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Sputnik and the Space Race: 1957 and Beyond

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Author: Michelle Cadoree Bradley, Science Research Specialist, Science, Technology & Business Division

Created: 2007

Last Updated: July 10, 2019

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On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik-1, the world's first artificial satellite. Only about the size of a beach ball (22.8 inches or 58 cm. in diameter) and weighing 183.9 pounds (83.6 kg), it orbited the Earth in around 98 minutes.

The Sputnik launch marked the start of the space age and the US-USSR space race, and led to the creation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This guide is intended to help direct the researcher to information on Sputnik and the space race as well as artificial satellites. in addition to suggested books on the topic, links to digitized primary resources and other online resources for information on the history of Sputnik are included.

This guide was originally compiled in 2007 on the anniversary of the Sputnik launch (1957), but has been updated with additional content.

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Part of the  Science & Business Reading Room  at the Library of Congress, the Science Section is the starting point for conducting research at the Library of Congress in the subject areas of science, medicine and engineering. Here, reference specialists in specific subject areas of science and engineering  assist patrons in formulating search strategies and gaining access to the information and materials contained in the Library's rich collections of science, medicine, and engineering materials.

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The Space Race

• First Online: 01 January 2014

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• William Sims Bainbridge 3  

Part of the book series: Space and Society ((SPSO))

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This chapter focuses on the great Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, roughly in the decade and a half 1957–1972, which is the period in which public opinion polls for the first time asked many questions about spaceflight. Initially, few citizens understood anything about spaceflight, or much about the solar system, so one trend reveals increasing awareness. Depending on exactly what questions were asked, citizens always showed great disagreement over what priority should be given to the American space program. Generally the majority was opposed to increased funding, but there was sufficient public support so that political elites could invest in the program. Leaders of two kinds built the space program: (1) opinion leaders within the general society who shaped public opinion, and (2) organization leaders who influenced public opinion from outside, being or seeking to become members of a societally influential elite class.

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Bainbridge, W.S. (2015). The Space Race. In: The Meaning and Value of Spaceflight. Space and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-07878-6_2

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Lesson Plan

Explore the Space Race With The New York Times’s Archive

In this extended lesson plan, students will use the Times archive to explore the questions: What was the space race? Who won it? And why did it matter? Then they will connect the past to the current competition for space.

By Jeremy Engle

Fifty-two years ago, the Apollo 11 crew landed on the moon — the culmination of a decade-long “space race” between the United States and the Soviet Union — widely regarded as one of humanity’s greatest achievements. Today, there is a different kind of race being run, as private companies compete to take ordinary citizens to space, the moon, Mars and beyond.

In this lesson, students will look closely at original Times reporting on the space race and explore the questions: What was the space race? Who won it? And why does it still matter?

We begin with a short quiz on the space race as a warm-up activity and later offer several creative options for students to apply and extend what they learned from the Times archives, such as creating a children’s book for “hidden figures” of the space program and curating a museum exhibition. Finally, we invite students to connect the lessons of the past to our current era of space exploration and debate whether we should still be seeking out new adventures in outer space.

What's Included in This Resource

• Explore the Times Archive
• Discover Hidden Figures, Unsung Heroes and Overlooked Stories
• Assess the Legacy and Lessons of the Space Race
• Connect the Space Race to the Present

Part I: What do you know about the space race?

Have you ever dreamed of traveling to space? Do you think you will ever live on another planet?

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Rocket Science for The Space Race

3 Pages Posted: 3 Jan 2024

Vaibhavi Avachat

Nutan College Of Engineering And Research, Vishnupuri, Talegaon Dabhade, Pune – 410507, India.

Date Written: December 24, 2023

This review paper provides an in-depth exploration of rocket science, focusing on the historical context of the Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It examines the pivotal achievements, advancements, and significant events that shaped this era of intense competition. Furthermore, the paper highlights India's notable contributions to rocket science and space exploration. The future of rocket science is also discussed, shedding light on upcoming technologies and advancements that hold great promise for space exploration and accessibility

Keywords: Space race, Advancement in rocket propulsion, Space Tourism, The role of India in the Global space arena

JEL Classification: C0

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Vaibhavi Avachat (Contact Author)

Nutan college of engineering and research, vishnupuri, talegaon dabhade, pune – 410507, india. ( email ), do you have a job opening that you would like to promote on ssrn, paper statistics, related ejournals, innovation & geography ejournal.

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• Sputnik and the Space Race
• Online Documents

If an American happened to be gazing at the stars on Friday, October 4, 1957 he may have noticed an object crossing the evening sky. Radio listeners, too, may have heard a series of "beep, beep, beep" sounds coming from their radios. A momentous event had occurred in the region of the Soviet Union known as Kazakhstan -- the Soviets had launched an artificial satellite into orbit around the earth. The satellite named Sputnik, Russian for "traveling companion," transmitted the beeping sounds as it followed its orbit around the globe. Rather than celebrating this momentous scientific feat, Americans reacted with a great deal of fear. The event came at a period near the end of the McCarthy communist "witch hunts," a time when schoolchildren were involved in "Duck and Cover" air raid drills, and citizens were encouraged to build their own civil defense shelters. It was widely believed that if the Soviets could launch a satellite into space, they probably could launch nuclear missiles capable of reaching U.S. shores.

