Space racee

• Space race


  The competition that existed between the USA and the USSR to make the biggest and quickest advancements in space exploration and technology
• What happened in the space race in the 1950s

  1. 1945 USA captured V-2 technology

  2. 1955 USA planned to launch satellite by 1957-8

  3. 1958 USA launched Explorer I. NASA was formed

  
  

  4. 1945 USSR captured V-2 technology

  5. 1955 USSR planned to launch satellite by 1957-58

  6. 1957 USSR launched Sputnik I and II
• • USSR launched Sputnik I
  • NASA was formed in the USA
  • USSR sent Laika the dog to space
  • USA announced plans to develop a satellite
• USA announced plans to develop a satellite


  1955
• USSR launched Sputnik I


  October 1957
• USSR sent Laika the dog to space


  November 1957
• NASA was formed in the USA


  1958
• Kennedy wanted to send the next US space mission to the Moon
• Kennedy's two concerns about advancing the US space programme

  • Spending more money
  • Speeding up developments
• The space race increased rivalry, investment and tensions between the USA and USSR
• In 1955, President Eisenhower announced an American programme to develop and launch an artificial satellite into space by 1957 or 1958. Four days later, Soviet scientists responded by announcing that they too intended to embark on a similar project.
• In October 1957, the USSR successfully launched a man-made satellite, which they named Sputnik, into space. Sputnik completed 1440 orbits of the earth over the following three weeks before it fell back into the earth's atmosphere two months later.
• On 12th April 1961, the USSR's Vostok Rocket Programme was successful in sending the first human to space. Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin, became instantly famous and successfully orbited the Earth.