Possibly the "starting gun" in the US-Soviet Space Race, Russia launched Sputnik into Earth's orbit on October 4, 1957. The Americans were shocked, not willing to believe their eyes as they saw for the first time something in the night sky that was neither God's creation nor theirs. At the same time, they were devastated, now fully understanding the capabilities of Russia's R-7 ballistic missile that had launched Sputnik. If such a weapon could put the first artificial satellite into space, its nuclear implications were unthinkable.The tides did not turn quickly. On November 3, 1957, less than a month later, the USSR had another major triumph. With the Sputnik 2, they put the first living animal into space: a dog named Laika. Though Laika died only after a couple hours after the launch, Soviet propaganda was sure to hide this fact. America's response, however, would not come until the following year. On January 31, 1958, America's Army Ballistic Missile Agency launched Explorer 1. Only at this point did America enter the "field" in the 20-year long space race.
This earliest success of America in the Space Race was actually due to the instructions of German scientist Wernher von Braun, the designer of the infamous Nazi V2 rocket during WW2. But how did this former Nazi and member of the SS (Schutzstaffel) turn into the leading scientist in America's space race? Though despised and suspected by many, von Braun was not morally evil as Americans who lived through WW2 would generalize about all Nazis given war-time propaganda. Instead, his works were far from ideological but rather based on his seemingly unsatiable ambition to go to space.
Von Braun did not believe that Germany could win the war, which he casually expressed one night to a friend after drinking too much. Von Braun was arrested, though never actually incarcerated. His prediction was confirmed with the death of Hitler on May 1, 1945. Nevertheless, von Braun was far from willing to give up on his space ambitions. A day later, von Braun and his brother Magnus purposefully intercepted some American soldiers and surrendered. In just a couple months, von Braun would be offered what he wanted: funding to start an "Americanized version of the V2."
In the following years, it seemed as if the Soviets were able to maintain their lead, if not even slowly pull ahead. Launched by the Soviet Union in 1959, Luna 2 was the first probe to hit the moon. Then, on April 12, 1961, Yuri Gargarin became the first human to reach space, traveling in the Vostok 1. Like the previous accomplishments, Yuri Gargarin was also Russian. At this time, America's greatest achievement was still only putting chimpanzees into space. It wouldn't be until May 5, 1961, that America would send its first human on a successful spaceflight, though the selected astronaut Alan Shepherd only flew for 15 minutes and did not enter Earth's orbit. The launch of the Mercury Redstone 3 (aka Freedom 7), let the world know that the Americans were still in the race, but nevertheless, far behind.
Assurance started with President John F. Kennedy, who on May 25, 1961, delivered his famous "Moon Speech" in which he revealed America's ambitions to land the first man on the moon. The Soviet's lunar ambitions were present as well, though, between the years of 1969 and 1972, they experienced four consecutive failures in this endeavor. America's success, however, came nearly reluctantly from the ex-Nazi scientist Wernher von Braun. His V2 technology was unmatched at the time, and after slight adjustments, von Braun was able to turn this malicious weapon into the Saturn V, to be launched as part of the Apollo 11.
On July 16, 1969, two and a half decades after his surrender to America, von Braun along with the rest of America watched the Saturn V take three American astronauts to the moon. What followed were Neil Armstrong's famous first step onto the moon's surface and America's victory marking the end to the Space Race.Sources:
https://historylists.org/events/6-key-events-of-the-space-race.html
https://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2013/05/2013521386874374.html
https://www.space.com/space-race.html
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/space-race
When I was reading your post, it reminded me of some memes that I saw on Reddit a while back. As I scrolled through the comments, there were people who argued that the Soviets won the Space Race, and there were also people who believed the Americans won. During the early years, the Soviets were undeniably ahead: they launched the first satellite, the first man and woman, and even the first dog into space. Although the US wasn’t that far behind (Alan Shepard’s launch into space on May 5, 1961 compared to Yuri Gagarin’s launch on April 12, 1961), they were still a few steps behind Soviet capabilities. However, as you said in your post, in 1961, the finish line of the Space Race changed, as Kennedy issued a goal of sending a man onto the moon, which was much greater than the small accomplishments both the Soviets and Americans were racing to achieve. At this point, one could say that the Space Race turned from being a series of sprints to a marathon, and the Americans reached the marathon finish line first. As the Cold War died down and the Soviet Union dissipated, humanity achieved goals they never thought they could have achieved in three decades, and the Soviets and Americans eventually came together and ended on relatively good terms. In 2010, NASA started winding down their own Space Shuttle program, and ever since then, NASA has been paying Russia to send American astronauts up to the ISS.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/01/when-will-astronauts-launch-from-us-soil-again/550730/
https://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/coldWarCoOp.html
Memes:
https://www.reddit.com/r/HistoryMemes/comments/albntf/usa_won_the_space_race/
https://www.reddit.com/r/memes/comments/9kpiop/winner_of_space_race/