We Touched the Moon

During the Cold War the meaning of manifest destiny was redefined when the United States and the Soviet Union battled to accomplish different feats and maneuvers first in space. Because of modern advancements, two countries, the Soviet Union and the United States, raced their way into space and to the moon between the late 1950s and 1970s. The Soviets launched their first man-made satellite Sputnik 1 in 1957 and the United States replied by launching their first satellite in January, 1958. Soviets sent dogs above the atmosphere in 1957. The United States sent up a squirrel monkey in December, 1958. Throughout the 1960s the United States and Soviet Union used the satellite technology to develop and deploy military forces that primarily used intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) and SLBMs (submarine-launched). These missiles were equipped with nuclear warheads. Soviet’s first person propelled into space was in April, 1961. The United States sent their first astronaut into space in February, 1962. With sights set on the moon, programs like Gemini, by the United States, and Soyuz, by the Soviet Union, tested maneuver procedures and new technologies needed to get to the moon. On the venture to the moon the United States finally managed to surpass the Soviet Union and triumph with the Apollo missions. The Soviet Union, giving up on the moon, turned to space stations acknowledging the United States finally won the space race. Even thought the United States did gain the lead near the end of the race to the moon, for ten years the Soviet Union seemed to always be ahead of the United States.

The Soviet Union shocked the United States when they launched a man-made satellite into space. In October, 1957, the Soviet Union had launched Sputnik 1, the first man-made object to orbit Earth (“Historic” 2). The United States in January, 1958, launched their satellite Explorer 1; it orbited the earth a few times more than the Soviet satellite (“Historic” 2). The launching of the Soviet satellite was such a shock because it “stoked the US public’s fears that the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union in technological prowess” (“Historic” 2). These satellites granted access to anywhere on the globe for the Soviet Union and the United States. Man-made objects breached the barrier of earth and space, man himself would follow.

Before Cosmonauts and Astronauts could be sent into orbit or even into the realms of space, scientists needed to construct and test ways that would enable life to survive outside Earth’s atmosphere. The next step in the long process of exploring space was to test the effects of weightlessness on life forms; the Soviet Union sent up dogs and the United States sent up monkeys (“1959” 2). “On 3 November, 1957 the Russians sent Laika, a Siberian husky, into orbit, but days into the flight the dog died.” (“1959” 2). The Soviet Union tested even more animals “between 1957 and 1961[;] thirteen dogs were sent into space, five of whom died” (“1959” 2). Space was not meant for life to exist in it; man needed copious reassurance that the harshness could be subdued and was safe to venture into. While the Soviet Union and the United States competed to sustain life in space, on Earth they also clashed in the development of nuclear prowess.