The Space Race: How the US became the Premier Superpower

As World War II came to a close, both the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics emerged as the two superpowers of the world. They were the only ones who could walk forward with a strong economy and a conceited example of just how one should run their government. For many though, the progress and success of their governments was measured by their military technology and moreover, their ability to conquer the new arena: space. Indeed, the world came to look at their numerous achievements as benchmarks conveying the superiority of their respective forms of government. In 1969, however, the first manned lunar landing in the history of mankind had won the US their title as the reigning superpower, as they would hold for the rest of the century.

On October 4^th, 1957, the USSR shocked the world with Sputnik 1. It was the first artificial object to be put in space. Unprecedented, it was considered ludicrous that a country that had just embarked from a society of peasant farmers could somehow rise up out of the biggest war in history and display such technological adeptness (Newton 11) . After this event, people began to look at the USSR with interest, somehow regarding their idea of communism as the source of this miraculous event.

The United States' response was seen as less than spectacular. Two months later, in early December, the US attempted to launch their very own Vanguard TV-3. American hopes were dashed when the tiny 3.1 lb object exploded roughly more than a meter off the ground (Newton 18-19) .

The American public no longer believed that the USA was the world's technological leader. They were now the ones lagging behind. As tensions heightened there was a competition between the two superpowers of the world called the space race (McConnell 12) . Along with their sense of pride shattered, Americans now turned paranoid as the realization that there was a floating foreign satellite gliding over their heads became apparent (Cadbury XI) .

The reason behind the inefficiency displayed by the US was due to the fact that the space program was divided between the three branches of military: the army, air force, and navy. The navy was the manufacture of the first two satellites and the first two failures. It was not until the army designed their first satellite and rocket propulsion system, that the US was able to reach space with their own Explorer 1 on January 31, 1958 (Newton 22-23) . Why had it taken almost three months and two failed launch attempts for this even to occur? Obviously there was something wrong with the current system of putting objects into space. The American people looked to Eisenhower for an answer, while Democrats criticized his administration for being not aggressive enough to counter the Soviet Union's success (Schefter 43) .

Eisenhower did have a response, however, and it was an agency called the National Aeronautics and Space Agency, or more commonly known as NASA. He proposed a plan for it's structure and function in a speech on April 2, 1958. He set it up for the following four reasons:

(1) the compelling urge of man to explore; (2) the need to assure that full advantage is taken of the military potential of space; (3) the effect on national prestige of accomplishment in space science and exploration; and (4) the opportunities for scientific observation and experimentation while will add to our knowledge of the earth, the solar system, and the universe. (McConnel 27)

The bill for the creation of NASA was passed on July 29, 1958. The foundation for the USA's victory in space was now built. The agency would take in huge sums of money in time to come; $740 million by 1962 (Cadbury 185) .

The next phase of the space race was the one that lasted the longest by far. It was essentially a back and forth game of space achievements that would only be eclipsed by the arrival of man on the moon. The steps to this victory however are long and vast, and just why was the moon the deciding factor? To see the answer to this you must first observe the progression of the space race.

Not long after the success of Sputnik and other successful USSR launches, the line was extended by a huge margin yet again. On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, with a 108-minute long single Earth orbit (McConnell 15) . A rigorously tested young man, raised to be super patriotic to his country (Schefter 107) , he would later be one of the major figureheads in USSR propaganda and a major proponent of the USSR space program (McConnell 42) . Voice of Russia, a USSR propaganda program, dispersed by radio waves seized on to this moment for huge propaganda gain, displaying Gagarin's life story and how he struggled to achieve his dream and was able to do so thanks to the efficient socialist society under the USSR (McConnell 55) . This move gave a huge burst of support for the communist/socialist form of government that the USSR so desperately projected as an example.

Once again, the world turned it's head toward the USSR as the leader in the space race (McConnell 15) . One month later, the US could only respond with their feeble suborbital flight performed by Alan Shepherd. Originally a man who was very disappointed in the fact that the Russians has beat America to space (Schefter 136) , he faced humiliation as he was only able to reach space half-way. By this time, the USSR clearly had the lead.

Tables finally turned in February 20, 1962, when John Glenn became the first American in space, and was able to complete three complete Earth orbits. His flight gave a huge boost to the egos and prides of American citizens and gave the US a large stride in the space race by displaying that a man could pilot a pod back to earth (McConnell 17) . The fact was John Glenn experienced autopilot troubles while in space and to counter these and successfully land his pod he had to switch over to manual fly-by-wire controls that Soviet pilots had never used (Cadbury 194) .

Up to this point, the USSR has the world's attention much more so than the USA did, despite the fact that the US had put more technologically advanced and successful missions up. The fact remained that the USSR had done more firsts. They had put the first satellite, animal, man, woman, and functioning piece of technology into space (Newton 131) , and that was more passionate than just revising on the old, as the US seemed to be doing.

So now that the events illuminating how man stepped into space are shown, what changed so that the moon played such a large role in determining who the superior nation was? The answer is the Gemini project, the publicity it obtained, and how the USSR responded to it.

In 1965, NASA began development on a two-man Gemini project after they felt they had exhausted the one man module. There were several goals with this project including progressing to a new project (Apollo) that would ultimately take them to the moon (McConnell 18) . There were many motivations behind these new goals, but the ultimate influence behind it came from a speech by John F. Kennedy in 1961 that voiced the necessity of a program that would land Americans on the moon:

First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to man-kind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish. We propose to accelerate the development of the appropriate lunar space craft. [ ... ] But in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the moon—if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation. For all of use must work to put him there. (McConnell 38-39)

. These new goals were as followed: (1) Equipment and astronauts were to be subjected to trips that were two weeks in length, the approximate time for a lunar mission; (2) astronauts would have to successfully rendezvous and dock with other orbiting vehicles; (3) astronauts would perfect safe methods of reentry and landing; and (4) create the means upon which to land on the moon. (Reeves 241)

These goals were both easily accomplished in that same year. Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 finished each goal consecutively, and the final intended goal of lunar landing was shifted to the Apollo program. The actual feats accomplished by the Gemini program did not matter so much as did it's implications and the reactions taken by Russia and world.