Proposed news release from National Academy of Sciences regarding Soviet plans to launch earth satellite as part of International Geophysical Year program, June 18, 1957 [DDE's Records as President, Official File, Box 625, OF 146-F-2 Outer Space, Earth-Circling Satellites (1); NAID #12060491]

Statement by the National Science Board in response to Russian satellite, October 1957 [DDE's Records as President, Official File, Box 625, OF 146-F-1 Outer Space, Soviet Satellites-Sputnik; NAID #12060499]

Reaction to the Soviet Satellite - A Preliminary Evaluation [White House Office of the Staff Research Group, Box 35, Special Projects: Sputnik, Missiles and Related Matters; NAID #12082706]

Memo for the President regarding U.S. scientific satellite program budget, October 8, 1957 [DDE's Records as President, Official File, Box 625, OF 146-F-2 Outer Space, Earth-Circling Satellites (1); NAID #12060493]

Memo from C.D. Jackson regarding Soviet satellite, October 8, 1957 [C.D. Jackson Papers, Box 69, Log-1957 (4); NAID #12086487]

Memorandum of Conference with the President on October 8, 1957, 8:30 a.m. (dated October 9) [DDE's Papers as President, DDE Diary Series, Box 27, October '57 Staff Notes (2); NAID #12043774]

Memorandum of Conference with the President on October 8, 1957, 5:00 p.m. (dated October 9) [DDE's Papers as President, DDE Diary Series, Box 27, October '57 Staff Notes (2); NAID #12043783]

Official White House transcript of President Eisenhower's Press and Radio Conference #123 concerning the development by the U.S. of an earth satellite, October 9, 1957 (pages 1-9 only) [DDE's Papers as President, Press Conference Series, Box 6, Press Conference Oct. 9, 1957; NAID #12086488]

Summary of Discussion, 339th Meeting of the National Security Council October 10, 1957 concerning "Implications of the Soviet Earth Satellite For U.S. Security" and "Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) and Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile (IRBM) Programs," dated October 11, 1957 [DDE's Papers as President, NSC Series, Box 9, 339th Meeting of the NSC; NAID #12093096]

Memorandum of Conference with the President on American science education and Sputnik, October 15, 1957 (dated October 16) [DDE's Papers as President, DDE Diary Series, Box 27, October '57 Staff Notes (2); NAID #12043792]

Memo to President Eisenhower from Secretary of State John Foster Dulles regarding possible effects to economic aid, October 31, 1957 [John Foster Dulles Papers, JFD Chronological Series, Box 15, JFD Chronological October 1957 (1); NAID #12082714]

Text of address by the President delivered from the Oval Office in the White House on "Science in National Security," November 7, 1957 [DDE's Papers as President, Speech Series, Box 23, Science in National Security 11/7/57; NAID #12093102]

Text of address on "Our Future Security" delivered by the President in Oklahoma City. Subjects include military programs and satellite projects, November 13, 1957 [DDE's Papers as President, Speech Series, Box 23, Our Future Security 13 Nov 57 (2); NAID #12093109]

Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting concerning improvements in science and mathematics education, December 2, 1957 (pages 1-3 only) [DDE's Papers as President, Cabinet Series, Box 10, Cabinet Meeting of 12/2/57; NAID #12042587]

Legislative Leadership Meeting of January 7, 1958 regarding earth satellites [DDE's Papers as President, DDE Diary Series, Box 30, Staff Notes January 1958; NAID #12044831]

Summary of Discussion, 357th Meeting of the National Security Council concerning "U.S. Objectives in Space Exploration and Science," March 6, 1958 (pages 7-9 only) [DDE's Papers as President, NSC Series, Box 9, 357th Meeting of the NSC; NAID #12093099]

Public Opinion Index, April 14, 1958 [DDE's Records as President, Official Files, Box 625, OF 146-F-2 Earth-Circling Satellites (2); NAID #12060495]

National Science Youth Month termed "Answer to Sputnik," October 5, 1958 [U.S. President's Committee on Scientists and Engineers, Box 37, Washington DC. 10/5/58; NAID #12093112]

Secondary Sources:

"Eisenhower, Sputnik, and the Creation of NASA," Roger D. Launius, Prologue, Summer 1996, Vol. 28, No. 2.

Between Sputnik and the Shuttle: New Perspectives on American Astronautics (American Astronautical Society History Series, Volume 3) edited by Frederick C. Durrant III, AAS Publications, San Diego, 1981.

...The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age, Walter A. McDougall, Basic Books, Inc., Publishers, New York, 1985.

A Scientist at the White House: The Private Diary of President Eisenhower's Special Assistant for Science and Technology, George B. Kistiakowsky, Harvard University Press, Cambridge MA, and London England, 1976.

Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership, edited by Roger D. Launius and Howard E. McCurdy, University of Illinois Press, Urbana and Chicago, 1997.

The Sputnik Challenge, Robert A. Divine, Oxford University Press, New York and Oxford, 1993.

Sputnik, Scientists, and Eisenhower: A Memoir of the First Special Assistant to the President for Science and Technology, James R. Killian Jr., The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA and London, England, 1977.

The Sputnik Crisis and Early United States Space Policy: A Critique of the Historiography of Space, Rip Bulkeley, Indiana University Press, Bloomington and Indianapolis, 1991.

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The Space Race and its Impact on the Cold War

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The Space Race Between the United States and Russia Research Paper

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The space race was a competition between two rivals who aimed at achieving spaceflight capability power in the 20 th century. The United States of America and the Union Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR), currently known as Russia, engaged in a battle to prove their superiority after the Second World War. The origin of struggle began in the intercontinental ballistic missile-based nuclear weapons between the two nations. The conflict hostility constituted physical battles, diplomatic engagements, and technological advancements. In the 1960s, the war extended beyond the earth’s gravity. The warfare advanced to another level of space due to the atmospheric control prospect and the undebatable message translated to the international community. Space was the final avenue for the Soviets and the United States to compete for their sole superpower status. This paper shows how space exploration has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of technology and other technical ways of addressing global challenges, among other benefits for humanity.

National leaders from the United States and Russia discovered the space exploration opportunity from a political perspective. The investigation led to a funding mission for scientists, among other researchers, to study more and provide equipment that could enable them to win the battle. They spent billions of dollars on the projects to outdo each other. Superior scientific equipment sent people messages about military capabilities and different conclusions (Gainor 80). Sky dominance was more important than land battles since it was a way of proving to the entire world unchallenged superiority.

In October 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, which alarmed the Eisenhower administration, the 34 th president of the United States. The US public knew the Soviets had surpassed their technologssical achievements, creating intense fear and anxiety. The sputnik satellite was orbited and could send out beeps from the radio transmitter, which could be detected as it passed through the orbit (Wang). In November 1957, Russia achieved more space ventures by making Sputnik 11 that could carry a living creature, a dog.

