The Cold War: Space Race
Introduction
The final frontier in the exploration of man during the 20th century was space. For decades, the man had been intrigued by the vastness and the boundlessness of his surroundings. The untapped cradle that formed the home to the planet remained a mystery to man. It was this fascination that created the basis for space exploration even as the man struggled to understand not only his surroundings but also his existence.
The desire to understand space created the much needed scientific and technological advancement of humanity. In an effort to understand and conquer space, the man helped advance better and more efficient technologies in fields such as transport. The discussion of this paper is based on the Cold War Space Race and its winners and losers.
It will delve into the onset of the Space Race, its causes, its impact on human life and most importantly its benefits to the human race. The Space Race is an interesting subject of the Cold War is owing to the fact that it was the only race that did not have a military goal. The entire Space Race had its foundations in fulfillment, scientific advancement and to an extent bragging rights.
The Space Race
The Space Race marked a rivalry and competition between the then Soviet Union and the United States. It was a battle for supremacy regarding who would be the first to explore space. The race lasted over eighteen years, beginning in 1957 and ending in 1975. With the Cold War is simmering in the background, the winner of the Space Race would ultimately claim superiority over the other.
The Space Race comprised of manned flights to the moon, suborbital satellite launching and human spaceflight around the earth. The Soviet Union launched its own satellite by the name Sputnik 1, and that marked the onset of the Space Race while the spaceflight mission of Apollo-Soyuz of 1975 marked its end. The relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union was partially restored by the Apollo-Soyuz project.
However, to understand the Space Race, one has first to understand the arms race, which took place following the end of the Second World War. Originally, the Space Race featured a missile-based arms race right after the culmination of World War II. Germany was at the heart of the explosive race to space. The research and development of the ballistic missiles by Germany in the 1930s formed the foundation for space exploration.
For the German aerospace engineers, the focus was on the development of long-range rockets, which would then be used to bomb far-off places. They experimented with liquid-fueled rockets to determine the range and distance that they could travel. Following the Treaty of Versailles that had banned the development of long-range cannon, the German Aerospace team of engineers tried to find a way of going around the treaty by working on rocket artillery instead.
The end of the Second World War saw the British, Soviet Union and America compete to get hold of the rocket designs and the engineers from Germany. Each side of the Allies team managed to capture a sizable number of the members that had worked on the German Rockets Project. The United States, however, benefited the most through the recruitment of Von Braun and his team of engineers.
Von Braun would later become the instrumental figure in the development of the American space missiles and exploration program. By the year 1955, both Russia and America had built ballistic missiles that could be used to launch objects into space. Announcements followed from both America and Russia regarding their ability to launch artificial satellites by the year 1957. However, on the 4th of October, 1957, the Sputnik 1 satellite was launched into the orbit by Russia.
The success of the Soviet Union threw the United States into action. The American president went ahead to order for increased speed in launching its satellite. The launch of the Vanguard Project before its scheduled time resulted in a staggering failure. The satellite went ahead to explode only a few minutes after it had been launched.
The failure of the satellite launch became a joke for the international community. To make a mock of the failure of the United States program, the Soviet Union delegates at the United Nations conference offered to provide technical assistance to America through its successful program. However, four months later, the United States (under the leadership Von Braun) managed to successfully launch its first satellite into space by the name Juno 1.
As the Space Race intensified, the Russians soon took the lead for a second time by launching the Vostok 1 into the orbit with Yuri Gagarin inside it. That successful mission took place in 1961. Yuri would later become the first person to sail around the earth. The subsequent success of the Russian Space Program prompted the American President John F. Kennedy to push for action and improvement in the country’s space program.
The goal was to ensure that NASA had been granted enough resources that would see it catch up with the Russian space exploration. The idea of a moon landing was thus born, and it became the number one priority for the NASA program and the American government. The John Glenn's orbital flight in February 1962 marked America’s duplication of Gagarin’s and Russia’s achievement.
This modification allowed for the very first spacewalk, which was performed by Alexey Leonov as part of the mission. The spacewalk was, however, achieved at a great risk. For one, re-entry into the spaceship was only achieved after a risky depressurization process. The poor timing of the rocket firing also resulted in a major 240-mile mishap in the landing position of the Voskhod 2.