For at this point, people of the world now realized that the United States may not have been originally outfitted with taking the playing field into space, but they were able to maneuver it much more efficiently. The US had far surpassed the USSR in successful launches and useful technology. (Schefter 312)

The reason for this was due to the fact that after their numerous unprecedented accomplishments, Russian scientists began to focus much more on automated computer satellites rather than crafts that could transport humans (Reeves 206) . According to Yuri Gagarin, the result, as the USSR forgets about their symbolic achievements and focuses on AI, is that the people of the world will start to look at the USA's new achievements as much more personal (McConnell 52) . This fact was confirmed by Reeves in his analysis of the reaction of international citizens concerning the change (146) .

As expected, the public now turned away from idyllic Russia, and towards the USA as the USA began to appear more space-savvy and it became clear that JFK's goal from 1961 was what was necessary to turn the spotlight on the USA once and for all (Schefter 12) . With this in mind, administrators at NASA began the Apollo program after Gemini was terminated in 1967 (Cadbury 288) .

Apollo 8 was the mission that helped shift the eyes of the world to the United States in anticipation. The USA had sent a successful module orbiting around the moon and was able to collect images from the orbit. These images were then sent to Earth in December 1968 when the mission occurred (Reeves 300; McConnell 19) .

Around the time, in the USSR, many people were worried, namely cosmonauts who were extremely upset that the US was taking these huge steps toward going to the moon, yet the USSR administration still refused to fund and support manned craft research. But by the time any of the cosmonauts were able to create change, the final key was put into place for the USA (Schefter 269) .

Apollo 9 and 10 soon perfected the practice of docking between crafts in lunar orbit and the like. After the first two steps of what would be necessary to land on the moon were taken, it somehow created an atmosphere around the world of expectation (McConnell 19) . Expectation leading up to the final goal, which was the surface of the moon.

The reason for this expectation, and the publicly set victory to whoever got to the moon first was due to the USSR overlooking what the people around the world expected of them, and the US using their cunning with superior scientists and idealistic goals (Schefter 140) . Both superpowers had somehow accidentally navigated themselves into a fight for the superpower above superpowers. Whoever would obtain that goal was dependent on who landed on the moon. The USA had taken advantage of the situation and gained victory.

On July 20, 1969, Neil Armstrong and “Buzz” Aldrin, both American astronauts touched down, and stepped out of their lunar module (McConnell 90) . They had fulfilled JFK's goal from the beginning of the decade (Newton 79) , and they captivated the world. 700 million astounded viewers watched the event together as a single human race (Reeves 291) . Neil Armstrong's famous words were:

That's one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind. (Newton 85)

As far as the world was concerned the space race was over, although it did not officially end (according to most historians) for another 6 years. The truth is, despite the ultimate definition of the space race, it was concluded, based on personal, public thoughts, by the landing on the moon.

The end of the space race, although declaring the USA the victor, paved way to international cooperation. Nixon took a step toward peace by declaring a message of unity:

The heavens have become a part of a man's world... For one priceless moment in the whole history of man all the people on this earth are truly one—one in their pride in what you have done and one in our prayers that you (Armstrong and Aldrin) will return safely to earth. (McConnell 20)

The Soviet Union went on to abandon it's Voskhod program, designed to put a man on the moon, without succeeding. It also abandoned it's new models of space stations, and attempted to establish an international compromise on a space station design. This would eventually lead the the construction of Mir and later the International Space Station. (Newton 112)

The Soviet Union and the United States also went on to agree that space and future space stations would not be in the interests of a military nature. It would just go on to stress national debts on both sides if so. Instead, the modern space station is used to study the effect of long-term space flights and conducting other types of research.

The space race ultimately became the most healthy example of Cold War competition. There was not much fear mongering, as both sides of the battle attempted to capture the rest of the world's hearts and minds. Due to this, it was rather benevolent in nature, no matter how much of a rivalry existed between the two nations.

The lunar landing, as well, set the stage for a new age of man in space. Despite the fact that this hailed one nation in higher regard than the other, it was regarded upon as a competitive win rather than one of war. It paved the way for future missions to the moon and to neighboring planets such as Mars that have an impact on daily culture to this day. (McConnell 21)

To this day, the majority of space exploration remains peaceful. After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the USA became the only superpower in space until China and India made their own attempts in the late 90s and early 2000s. Despite recent dearths in innovation, the USA and NASA are still regarded as the premier power in space. NASA also plans to return to the Moon in the next decade. Thanks to the lunar landing and peaceful negotiations space is an arena now shared by everyone. This fulfills JFK's intentions as stated in 1962:

We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding. Yet the vow of this nation can only be fulfilled if we in this nation are first, and therefore we intend to be first. (McConnell 21)

Works Cited

Cadbury, Deborah. Space Race: The Epic Battle between America and the Soviet Union for Dominion of Space. New York: HarperCollins, 2006

McConnel, William S. Living Through the Space Race. Detroit: Thomson-Gale, 2006.

Newton, David E. U.S. And Soviet Space Programs: A Comparison. New York: Watts, 1988.

Reeves, Robert. The Superpower Space Race: An Explosive Rivalry through the Solar System. New York: Plenum, 1994

Schefter, James. The Race: The Uncensored Story of how America beat Russia to the Moon. New York: Random House, 1999.

Chronicles of Dutta

Tuesday, November 20, 2007