The United States had been working independently to launch a satellite before the unveiling of Sputnik. Space exploration activities in the United States have been consolidated into an agency in the government known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This committee’s formation indicated their commitment to winning the Space Race. It had made two failed attempts at launching a space station. In January 1958, they completed a rocket called Explorer that carried a satellite. The team consisted of German rocket engineers who were involved in developing ballistic missiles for NAZI in Germany. The Explorer could take several instruments into space for science experiment procedures. The gadgets applied a Geiger counter that detected cosmic rays (Wang). This careful experimentation and other measurements from later satellites have proved the existence of Van Allen radiation belts on earth.

The Soviets produced the first human in space who made one orbit on April 1961 around the earth. The flight lasted 108 minutes in the rotation before returning to the earth (Taylor et al. 3453). The discovery by the Soviet’s space program crushed a blow to NASA scientists. Three weeks later, NASA launched an astronaut into space on a suborbital trajectory, unlike the Soviets, who did an orbital flight (Wang). NASA’s suborbital aeronautics lasted 15 minutes since it was made to go some way around (Taylor et al. 3455). The Soviets were ahead of NASA technologically, although this was a sigh of relief for the United States scientists.

Launching the first world artificial satellite, the first human, and the first dog in space led to other achievements of the Soviet Union ahead of the United States. The milestones included Luna 2 in 1959, which became the first human-made object to reach the moon. USSR also launched Luna 3 a few months later, a human orbit mission around the earth for a full day. Russia was the first to achieve the spacewalk and introduced the Vostok 6 mission, which involved the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, to travel to space (Carroll 8). President John F. Kennedy challenged the Americans to develop an ambitious goal of landing on the moon and returning to earth safely.

In the 1960s, progress was made following President Kennedy’s goal of the landing on the moon program. The project was named Gemini, whereby astronauts tested their ability to endure spaceflight for many days and the technology required to make the trip successful. Project Apollo later followed that took astronauts to the lunar surface and orbit around the moon between 1968 and 1972 (Shelhamer 51). All along, the Soviets had suffered from low funds to finance the scheme, which made them withdraw from pursuing the moon program. Russia had been drained financially from its investment in developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons to achieve strategic correspondence with the United States.

The cosmonauts encountered many challenges while developing the scheme, including tragedy. For instance, in 1967, Apollo 1 fire swept through the spacecraft’s command module. The deaths of Edward White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee were witnessed, which was a real blow to those who rooted for the US to win the space race (Shelhamer 51). In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first successful crew to orbit the moon (Shelhamer 51). The astronauts took photos that helped safely land Apollo 11 on the moon. In 1969, the United States successfully sent its first astronauts to the moon (Shelhamer 52). Neil Armstrong was pronounced the first human to set foot on the moon’s surface (Shelhamer 52). During this time, the cosmonauts collected samples of lunar dust and rocks that aided scientists in studying more about the moon.

NASA launched a series of space probes during the 1960s and 1970s known as Mariner, in which they studied Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Space stations marked the next phase of space exploration. Soviet Salyut 1 station was the first space station in earth orbit in 1971 (Crusan and Galica 56). NASA also launched Skylab space, the first orbital laboratory for scientists and astronauts who studied the earth and the effects of spaceflight on the human body. NASA also carried out the project Viking which landed on Mars in the 1970s (Crusan and Galica 57). They took several photographs and examined the chemistry of the surface environment. The scientists also tested the Martian dirt and the microorganism’s presence.

The Apollo lunar program ended in 1972 when human space exploration became limited to low-earth orbit. Many countries are now involved in researching International Space Station (ISS). Other unpiloted probes have traveled through the solar system, making various discoveries. Some findings include the moon of Jupiter, a moon of Saturn, and oceans under their surface that scientists conclude might harbor life (Crusan and Galica 57). Instruments in space have also discovered other planets orbiting other stars, the exoplanet. Advanced technology since 1995 allows the gadgets in space to characterize the atmospheres of these other planets.

The space race fueled cold war suspicion and rivalry between the United States and Russia. However, it yielded considerable benefits to the entire world. The exercise required a rapid improvement of various fields, including micro-technology, telecommunications, solar power, and computer science (Arzo). Space exploration was necessary since the world could tell which country had the best science, economic system, and technology. After the Second World War, the Soviets and the Americans realized the importance of rocket research to the military. Sending the first man to the moon showed that the United States was a leader in the world, although the Soviets had achieved the first human in space.

Space exploration led to many societal benefits that included the generation of scientific knowledge, the inspiration of people worldwide, and the diffusion of innovation. It introduced agreements between countries that participated in the probe and the creation of markets (Arzo). The International Space partners are strengthened through the association, and job opportunities for the space products and services are created (Arzo). Other benefits of the space race involve economic prosperity, environmental advantages, health, safety, and security (Arzo). The competition made it easy for other researchers to understand humankind’s place in the universe. Admittedly, the human experience is expanded through study and experiments.

The world has created new opportunities for addressing global challenges through partnerships and capabilities development. Space exploration has attracted broad international interest by producing relationships, competencies, and knowledge that help society deal with matters pressing them. It is a catalyst for nations to introduce other explorations of the planetary worlds, emphasizing that other planets might support life. Countries have mutual understanding and trust that advance common discovery goals helping align interests in the community and promoting diplomacy. For instance, the International Space Station (ISS) program requires more extensive international cooperation to achieve the best results (Pekkanen 96). The unity strengthens the capacity for peace and globally coordinated activities on earth and in space.

The ISS partnership has demonstrated the international cooperation functional dimension. It enables parties with different investment levels to access the unaffordable space laboratory for any partner (Neubert et al. 13). The collaboration has overcome economic and political strains to achieve its core mission. The diplomatic value of international unity has been shown through the exploration exercise. Astronauts who served in the ISS are observed as achievers since it is a technical procedure (Neubert et al. 15). cooperation between nations on challenging space projects establishes the ability to advance common goals jointly, thus improving diplomatic ties and other activities.

