The Space Race The Cold War influenced the Space Race. The Soviets (Russians) led the Space Race by putting the first satellite and the first man into space. Khrushchev, the Soviet leader, claimed that, ‘The Sputniks (Soviet space satellite) prove that communism has won the competition between Communist and capitalist countries. The economy, science, culture and the creative genius of people in all areas of life develop better and faster under communism.’ The success of the Soviets forced the Americans to invest heavily in getting the first man on the Moon (see Ch. 24).
LSource 1
Timeline of Space Race 1957 USSR launched Sputnik 1 – first satellite in space
USA Vanguard exploded on launch 1958 USA launched Explorer 1
1961 Yuri Gagarin (USSR) – first person in space
Alan Shepard – first American in space LSource 2
1962 John Glenn – first American to orbit the Earth
1963 Cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova (USSR) – first woman in space
1966 Luna 9 (USSR) – first satellite to soft- land on the moon
1969 Apollo 11 – Neil Armstrong and ‘Buzz’ Aldrin – first men to walk on the Moon
22
Timeline of the nuclear arms race, 1945–60
1945 USA dropped first atomic bomb (A-bomb)
1949 USSR tested its first atomic bomb
1952 USA tested its first Hydrogen bomb (H-bomb)
1957 USSR tested intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) to carry H-bombs to the USA
1958 USA set up intermediate missiles in NATO countries within range of USSR
1959 USA developed ICBMs
1960 USA launched first nuclear- powered submarine
1962 Cuban Missile Crisis
Conflict in the Cold War The Cold War was important because it led to conflicts which brought the world to the edge of a world war. Between the end of the 1940s and 1991, many major incidents occurred involving the USA and USSR, and some of these took the world to the brink of war.
Three of the most serious incidents were: The Berlin Blockade
The Korean War The Cuban Missile Crisis
1. How do these sources above show the rivalry between the USA and the USSR in the Space Race?
