During the late 1950s, a race between two world powers created even more tension throughout the world. The United States and the Soviet Union, or the USSR, which is now called Russia, were trying to build successful aircraft to take them beyond the realms of our world. The first successful space mission was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957, when Yuri Gagarin orbited the earth. Over a decade later, the United States major accomplishment was successfully landing a man on the moon. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first people to take “one small step for man” and “one giant leap for mankind.” Many technical advancements, including spacecraft, created a race between nations to decide which country is the best of both worlds. If it had not been for each country’s persistence to surpass the other, space exploration would not have come about. The knowledge we have today about space is because of the world-renowned “space race.” Throughout the space race, many important discoveries were made by both countries. Dwight D. Eisenhower did not make space a priority, as he was more interested in keeping the country safe from communism, keeping …show more content…
Man’s ability to orbit the Earth was Vostok’s motive. They launched the first human into space, Yuri Gagarin, on Wednesday, April 12, 1961, and he circled the Earth once. Unfortunately, seven years after his historic flight around the Earth, Yuri Gagarin was killed in a crash on March 27, 1968, when he was a test pilot on a MiG-15 fighter jet. To divert, the first and second women in space were also launched by the Soviets. Valentina Tereshkova was on board the Vostok 6 when it launched on June 16, 1963. During this mission, Vostok 5 and Vostok 6 came within five kilometers of one another. The second woman in space was Svetlana Savitskaya, who was on board the Soyuz T-7 mission nineteen years after Valentina Tereshkova. She became the first woman to perform a