The space race between the United States and Russia has benefited humans and society. Space exploration yielded technological and scientific innovations that help people every day. Having machines and humans in space presents a challenge that the utmost imagination can overcome. The exercise led to new knowledge and technical revolution that is used on earth in unpredictable ways. The competition served a cultural and inspirational purpose by satisfying a deep need to explore and understand the world. It addresses the questions about the origin and nature of life and the universe. Global challenges can quickly be addressed since satellites provide unique opportunities to counter issues facing society today. The cooperation of nations beyond space help promote more union among the countries. The togetherness aligns interests that enhance peace and stability on the entire globe. No activity on earth matches the exceptional threats of the space race, thus giving reasons for confidence that renews investments for future generations’ positive impact.

Works Cited

Arzo, Sisay Tadesse, et al. “Essential Technologies and Concepts for Massive Space Exploration: Challenges and Opportunities.” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems , 2022.

Carroll, Clover. “The First Woman in Space.” Guardian (Sydney) 2011, 2022, vol. 8.

Crusan, Jason, and Carol Galica. “NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative: Enabling broad access to space.” Acta Astronautica, vol. 157, 2019, pp. 51-60.

Gainor, Christopher. “The Nuclear Roots of the Space Race.” Militarizing Outer Space: Astroculture, Dystopia and the Cold War , 2021, pp. 69-91.

Neubert, Torsten, et al. “The ASIM Mission on the International Space Station.” Space Science Reviews, vol. 215, 2019, pp. 1-17.

Pekkanen, Saadia M. “Governing the New Space Race.” American Journal of International Law, ol. 113, 2019, pp. 92-97.

Shelhamer, Mark. “Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 72, no. 1, 2020, pp. 51-53.

Taylor, Andrew J., et al. “Factors Affecting Flavor Perception in Space: Does the Spacecraft Environment Influence Food Intake by Astronauts?” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, vol. 19, no. 6, 2020, pp. 3439-3475.

Wang, Erik. “Sputnik to Apollo: The Constituents of America’s Response to Soviet Space Accomplishments.” Available at SSRN 3772353 , 2021.

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IvyPanda. (2024, February 7). The Space Race Between the United States and Russia. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-space-race-between-the-united-states-and-russia/

"The Space Race Between the United States and Russia." IvyPanda , 7 Feb. 2024, ivypanda.com/essays/the-space-race-between-the-united-states-and-russia/.

IvyPanda . (2024) 'The Space Race Between the United States and Russia'. 7 February.

IvyPanda . 2024. "The Space Race Between the United States and Russia." February 7, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-space-race-between-the-united-states-and-russia/.

1. IvyPanda . "The Space Race Between the United States and Russia." February 7, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-space-race-between-the-united-states-and-russia/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "The Space Race Between the United States and Russia." February 7, 2024. https://ivypanda.com/essays/the-space-race-between-the-united-states-and-russia/.

The Seventeenth-Century Space Race (for the Soul)

The astronomical discoveries of the 1600s—such as Saturn’s rings—prompted new questions about the structure of the cosmos and humans’ place in it.

A flock of swans strapped to a wooden harness, with a smiling, lace-ruffed gallant dangling below: this is spaceflight , circa 1638. More than three hundred years before Apollo 11, the popular pamphlet The Man in the Moone: or A Discourse of a Voyage Thither offered a first-hand account of a lunar landing.

Written anonymously by a bishop of the Church of England, it was presented as a fantasy. Nonetheless, it was inspired by the latest scientific developments. The swan harness, for instance, was drawn from a contemporary theory about migration , viz. Where do the birds all disappear to in the winter? Well, they fly off to the Moon .

In the story , explorer Domingo Gonsales passes through a swarm of demons and finds himself above the clouds. Like an astronaut witnessing the “ blue marble ,” he sees Earth from the outside.

“[I]t seemed to me no other than a huge mathematical Globe turned round leisurely before me, wherein successively all the Countries of our earthly World were within twenty-four Hours represented to my View,” he observes.

No one, at this time, had ever been in an airplane; no one had seen the Earth’s topography from high above. A map was the only possible reference point.

Landing on the lunar surface, Gonsales falls in with a society of long-lived, peaceable giants. Beautiful and wise, they attire themselves in garments of “moon-color,” a hue that doesn’t exist on Earth, and travel from place to place simply by flicking feather fans.

“You must understand,” our voyager recounts,

the Globe of the Moon has likewise an attractive Power, yet so much weaker than the Earth, that if a Man do but spring upward with all his Strength… he will be able to mount fifty or sixty Foot high… being then above all Attraction from the Moon’s Earth, he falls down no more, but by the help of these Fans, as with Wings, they convey themselves in the Air.

These giants, it emerges, have a policy for keeping their utopian society peaceful: they exile any ill-behaved youngsters to the Earth.

Gonsales noted another interesting characteristic of the Moon-giants: they kneeled instinctively at the name of Jesus Christ. In the 1600s, the existence of aliens wasn’t only—or even primarily—a scientific question. It was a religious one.

When Galileo’s early observations of the lunar surface were made public, they kick-started a wave of moon-mania across Europe . A generation of astronomers followed in his footsteps, embroidering over his rough topography; gazing at the cracks and dark patches of the Moon’s face, the reputedly “lynx-eyed” Johannes Hevelius filled them in with a world of marshes, seas, rivers, and islands.

“Our description of the [M]oon is so particular,” writes Bernard Le Bovier de Fontenelle , circa 1686, “that if a learned man was to take a journey there, he would be in no more danger of losing himself than I should in Paris.”

If the Moon had a topography like Earth, people thought, it might very well be inhabited. And, as historian David Cressy writes in “Early Modern Space Travel and the English Man in the Moon,” that raised a number of dangerous questions.

Had God in his plenitude created one world or many? Was humankind the unique focus of divine attention, or were there creatures on other planets enjoying God’s love and suffering his anger? If there were inhabitants on other worlds, were they, like us, the seed of Adam and participants in original sin, and did they benefit from Christ’s atonement and enjoy the prospect of eternal life? Or did Christ die only for us, leaving any other creatures to a kind of limbo or perdition?