However, by 1968, American had reinvented its space program and went on to launch the Apollo 8 spacecraft. It became the first human-crewed spacecraft to exit the earth orbit and explore a new section of the universe, which was the moon. Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders became the first human beings to enter the moon's orbit in the same year. They made ten orbits around the moon and transmitted one of the most watched broadcasts in history.
The successful landing of the Apollo 8 in the Pacific two days only served as icing on an already successful mission. The landing was one of the first splashdown and recovery by NASA. The unreliability of the Zond in 1968 became a major setback for the Russians on their circumlunar mission. The explosion of the launch pad of the N 1 rocket in 1969 resulted in the cancellation of the Soviet plans for piloted landing on the moon. The explosion occurred as a result of the pad being hit by a rocket after its engine had shut down.
1969 was, however, the final leg of the race to the moon. The United States had managed to reach the moon and orbit around it with the Apollo 8. The next mission that remained was on the actual landing on the moon. Behind the scenes, NASA was preparing its Apollo 11 for the actual moon landing process. The Apollo crew had Neil Armstrong as its commander for the three-day trip to the moon. July 20th became the very first day that a spacecraft landed on the moon, and also the very first time man stepped on the moon.
The exploration of space gave birth to a myriad of opportunities as well as challenges. For one, surveillance became possible from space, and thus, monitoring could easily be achieved. This has, however, been utilized largely by the military for war. For a great part of the early years in the Space Race, Russia remained dominant, and set numerous milestones for the United States. The political pressure and simmering Cold War played a huge role in instigating the race to space.
The explosions, failures, and poor safety considerations were some of the downsides of the competition to attain bragging rights. For the United States, the early 1960’s seemed the most appropriate time to bring the race to an end. This was based on the knowledge of the superior and powerful rockets that Russia possessed. With a few more years of development, the United States knew that the Russian space program would have been unmatched and thus reset their goals for the moon landing before the 1960’s would come to end.
The industrial and economic capacity of the United States was instrumental in ensuring that it attained its goal. Upon the landing of man on the moon, the propaganda, and politics surrounding the space race faded. The bragging rights and superiority aspirations had been achieved. The ideological competition that had long fueled the race became outdated and space exploration became an entirely scientific purpose.
Analyzing the overall performance of the Space Race, Russia did stand out as the outright winner. It had managed to launch the first satellite, and take the first man as well as woman to space. It had also been the first to warrant a successful space walk before creating the first space station. The United States, on the other hand, had largely played catch up to the Russian exploits.
The culmination of the Cold War saw the United States emerge at the top; this was largely due to the feat it had accomplished in the Space Race. The moon landing became the hallmark of the entire race to space. Man had managed to step on the lunar surface, and he had come from the United States – that is all that mattered. The moon landing was instrumental in minimizing the lucrative nature of the race.
While the moon landing may have been a remarkable achievement for humanity and the American nation, one would argue that it was all based on the Russian leadership role in space exploration. Russia enjoyed and earned every right to be the space victors despite the single feat by America.
Conclusion
In an effort to determine a winner of the Space Race, a number of factors would have to be considered. However, it is important to note that the terms of the Space Race were defined differently by the participants. The achievements of each party can be defined as the winning element. If the Space Race is to be determined by the first party to go to space, then Russia would win. However, by landing on the moon, the United States also made its mark.
The eventual and real winner of the Space Race was humanity at large; this can be argued from the technological, scientific and knowledge advancement that was achieved as a result of the competition to conquer space. The establishment of sectors such as space exploration may have been achieved, but with a longer timeline, had the Space Race not occurred.
The accuracy, ease and timeliness of information exchange and access can also be attributed to the Space Race as it allowed for the launch of satellites. On the downside, however, the destructive nature of man was also fueled through the development of long-range intercontinental missiles. Politics and propaganda may have been at the backdrop of the space race, but they all served to facilitate a more crucial feat in human history.
Bibliography
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Collins, Martin J. 1999. Space race: the U.S.-U.S.S.R. competition to reach the moon. San Francisco, Calif: Pomegranate Communications.
