In 1955 there was a beautiful creation called the Space Race. The Space Race was a competition between two superpowers, the United States and Russia. Dwight D. Eisenhower was in the oval office at the time this happened, and Nikita Khrushchev was the leader for Russia at the time. The Space Race indirectly created NASA which directly created the Apollo program.

In 1955, the U.S. said that they were going to launch a satellite into orbit. The Space Race began when Russia responded to the U.S. saying that they were going to launch an artificial satellite into space. About two years later in 1957, Russia finally launched Sputnik I. Sputnik was a pretty basic satellite, it had a diameter of about 2 feet with a few antennas. Russia beat us to space, and the U.S. responded by creating a space program that’s still around today called NASA (Wikepedia).

NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, and it was created in 1958. NASA was in charge of all things in the U.S. for space exploration. One of NASA’s missions was the Mercury project. The Mercury project was a series of tests by NASA to see if people could survive in space. After the test results came in and showed that humans could live in space, the Apollo program was launched (History.com).

The Apollo program was created to put a man on the moon. It was John F. Kennedy’s idea because we wanted to get back at Russia for them putting the first man in space. With the Apollo missions there were a total of 6 successful landings on the moon. There were a total of 16 missions and 10 were unsuccessful. Apollo missions 8 and 10 went to the moon, they took pictures and tested equipment. Apollo 13 was a disaster. The oxygen tank blew up, the men who were on board had to do what they could to return to Earth. They safely returned back to Earth after their ordeal.

The Space Race indirectly caused the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to form which then directly created the Apollo 11 mission. The Space Race began when Russia took action after the U.S. said they were launching a satellite. NASA was the hub for all space exploration and created the Apollo program. The Apollo program sent the first man to the moon and continued for a few years after they accomplished Apollo 11. All of these things were a large part in our history and our modern day.

Works Cited

Wikipedia.com. “The Space Race.” Web.

History.com. “The Space Race”. Web