In 1638, John Wilkins published The Discovery of a World in the Moone: Or, A Discourse Tending To Prove That ‘Tis Probable There May Be Another Habitable World In That Planet , in which he argued that “a plurality of worlds doth not contradict any principle of reason or faith.” On the specifics, though, he remained circumspect, writing that “whether they [the lunar inhabitants] are the seed of Adam, whether they are there in a blessed estate, or else what meanes there may be for their salvation… I shall willingly omit.”

This caution was not enough to protect him from critique. As Cressy describes, Alexander Ross, a minister of the Church of England, had plenty to say. In his retaliatory pamphlet, The New Planet No Planet; or, The Earth No Wandring Star: Except in the Wandring Heads of Galileans , he argues that Wilkins had “found out that which God never made, to wit, a rolling earth, a standing heaven, and a world in the [M]oon; which indeed are not the works of God, but of your own head.”

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Cressy notes that for others, the discovery of outer planets called for a total rethinking of the theological scheme. For instance, in 1638, following the discovery of the rings of Saturn, the Reverend James Usher voiced his melancholy speculations in a private letter, writing

I only say, as upon the discovery of some sumptuous, richly hung house, and all shining with lights and torches, surely that house was not so made and furnished for rats and mice to dwell in… So might the spider, nested in the roof of the Grand Seignior’s Seraglio, say of herself, all that magnificent and stately structure, set out with gold and silver, and embellished with all antiquity and mosaic work, was only built for her to hang up her webs and toil to take flies.

Then there was another important question: if there were aliens, who would get the chance to proselytize first? Would the Catholics beat the Protestants in the evangelical space race? In the 1661 satire Ignatius His Conclave , John Donne imagines Jesuits colonizing the Moon . Paraphrasing Galileo’s Siderius Nuncius , Donne describes the observer using a special telescope hallowed by the Pope to

draw the Moone, like a boate floating upon the water, as neere the Earth as he will…and thither…shall all the Jesuits be transferred, and easily unite and reconcile the Lunatick Church to the Roman Church.

On Earth as it is on heaven; on heaven as it is on Earth.

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Home — Essay Samples — War — Cold War — Essay On The Space Race

Essay on The Space Race

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How SpaceShipOne's historic launch 20 years ago paved the way for a new space tourism era

"It should get a party every 10 years. And it certainly should get a big party on the 50th and the 100th anniversary."

It was a one-of-a-kind moment for a throng of well-wishers, including this reporter, all in nose-up, sky-squinting position at California's Mojave Airport on June 21, 2004.

Let loose from its White Knight mothership, the rocket engine propelling the experimental suborbital SpaceShipOne vehicle roared to life, skillfully controlled by test pilot Mike Melvill. 

That pioneering first spaceflight lasted 24 minutes, gliding back to Mojave and sliding straight and true into the history books.

Now, two decades later, Burt Rutan , chief designer of the craft at the company Scaled Composites, reflects on that epic day in an exclusive interview with Space.com.

Start spreading the news

Following the flight, Rutan saw a sign being held in the crowd. It read: "SpaceShipOne, Government Zero."

"I thought, 'That's cool. Let me see if I could display it with the spaceship,'" Rutan said. "It wasn't ours. I found out later it was put together by libertarians."

Those words speak volumes. They also underscore a truism that spread its wings that memorable day.

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"We were covert for two years of a three-and-a-half-year program. Nobody knew what we were up to," Rutan said. "We not only didn't have government help or government equipment; the government had no idea that we were doing a manned space program," he added.

SpaceShipOne — and the intentions of Rutan and his tiny team of like-minded visionaries — were publicly revealed in April 2003, with the rollout of the vehicle. "It was essentially ready to fly," Rutan said, "and we let the world know that we are actually going to try and send our test pilots to space."

Related: Facts about SpaceShipOne, the 1st private spacecraft

Gulp factor

On that big reveal day, the White Knight carrier plane performed an in-flight aerobatic display, adding to the ambience and sky-high excitement of what was to come, taking a private vehicle where none had gone before.

"In general, our program was very much like the proof-of-concept research airplanes that we had done before," said Rutan. But, admittedly, there was a sizable gulp factor when SpaceShipOne first flew.

Before the maiden spaceflight, Rutan remembered an aerodynamics expert eyeing SpaceShipOne and its novel hinged "feathering" system . That unique feature had the rear half of the wing and its twin tail booms fold upward for atmospheric reentry, a position designed to increase drag, but keep the vehicle stable on descent.

"That expert told me it will spin like a top; it wouldn't be controllable if it's in feather," Rutan said. "You know, I didn't have a good answer for him."

Rutan said he was riding on wispy information. 

"I had no wind tunnel data in the feathered configuration. I had limited computational fluid dynamics data … no analysis of the dynamics. I couldn't tell whether or not he was right."

Concern resolved

When SpaceShipOne was dropped from the White Knight carrier plane at 40,000 feet (12,000 meters), pilot Mike Melvill didn't say a thing, according to Rutan. 

"That will get your ass puckered up if nothing else will," Rutan said. "And I'm thinking, 'For God's sake, tell us how it flies.' And I'll never forget when he said, 'It flies like a dream.' Right then and there one of the biggest concerns that I had was resolved."

SpaceShipOne sped from transonic to supersonic velocity, running its rocket motor for 15 seconds, and ascending to just above 62 miles (100 kilometers) over Earth. It therefore cleared the Kármán line , a widely recognized definition of the boundary of outer space. 

"I figured if we had bad flying qualities we are accelerating so fast," Rutan said, "you are going to quickly poke right through it."

When the rocket engine shut off, SpaceShipOne slipped into low speed and the feather system was engaged. The vehicle was successfully maneuvered down to tarmac heaven.

Above the fold

"I did recognize that it was historic, to achieve a non-government manned spaceflight," Rutan said. The flight achievement got "above the fold" newspaper attention around the world.

"It was the number two story for all of 2004. If they hadn't pulled Saddam Hussein out of his spider hole that year," Rutan said, "this would have been the number one story!"

Later that year, SpaceShipOne made two back-to-back suborbital flights well above 100 kilometers in altitude, solo piloted first by Melvill and then Brian Binnie, to snag the $10 million Ansari X Prize purse .

