What was the 'Space Race' during the Cold War?

Many of the early pioneers in rocket science were actually from Nazi Germany who had been captured in the final years of World War Two.

These men had developed some of the world's first effective rocket engines which were used in the German air force during the war.

This included the cutting-edge V-2 rockets that were used against Britain and the Messerschmitt 292e: the world's first jet-powered fighter plane.

As a result, it was not until after the completion of World War Two that the Space Race between the USA and the USSR truly began.

Both superpowers relied upon the experience and skill of these German scientists to develop their own knowledge of rockets and advance their own space technologies.

These two nations were locked in an ideological battle: America was democratic and focused on capitalism, while Russia was communist and wanted to promote socialism.

They sought to convince other countries from around the world to ally with them. In order to do this, they wanted to show that their country was stronger and more advanced than the other.

Therefore, winning the Space Race was considered politically important to both countries because it was seen as a way to prove the superiority of their respective political systems.

However, at its core, the Space Race had dangerous military implications. Any rocket that could send a person into space could also be used as a way of launching missiles.

So, the development of new rocket technology also led to the creation of the first intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs): rockets that could strike an enemy anywhere in the world.

The first steps in the Space Race were taken by both countries in the 1950s, with each launching their own satellite into orbit.

The very first was the Soviet Union's Sputnik I, which was launched on October 4, 1957.

This was the first man-made object that could orbit the earth. 

Then, in November 1957, the Soviets launched Sputnik II, their second satellite and the first to contain a living creature: a dog called Laika.

Only a few months later, the United States Army launched the first US satellite, Explorer I, on January 31, 1958.

However, it was already clear that the Soviets were moving much quicker in their research.

So, in July 1958, President Dwight Eisenhower ordered the formation of a dedicated space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).

This new department was tasked with speeding up the American space program in an effort to overtake the Russians.

Next, the Americans began Project Mercury in 1958, which was to be their first manned spaceflight program.

However, news soon spread that the Soviets had achieved the very first Luna program, called Luna 2, in 1959.

This was the first time a man-made object had reached the moon. The Luna 2 simply impacted the surface of the Moon, but it had achieved something that America was not even capable of at that stage.

As the Space Race entered the 1960s, competition reached its peak. On April 12, 1961, the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin became the first ever human in space.

He was safely launched in the Vostok 1 spacecraft, orbited the earth, and landed safely again back in Russia.

Then, the Soviets sent the first woman into space, Valentina Tereshkova, in June 1963.

However, by this point, the United States was not far behind. They sent their own man, Alan Shepard, into space on May 5, 1961, and then John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth in February 1962.

In response to Soviet achievements, in a speech delivered in Texas in September 1962, President John F. Kennedy issued a challenge to NASA to put a human on the moon within ten years.

As a consequence, NASA went to work developing the necessary technology and training astronauts for the historic Apollo Moon landing missions.

Six years later on December 21, 1968, the Apollo 8 program became the first manned mission to leave Earth's orbit.

It successfully reached the Moon, orbited it, and safely returned to earth.

While it didn't land on the moon, it demonstrated that the Americans now had everything they needed for the next stage: a lunar landing.

Finally, on July 20, 1969, American astronaut Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the moon as part of the Apollo 11 program.

The Space Race began to lose its intensity in the 1970s. Ultimately, it was a costly endeavor for both nations and the Soviet economy was struggling.

Russia began to scale back the amount of money it spent on space, as it focused on other concerns.

As a result, the two nations began to collaborate on some projects as a means to be more cost efficient.

For example, the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project saw an American Apollo spacecraft docked with a Soviet Soyuz spacecraft.

Many people see this event as the symbolic end to the Space Race. 

In addition, since the militarization of space also resulted in the development of dangerous new weapons systems, treaties such as the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 sought to limit the placement of weapons of mass destruction in Earth's orbit.

Also, the two superpowers signed the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which restricted the deployment of anti-ballistic missile systems. 

While the Space Race may have ended symbolically over 40 years ago, its legacy can still be seen today. In fact, the cooperation of the countries led to the launch of the International Space Station in 1998.

The technologies developed during the Space Race have led to advances in fields such as medicine, telecommunications, remote sensing, weather forecasting, and global communications.

However, even though the Space Race was over, the United States continued to develop their own Space Shuttle Program between 1981 and 2011.