2. The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century
competition between the Soviet Union(USSR)
and the United States (US) for supremacy in
space exploration.
Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry
between the two nations focused on attaining
firsts in space exploration, which were seen as
necessary for national security and symbolic
of technological and ideological superiority.

3. • The Space Race involved pioneering
efforts to launch artificial satellites,
sub-orbital and orbital human
spaceflight around the Earth, and
piloted voyages to the Moon.

4. • In 1955, with both the United States
and the Soviet Union building
ballistic missiles that could be
utilized to launch objects into space,
the "starting line" was drawn for
the Space Race.
• In separate announcements, just
four days apart, both nations
publicly announced that they would
launch artificial Earth satellites by
1957 or 1958.
• On 29 July 1955, James C. Hagerty,
president Dwight D. Eisenhower's
press secretary, announced that the
United States intended to launch
"small Earth circling satellites"
between 1 July 1957 and 31
December 1958 as part of their
contribution to the International
Geophysical Year (IGY).

5. • Four days later, at the Sixth
Congress of International
Astronautical
Federation in Copenhagen,
scientist Leonid I. Sedov spoke
to international reporters at
the Soviet embassy, and
announced his country's
intention to launch a satellite
as well, in the "near future".
• On 30 August 1955, Korolev
managed to get the Soviet
Academy of Sciences to create
a commission whose purpose
was to beat the Americans
into Earth orbit: this was
the defacto start date for the
Space Race.

6. It effectively began with the Soviet launch of
the Sputnik 1artificial satellite on 4 October
1957.
It concluded with the co-operative Apollo-Soyuz
Test Project human spaceflight mission in July
1975. The Apollo-Soyuz Test Project came to
symbolize détente, a partial easing of strained
relations between the USSR and the US.

7. Timeline of the Space Race
• http://www.history.com/topics/space-
race/videos#the-space-race

8. Timeline of the Space Race
Date Significance Country Mission Name
Intercontinental ballistic R-7 Semyorka SS-6
August 21, 1957 USSR
missile (ICBM) Sapwood
October 4, 1957 First artificial satellite USSR Sputnik 1
November 3, 1957 First animal in orbit (Dog) USSR Sputnik 2
First US satellite;
January 31, 1958 detection ofVan Allen USA-ABMA Explorer 1
belts
First communications
December 18, 1958 USA-ABMA Project SCORE
satellite

9. Artificial satellite
January 4, 1959 USSR Luna 1
(Sun's)
February 17, 1959 Weather satellite USA-NASA(NRL)1 Vanguard 2
Reconnaissance
June 1959 USA-Air Force Discover 4
satellite
Photo of Earth from
August 7, 1959 USA-NASA Explorer 6
space
September 14, 1959 Probe to Moon USSR Luna 2
Photo of the far side of
October 7, 1959 USSR Luna 3
the Moon

10. April 12, 1961 Human in orbit USSR Vostok 1
First
July 10, 1962 active communications USA-AT&T Telstar
satellite
Artificial satellite by a
September 29, 1962 Canada Alouette 1
non-superpower
June 16, 1963 Woman in orbit USSR Vostok 6
March 18, 1965 Extra-vehicular activity USSR Voskhod 2
December 15, 1965 Orbital rendezvous2 USA-NASA Gemini 6A/Gemini 7

11. Probe lands on another
March 1, 1966 USSR Venera 3
planet - Venus
In-orbit rendezvous and
March 16, 1966 USA-NASA Gemini 8
docking
December 24, 1968 Manned Lunar orbit USA-NASA Apollo 8
July 20, 1969 Human on the Moon USA-NASA Apollo 11
April 23, 1971 Space station USSR Salyut 1
Satellite orbits another
November 14, 1971 USA-NASA Mariner 9
planet -Mars
Geostationarycommunicatio
November 9, 1972 Canada-BCE Anik A1
ns satellite
July 15, 1975 First U.S.-USSR joint mission USSR USA-NASA Apollo-Soyuz Test Project

12. • The Space Race sparked unprecedented increases
in spending on education and pure research,
which accelerated scientific advancements and
led to beneficial spin-off technologies. An
unforeseen effect was that the Space Race
contributed to the birth of the environmental
movement; the first color pictures of Earth taken
from deep space were used as icons by the
movement to show the planet as a fragile "blue
marble" surrounded by the blackness of space.

13. Advances in technology and education
Technology—especially in aerospace
engineering, electronics and telecommunicati
onfields—advanced greatly during this
period. However, the effects of the Space
Race went far beyond rocketry, physics, and
astronomy. "Space age technology" extended
to fields as diverse as home economics and
forest defoliation studies, and the push to
win the race changed the very nature of
science education.

14. • American concerns that they had fallen behind
the Soviet Union in the race to space led quickly
to a push by legislators and educators for greater
emphasis on mathematics and the physical
sciences in American schools. The United
States' National Defense Education Act of 1958
increased funding for these goals from childhood
education through the post-graduate level. To
this day over 1,200 American high schools retain
their own planetarium installations, a situation
unparalleled in any other country and a direct
consequence of the Space Race

15. Today over a thousand artificial satellites orbit earth, relaying
communications data around the planet and facilitating
remote sensing of data on weather, vegetation, and human
movements for the nations who employ them. In addition,
much of the micro-technology that fuels everyday activities,
from time-keeping to enjoying music, derives from research
initially driven by the Space Race.

16. The Environment
• An unintended consequence of the Space Race is that it
facilitated the environmental movement, as this was the first
time in history that humans could see their home-world as it
really appears-–the first color pictures from space showed a
fragile blue planet bordered by the blackness of space.
• Pictures such as Apollo 8's Earthrise, which showed a crescent
Earth peeking over the lunar surface, and Apollo 17's The Blue
Marble, which for the first-time-ever showed a full circular earth,
became iconic to the environmental movement.
• The first Earth Day was partially triggered by the Apollo 8 photo.
Astronauts returning from space missions also commented on
how fragile the Earth looked from space, further fueling calls for
better stewardship of the only home humans have—for now.