For Rutan, the voyage of SpaceShipOne that day was a huge milestone. "It should get a party every 10 years. And it certainly should get a big party on the 50th and the 100th anniversary."

Aspirational inspiration

"I'm guessing only the true space diehards are cognizant that the first SpaceShipOne suborbital spaceflight, piloted by Mike Melvill, occurred 20 years ago this week," said Alan Ladwig, author of  "See You In Orbit? Our Dream Of Spaceflight" (To Orbit Productions, 2019). "It was an important milestone for space tourism ."

As the first time a privately built, privately funded spaceship made it to the final frontier, Melvill's critical test flight did attract media and public attention at the time, as Rutan noted. "The event was heralded as a new era when 'ordinary' people, private citizens, would have the opportunity to fly to experience weightlessness ," Ladwig said.

When the X-Prize was announced in 1996, later to be renamed the Ansari X Prize, Ladwig recalled that it was predicted that a winner would be crowned in three to five years, with commercial tickets available one or two years after that. 

"Like so many space achievements, these predictions proved to be aspirational," Ladwig said. 

Related: Space tourism, 20 years in the making, is finally ready for launch

Industrial-strength space tourism 

Following the successful first spaceflight of SpaceShipOne, Ladwig remembers that Rutan promised that suborbital flights would "inspire and open up a new industry." 

"This prediction has been achieved. Both Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin now conduct passenger service, but the high ticket price is a deterrent for many to achieve their dream of spaceflight," said Ladwig. (Virgin Galactic currently charges $450,000 per seat for a suborbital trip; Blue Origin hasn't disclosed its ticket prices.)

And the connection between Virgin Galactic and SpaceShipOne is quite strong; Virgin has flown seven commercial suborbital flights to date, all with the recently retired VSS Unity space plane. Unity is a SpaceShipTwo vehicle, which, as its name suggests, is an evolved version of the pioneering SpaceShipOne. 

In highlighting the challenge to provide commercial service to and from suborbital space, Ladwig said it's worth remembering that the Ansari X Prize attracted 26 teams from seven countries, "but only two companies have the capability to help you achieve a space experience."

Over the past 50 years, experts have made bold predictions for a thriving space tourism industry, Ladwig relates.

For example, one space tourism sage predicted that. by 2030, some five million passengers could be taking trips to a necklace of hotels in low Earth orbit .

"It will take an extreme acceleration of flights to achieve such numbers," Ladwig suggests. "But Melvill's historic flight did give hope to all those who dream of seeing Earth from an orbital perspective."

—  How SpaceShipOne and the X Prize launched commercial spaceflight

—  Photos: The first space tourists

— SpaceShipOne pilot's M&Ms, other mementos go on museum display

Spark of innovation

"The prizewinning second flight of SpaceShipOne on its X Prize quest in 2004 seemed, at the time, to herald an imminent new era for commercial spaceflight," said Margaret Weitekamp, chair of the Space History department at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

"The reality took much longer to develop than its promoters hoped," Weitekamp told Space.com. "But the Ansari X Prize competition did spark innovations that brought renewed interest to suborbital human spaceflights."

Weitekamp added that the flown SpaceShipOne will return to public display in the National Air and Space Museum's building on the National Mall when the Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall reopens.

For more information on Burt Rutan's remarkable contributions to aerospace, you can go to the informative and comprehensive BRAB (Burt Rutan AutoBio) website , a work-in-progress collection that he started in 2020.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: [email protected].

Leonard David is an award-winning space journalist who has been reporting on space activities for more than 50 years. Currently writing as Space.com's Space Insider Columnist among his other projects, Leonard has authored numerous books on space exploration, Mars missions and more, with his latest being "Moon Rush: The New Space Race" published in 2019 by National Geographic. He also wrote "Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet" released in 2016 by National Geographic. Leonard  has served as a correspondent for SpaceNews, Scientific American and Aerospace America for the AIAA. He has received many awards, including the first Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History in 2015 at the AAS Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium. You can find out Leonard's latest project at his website and on Twitter.

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• Essay on United States

Research Paper On The Space Race: How It Changed Everything

Type of paper: Research Paper

Topic: United States , Space , Race , America , World , Cold War , Technology , War

