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Cold War: The Space Race

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After then end of World War II, a new conflict arose that was known as the Cold War. During the Cold War, two of the world’s greatest powers, the United States and the Soviet Union battled to show the world who was more advanced in technology. Over the next two decades, they battled to show who was the most technologically advanced within their knowledge of space.
The first phase of the Space Race was focused on developing successful rocket and satellite systems into space. In 1955, both the United States and Soviet Union announced that they would be launching satellites into orbit soon. The Soviets had taken the announcement from the United States as a challenge for who could put their satellite into space first, which was soon a goal for …show more content…
President John F. Kennedy formed a plan to get ahead in the Race, which was the reveal of wanting to be the first to put a man on the moon. He felt as if this was very important for the country to venture upon, and soon launched the Apollo Moon program to put his plan into action. After years of test flights, experiments, and training, the Apollo 11 spacecraft was successfully launched into space. The people who were inside of the spacecraft were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Three days after the Apollo 11 launch, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin moved to the Lunar module, which is called the Eagle, and began to descend to the Moon. While descending, they faced a malfunction which led Armstrong to manually land the module onto the moon. Neil Armstrong stepped outside of the module, and became the first man to walk on the moon. Within his first steps on the moon, a famous quote of his states, “That’s one small step for man, and one giant leap for …show more content…
After the United States had won the Race to the Moon, the Space race began to come to an end. The two countries launched a joint US-Soviet space mission. The joint-mission was named the Apollo – Soyez project. The Apollo – Soyez project included three Americans, and two Russians. In the mission, the Apollo commanded astronauts would meet the Russian cosmonauts in a Soviet built capsule. Soon, the US helped design a capsule that fixed some of the flaws that the Russians did not know about for their safety. This mission helped the US and the Soviets realize that their opposing ally was not as monstrous as they had once believed. While this mission had helped break down language and cultural barriers, they also broke the assumption that all Soviets were aggressive and that all Americans were monsters. This mission helped them realize that they are human beings with a passion for learning about space, and helped them realize that their opposing side was more helpful to benefit their country than to hurt their country. An interview was conducted with American astronaut, Tom Stafford. Stafford was asked how did they get around the language barrier. Stafford said, “Each crew member would speak his own language, and the other would have to understand.” He stated that the solution to the problem was not helpful at all, and just was not

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