We’ve all heard of the Space Race, but how did it start? The Space Race started because of the Cold War, when many things were changing. The president at that time was Dwight D. Eisenhower, whose policies promoted investment in inventions and the Space Race. Without the Cold War causing the Space Race and the policies of the federal government, we wouldn’t have landed a man on the moon with Apollo 11.
The Cold War began after WWII, when the U.S. and the U.S.S.R emerged as the world’s two competing super powers with opposite economic and political systems. The Space Race began on August 2, 1955 when U.S.S.R began working on sending a satellite into space. The U.S. responded quickly and began working on one as well. The U.S.S.R was ahead most of the time and eventually they were able to send Sputnik, the very first satellite, into space. The U.S. was very disappointed and frustrated, but President Eisenhower decided to press on and keep working. Eisenhower wanted to keep on working and get further knowledge than the U.S.S.R ever did. The race had begun and we weren’t going to give up until we could surpass Russia.
As a result of the tension of the Cold War, Dwight D. Eisenhower was able to get support to create N.A.S.A, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. It is the government agency that is responsible for the space program in the U.S. This group got us into space by working day and night to beat Russia by landing a man on the moon.
Because of the federal investment into N.A.S.A and the diehard attitude and the work ethic of N.A.S.A, the U.S. was the first country to land a man on the moon. The spacecraft that landed them on the moon was Apollo 11. The three crew members that made it onto the moon were Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin investigated for any life and collected over 47 pounds of lunar material. While they were collecting materials, Michael Collins was piloting the spacecraft alone until Armstrong and Aldrin finished collecting lunar materials. When they finished they went back to the spacecraft and awaited a four day trip back to earth. The whole world listened to Neil Armstrong’s famous words when he set foot on the moon: ” That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
The Space Race caused all of these events to happen. It led to N.A.S.A which had a huge impact on the U.S. and caused the spacecraft Apollo 11 to be created. All of these things happened because of the president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He was changing many things in the U.S. during the 1950’s. With him as president during the Space Race we were able to get ahead of Russia and in the end win the Space Race.