Words: 3000

Published: 01/31/2020

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The Cold War was an era of rapid change the world over. The Soviet Union emerged from World War II victorious but weakened by war, needing to find a new path of industrialization and to maintain control of the myriad of satellite states it had collected as spoils; the United States emerged as the leading Western power, largely unaffected by the war, which was not fought on their own territory, and largely complacent with its position at first. Europe aligned itself between the capitalist and communist powers, and became divided by what Winston Churchill famously termed the “Iron Curtain”. The rest of the world was caught largely in the middle, and was progressively industrializing. The Space Race would become the technological challenge that would bring about rapid innovation in both countries that would affect everyday life in a multitude of ways. It served many purposes, including unifying the people of the respective nations around a goal, boosting morale when achievements were announced, encouraging competition, changing the focuses of education and the educational system, and, most importantly, advancing technology and science, as well as our place in the universe. In this paper, we will examine some of these effects, and look at their impact on us even today. First, let us look at the background. While there had been cooperation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the War, and even after, for example, when negotiating the Potsdam Agreement and in administrating Berlin (until 1946, when the Russians stopped attending the joint meetings), relations worsened dramatically after the war. The Blockade of Berlin in 1948, the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, and the Soviet detonation of a nuclear bomb in 1949, much earlier than expected, were all major factors that increased tensions early on (Beisner 2003). While in the United States fear of communism was nothing new, it reached new levels during the 1950’s during the Red Scare and the McCarthy era. This period tended to focus on fear of the enemy from within, sleeper agents or even Americans who sympathized with communism. A dramatic change of focus came about on October 4th, 1947, however, when the Soviets launched the first satellite, Sputnik I, into space in a low-earth orbit. While this was a major advance for science and human history, it was also a demonstration that the Soviets had technology capable of sending a warhead anywhere on Earth, and it caused great concern in the United States (Kernan 1997). The event led directly to the founding of NASA in 1958, concentrating American space research into one body with its own funding, and also led to the National Defense Education Act, which spent billions refocusing the education system in the United States, placing more emphasis on what are today known as the STEM fields (Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) (Flattau, et. al 2006). Despite this refocusing, the Soviets still had a head-start. On November 3rd, 1947, they launched another satellite into space, this one carrying a dog, Laika, which would become the first animal in space. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth. The Americans were not far behind, though; Alan Shepherd was launched into space about three weeks after Gagarin, and John Glen orbited the Earth on February 20, 1962. In 1961 and 1962, President Kennedy publically put his support behind NASA, and famously gave a speech about landing an American on the moon before the end of that decade. This was the kick-start the Apollo Program needed to get off the ground. While there were certainly challenges along the way, such as the Apollo 1 fire that killed the Apollo 1 crew and destroyed the spacecraft while it was still on the ground at Cape Canaveral, the achievements of the Apollo Program were many, and included the first orbit of the moon on Apollo 8 (on which the iconic first photo of the earth rising over the moon was taken), the actual moon landing on July 20th, 1969, numerous important space walks, and the successful recovery of Apollo 13 after the first major American disaster in space. The research done on these missions was also invaluable, as are the many moon rocks returned, which have told us much about the formation of the solar system and the Earth-Moon system. Now that we have covered the background, we will examine the effects the Space Race had on people at the time, and the effects it continues to have today. One major effect it had was to refocus the attitude of the American people. The Cold War of the 1950’s was one of paranoia, punctuated by McCarthyism and the House Un-American Activities Committee. The focus had been to promote fear of the enemy within. The Space Race refocused these energies into something constructive. Instead of being purely fearful of the enemy, the focus became finding constructive ways to achieve things the enemy had not, and to focus on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The results of this are both obvious and hidden, but present in everyday life. Obviously, we landed humans on the moon, and that is a fantastic achievement. But technology we use every day was also developed, either directly by NASA or by repurposing technology developed by NASA. A few examples include the ballpoint pen, satellite television, the dust buster (and other cordless power tools), modern smoke detectors, the joystick, memory foam, freeze-dried food, LEDs, scratch-resistant lenses, invisible braces, the design of many highways and runways with grooves in them to drain water and reduce risk of hydroplaning, enriched baby food, solar technology, ear thermometers, and more (Conger). It would be nearly impossible to imagine life in the 21st Century without these things, and we have the space race to thank for them. It’s also worth noting that NASA has consistently worked with private industry over the years in developing these products, with the added bonus of making their beneficial and pioneering technology available to the public while promoting the private sector. The Space Race also served to boost morale by unifying the nation around a tangible goal. During World War II, for example, morale had been extremely high as all efforts were focused around ending the war. But after the war ended and it became clear that the Soviets had also emerged as a super power, and a hostile one, morale gradually began to drop. After the embarrassment of not being able to win the Korean War set in and paranoia spread among the public during the McCarthy era, there was no clear goal. Military defeat of the Soviets appeared less and less an option as both countries built up their nuclear arsenals with an eye toward mutually assured destruction. There was no clear goal to rally around. The early failures of the United States to achieve any of the “firsts” in space only worsened morale. Therefore, when President Kennedy announced that they would land a man on the moon by the end of the decade, it provided a clear goal for people to focus on, and a clear path to that achievement that they could follow in the news. And even more clearly, it provided a singular event of massive historical significance, the moon landing, which was watched by an estimated 500 million people worldwide and not only restored American faith in themselves and their achievements, but also sent a message of American achievement to people the world over. To this day, Americans regularly point to the fact that the United States landed a man on the moon as one of the primary reasons for their nation’s greatness. It is referred to often in popular culture, and still provides Americans with a sense of pride to this day. It is also viewed as a demonstration of what we can accomplish as a nation if we put all of our efforts into doing something. Astronauts, and the Apollo astronauts in particular, are revered as national heroes, and American children commonly dream of becoming astronauts. It is still something we rally behind as a nation today, even if NASA’s current budget sadly does not reflect that. The Space Race also reinforced one of the traditional values of American society: competition. The American system, and capitalism in general, by nature encourages competition; the many “rags-to-riches” stories of the early 20th Century are great examples of this. Re-casting space exploration as a “race” encouraged the American competitive spirit and reinforced this common American value. It also indirectly encouraged more competition in education and the workplace, as more and more people were encouraged to engage in competition in order to achieve direct, tangible goals. As already mentioned, another major consequence of the Space Race was the redirection of the American educational system to focus more on STEM fields. In addition, the Advanced Research Projects Agency, which would later become the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, was created to execute research and development projects in the defense department. The National Science Foundation’s budget grew exponentially from 1958 through the 1960s. Funding for education, including higher education, also increased exponentially due to the National Defense Education Act. While the act is no longer active today, the focus on STEM fields it began clearly still is (Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum 1957). The Space Race highlighted the need for higher education, and a better-educated and technology-oriented workforce in general. These trends are still active today (Flattau et. al. 2006). Technology and Science also saw great leaps forward. Some of the tangible inventions were already highlighted above. But even the technology that spun off from NASA spinoffs themselves ultimately has roots in the Space Race. Cellular telephone networks, the microchips in our cellular phones themselves, laptops, satellite navigation, etc. would all be nearly unthinkable without the investment made in the space race, and if they did exist in some form, would probably be entirely different than the technology so familiar to us today. The achievements of the Space Race also would lead to an increased understanding of our true place in the universe as humans. The famous “earthrise” picture taken by astronaut James Lovell on Apollo 8, showing the Earth rising over the moon, the first time such an event was ever seen by humans (Apollo 8 was the first mission to orbit the moon), circulated the media. The image certainly shows the beauty that is Earth, and to many highlights its uniqueness. This image was instrumental in the early environmentalist movement, as it can also be seen to demonstrate the fragility of the Earth and why we must protect it. Another infamous image resulting from the Space Race and helping to place ourselves in the context of the universe is known as the “Pale Blue Dot”. This image was taken in 1990 from the Voyager 1 spacecraft, from a distance of about 6 billion kilometers from Earth. It shows Earth as just a small, pale blue dot against the background of space. This image would also dramatically affect the way we see ourselves as humans in the context of the universe; it is incredibly powerful to see our planet as just a pale blue dot; for some, this highlights our insignificance in the universe, yet for others, it highlights our amazing technological abilities, that we can send man-made spacecraft to such a distance that the Earth is made to appear insignificant (Sagen 1994). These, of course, are only some of the iconic images produced by the Space Race which have made ourselves re-evaluate our place in the universe; but they are incredibly powerful ones, and have changed the course of human history. In the meantime, the Space Race also contributed to Soviet and American cooperation and a “warming” of the Cold War. Some consider the end of the space race to be the 1975 docking of an Apollo spacecraft with a Russian Soyuz spacecraft. The mission was symbolic of joint American-Soviet cooperation, and a warming of relations between the nations. It is worth noting the impact that this cooperation has on NASA today; this cooperation set a precedent of cooperation in space, one which would continue between the United States and Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union with cooperation on the International Space Station and now, after the retirement of the Space Shuttles, has resulted in NASA being entirely dependent on the Russian space program to continue a presence of American astronauts in space. While perhaps not the ideal situation, for the moment, the system seems to be working. Such cooperation would have been almost unthinkable in the 1960s, although President Kennedy did briefly attempt to convince Soviet Premiere Nikita Khrushchev that a cooperative moon mission would be beneficial to both countries and send a strong message before a meeting of the United Nations on September 20, 1963. His assassination on November 22, 1963 put an abrupt end to any consideration Khrushchev was considering on the matter, as he did not consider Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy’s successor, to be trustworthy (Sietzen 1997). While it is interesting to speculate on what such an early joint venture between the two nations might have resulted in, what needs to be emphasized here is that the current NASA program of cooperation with the Russian space agency and its complete reliance on them for transportation currently grew indirectly out of the Apollo-Soyuz docking in 1975, and thus it shaped the world, and the structure of NASA, today. As has been demonstrated here, were it not for the Space Race that the Cold War triggered, the world would look quite different today. The trend of indiscriminate paranoia during the 1950s might well have continued later into the cold war in an intensified form similar to McCarthyism had the Space Race not provided a unifying goal and something for the United States to take pride in. It helped the nation to move on from the assassination of President John F. Kennedy by rallying around his specified dream and goal as well. If not given specific achievements to point to, morale might have declined even further than it did during the riots and assassinations in 1968 and the Vietnam War and its disastrous results for the nation. The Space Race created a public adulation for astronauts, treating them as heroes, and making the profession an incredibly revered one. The Space Race also boosted the standing of the United States the world over, with millions watching live around the world as the American flag was symbolically placed on the moon by Neil Armstrong, and listening to his famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind,” which placed emphasis that this was a moment for ALL of mankind, not just America. The Space Race also encouraged everyone to work harder, much in the way World War II had encouraged massive recycling drives, production improvements in factories, and a general mobilization to involve the effort in everyday life. Education was changed forever, with more funding being provided for science, math, and engineering, and more funds made available for people to pursue higher education (Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum 1957). Curriculum was restructured, and it was recognized that in order to be successful as a nation, we needed to produce scientists, engineers, and mathematicians ourselves (up until that point, the United States was still relying heavily on German scientists, such as Werner von Braun or Robert Oppenheimer; after Sputnik, there was a clear recognition that they needed to start home-growing talent in these fields, as well). Technology and science made great leaps forward, with a cooperation with private industry which led to many of the technologies developed by and with NASA for specific purposes in space exploration to also be given applications in everyday life, improving quality of life in society not just in America, but the world over as well. Thanks to the Space Race, we also came to reevaluate our position on the planet, in the solar system, and the universe; and a new emphasis would come to be placed on our duty to the planet itself, once we were able to view ourselves from afar and truly realize how amazing yet fragile the Earth is. The impact of the Space Race on everyday life, not just for Americans, but for people all over the world, would be almost impossible to overestimate. It is so broad-reaching that it can hardly be measured, and is not in any way limited to just the topics discussed in this paper. It is a prime, awe-inspiring example of what can be accomplished if the effort to achieve results is there- and what amazing results it did achieve. The Space Race ended up being, in the end, a peaceful and benefit-rich outlet for pent-up Cold War energies which became one of the most amazing things humanity itself has ever achieved, and from which all of us, every human on this planet, benefit from, directly or indirectly, on a daily basis.

