“This nation has tossed its cap over the wall of space, and we have no choice but to follow it.” President John F. Kennedy remarked after the Soviet Union launched Sputnik .

On October 4, 1957, at the Soviet’s rocket testing facility in a desert near Tyuratam in the Kazakh Republic, the Soviets were prepared to furtively launch an artificial satellite into outer space (Feldman 17). The Soviets made a satellite, called Sputnik, was an 22-inch aluminum sphere that weighed only 183 pounds.

Traveling at a rate of 18,000 miles per hour Sputnik traveled an elliptical orbit that took ninety-six minutes to orbit the entire earth. Sputnik was unable to be seen with the naked eye, but was able to be seen with an aid of a telescope (Dille 53-56). Sputnik got in touch with the outer space atmosphere than the U.S. and the USSR have ever known existed (Launius 1-2). “The launch of Sputnik 1 had a Pearl Harbor effect on Americans; it was a shock” said Launius, Roger; an expert on Lunar and Planets. Launius, Roger said “It shocked them into introducing the average citizen to the space age in a crisis setting.”

The space race was significant to both the Americans and the Soviets. The space race began with Sputnik’s launch and had a big impact on space history. Without a doubt, the USSR spent money on the Space Race was spent wisely and immensely helped all nations further understands about space (Hyperhistory 1).
The start of the space race was very intense; and both the U.S.A. and the USSR was very passionate to help mount the knowledge on space. Both of the leaders of the U.S.A. and the USSR agreed to contend each other in the space race. It was a country rivalry for who come across more information on space technology (Mason 12-15).

After the agreement to the space race the USSR accomplished many goals and was really successful in the race. There was an ICBM made, Sputnik one and two launch, Space Station, and the US and USSR teaming up as one whole. The ICBM’s stands for Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (Wikipedia 6). The ICBM’s was made for nuclear weapons, but it accomplished many feats first for space knowledge. It can travel 3,500 miles at a speed of 550/mph (Dille 54). There are many famous ICBM’s, but the most famous one that performed many achievements for space knowledge was the Spanker SS-8 (Wikipedia 5).

After the ICBM’s the Soviets launched Sputnik and it was one of the main reasons the US came into the space race. It was launched on October 1957 (Dille 53-56). There were two different Sputniks and the second one had a living creature in it. It was a dog that was named Laika, which means barker in Russian, flew into space as the first breathing creature. The next success the Soviet Union carried out was when the enormous space station (Wikipedia Foundation 3).

The space station was used as a home to be up in space in the 1971. Not only the Soviet Union uses the space station, but now it is used internationally. This is why the space station is called the ISS (International Space Station) (Hyperhistory 2). The main five space agencies are the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (United States), the Russian Federal Space Agency (USSR), the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (Japan), the Canadian Space Agency (Canada) and the European Space Agency (Europe). Many changes are in the process of changing and improving the Space Station (Wikipedia Foundation 6).

The USSR and the U.S.A. both were the top two competitors and helpers for the space race so they ended up teaming together and making a whole commendable team. On July 15, 1975 both the U.S. and the USSR had their first mission together. The name of this mission was named the Apollo-Soyuz mission, which lasted nine days. Apollo Soyuz was the first international manned spaceflight. It was designed to test the agreement of meeting and docking for American and Soviet spacecraft, to open up the way for international space rescue and future joint manned flights (Mason 17-20).

The space cycle is a self-made scheme. I think the knowledge on space increases all the time because of the space cycle. It consist of the two competitors the USSR and the U.S.A contending to find more knowledge on space. After a country finds information on the space knowledge the next country is determined to find something in addition to be on top of the other country to have advantage for the race. This cycle goes round and round and will get more sophisticated each time. Most of the time the discoveries where based on the last success information on space by the other country.

There were different Soviet Union space agencies that contributed to the space race. There is the Intersputnik, which was created on the 1971, the RKA (Russian Federal Agency), and the most recent organization the Glavkosmos. The organizations help build the ISS and help the joining of the U.S. and the Soviet Union (Wikipedia Foundation 6-7).

There were several variations between the U.S.A. and the USSR in how they handled the launch. The U.S.A. told the public about the success/failure on
the launch, while the USSR told after the success where made so that the launched where perfect. Americans were able to see the launch live on television and also was seen live at the site of the launch (Dille 57-60). There were also differences in how they spent the cash and how much they spent. First the cash value varied immensely. The USSR spent about 7 million rubles a year (4 million dollars), while the U.S. spent 5 billion dollars a year.

This may only seem a little difference in cash, but because of the extended period of time the space race lasted. The occasion of the space race lasted 18 years which made the U.S.A. pay a whopping total of 90 billion dollars. The USSR paid 72 billion dollars which is an enormous difference of 18 billion dollars (Wikipedia Foundation 6).

The USSR says the space race ended the same time the Cold War ended. They also say it ended when the Apollo 18-Soyuz docked and united with each other (Launius 3). American says it ended when the U.S.A. reached the moon (Wikipedia Foundation 7). I believe it never ended, because there is so much more to be revealed. Just because the Americans and the USSR amalgamated doesn’t mean that the space race is over it is just that there is no more competition between the two countries (Launius 3).

I think there is no afterlife in the space race because it is still in existence. The space race is still going on and always will be because there is an infinite thing to find in space because space is a very enormous space. Right now the Russians are sending automated probes to Venus and Mars. The space race in the present day is more into achieving long-term goals (Wikipedia Foundation 8). The Americans are working with the Soviets to make a reusable space shuttle so it will cut down the cost. The U.S.A. and the USSR both know that there is much more to discover and that they are on a mission to find out lots more (Hyperhistory 1). I think the Soviets used 72 billion dollars effectively and spent the money on the discoveries arrogantly and shrewdly.

According to
dictionary.com
space race means the competitive nature of the nations involved in space exploration. I think this definition is explaining the whole point of why people were involved in the race and why people should be involved. “I could have gone on flying through space forever.” said Major Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, quoted in The New York Times on April 14, 1958 when he was up in space. All this shows how the USSR spent money on the space race shrewdly, powerfully, and efficiently.