Race and when it occurred.
• Describe the purpose, financial cost, risks, and benefits of the Space Race.
. In your view, explain whether the benefits of the Space Race were worth the risks and costs.

The Cold War was a competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in every conceivable arena – even space. When the Soviets launched the world’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik I, in October 1957, it set off alarm bells in the Eisenhower administration and created intense fear and anxiety among the US public that the Soviet Union had surpassed the technological achievements of the United States.

Sputnik orbited the earth and transmitted radio signals for twenty-one days before burning up in the earth’s atmosphere. start superscript, end superscript Sputnik II was launched the following month, in November, carrying a dog named Laika. In May 1958, the Soviets launched Sputnik III, which weighed almost three thousand pounds. Continuing their run of successful launches, the Soviets in 1959 sent a space probe, Lunik III, to photograph the dark side of the moon

Soviet achievements in space were a wake-up call to Americans convinced of their own scientific and technological superiority.

One of the responses was more federal funding for math and science education. In 1958, Congress passed the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), which envisioned public education as a key component of national security. The bill appropriated $800 million for loans to college students and for states to improve instruction in the hard sciences. cubed The act was divided into ten titles, which each addressed a distinct issue. For instance, Title II dealt with provisions for student loans, while Title VI appropriated funding for the study of foreign languages designated as crucial “national security” languages, such as Russian and Mandarin Chinese. Title III strengthened existing public education programs in science and mathematics, and Title IX established a new Science Information Service operating under the auspices of the National Science Foundation. All of these measures were envisioned as enhancing public education in the interest of bolstering national security and defense.

In response to perceptions of Soviet technological success, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was established on October 1, 1958 as the primary federal agency responsible for aerospace research and the civilian space program. In December, NASA took control of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory operated by the California Institute of Technology, forming NASA-JPL. The Advanced Research Projects Agency, which took the lead in developing space technology for military purposes, was also created in 1958. NASA’s earliest objective was to launch a manned vehicle into Earth’s orbit as soon as possible. It would be the Soviets, however, who would win the race to put a man in space. In April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to enter Earth’s orbit, in a single-pilot spacecraft called Vostok I.

The Americans were not far behind, however, and one month later, in May, Alan Shepard became the first American in space, piloting a 15-minute suborbital flight. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to enter Earth’s orbit. Early Soviet successes in the space race led US President John F. Kennedy to announce the inauguration of the Apollo program, which pledged to put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

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