References:

Beisner, Robert L. American Foreign Relations Since 1600: A guide to the Literature. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO. 2003. Bizony, Piers. “Leading the Race to Space”. NASA: The Academy of Program/Project & Engineering Leadership (APPEL) – ASK Magazine. Issue 42, Spring 2011. Retrieved from http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/ask/issues/42/42s_leading_race_to_space.html on 4/08/2013. Conger, Cristen. “10 NASA Inventions You Might Use Every Day.” The Discovery Channel. Retrieved from http://dsc.discovery.com/tv-shows/curiosity/topics/ten-nasa-inventions.htm on 4/08/2013. Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum. “Minutes of the Cabinet Meeting Concerning Improvements in Science and Mathematics Education, December 2, 1957”. DDE's Papers as President, Cabinet Series, Box 10, Cabinet Meeting of 12/2/57. 1957. Retrieved from http://www.eisenhower.archives.gov/research/online_documents/sputnik/12_2_57.pdf on 04/08/2013. Flattau, Pamela Ebert, Bracken, Jerome, Van Atta, Richard, Bandeh-Ahmadi, Ayeh, de la Cruz, Rodolfo, & Sullivan, Kay. “The National Defense Education Act of 1958: Selected Outcomes.” Institute for Defense Analyses Science & Technology Institute. March 2006. Kernan, Michael, “The Space Race”. Smithsonian Magazine. August edition (1997). Accessed at http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history-archaeology/around_aug97.html on 04/08/2013. Sagen, Carl. Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space. New York: Ballantine Books. 1994. Sietzen, Frank. “Soviets Intended to Accept JFK’s Joint Lunar Mission Offer.” Space Daily. October 2, 1997. Retrieved from http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html on 4/08/2013.

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