The Russian/American Space Race & Space Age

By Eli Watt

• How it all started?• Soviet Russia and America were already in the process of a “Cold War”• Even though no fighting took place, it was a “who has the latest, greatest, and

biggest thing out there”• Now that WWII was over (and man conquered all the world) in was time to

take it out of this world literally and conquer what lies beyond. • The idea perceived at the time was “whoever got a probe into space first

would reach ideological superiority”. • The first Idea was to get an artificial satellite into space that would orbit the

Earth. However, technically they already had objects reach space before hand in WW!! with the German V2 Rocket.

• The race began and Soviets took first glory when “Sputnik” got into space first.

All of The Sudden?

• The 50s had many technological innovations, however, they were more concentrated towards the home and consumer products. Many people in America enjoyed simple middle-class lives, and space they thought was only just a fun idea.

• Silly 50s. You were wrong. On Friday, 4 October 1957, at exactly 10:28:34 p.m. Moscow time, Sputnik was launched into Space, orbited the Earth in 98.1 minutes, and the space race and age began.

America Answers Back• People in the United States heard of the Soviet space success and

began to cause public controversy out of fear and technological inferiority.

• Eisenhower ordered the “civilian rocket and Satellite project”• So on December 6, 1957, in front of a live television audience, his

project “Vanguard” at Cape Canaveral Florida, resulted in failure. • However, four months after “Sputnik” made it to space, the United

States found success when their civilian satellite “Juno 1” reached space.

What’s Next?

The space race continued on, and their next target was to get alive human safely into space and back. However, once again the soviets won this one as well by getting “Yuri Gagarin” to take orbit around the Earth in the Vostok 1. The date of this astronomical feat was April 12, 1961.

However, next month on May 5, 1961 Alan Shepard became the first American in space, when he was launched on the Mercury-Redstone 3 suborbital mission, in a spacecraft named Freedom 7. Though he did not achieve orbit, unlike Gagarin he was the first person to exercise manual control over his spacecraft's attitude and retro-rocket firing.

• Next Stop…The Moon.• A week after Soviet success of human life in space, president at the

time JFK sent a letter to Vice President Johnson. It simply stated that he wanted to strongly support NASA and the Apollo program. The later he announced and stated to a congress joint session “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.”

• JFk would never get to see his dream for the nation get played out when he was later assassinated in 1963, however, one of his most famous speeches “We chose the Moon” set this action into place…

• “We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

• It is for these reasons that I regard the decision last year to shift our efforts in space from low to high gear as among the most important decisions that will be made during my incumbency in the office of the Presidency”

Joining forces?

• On 20 September 1963, in a speech before the United Nations General Assembly, President Kennedy proposed that the United States and the Soviet Union join forces in their efforts to reach the moon. However, Soviet Russia was mean and declined their little proposition. Weeks later though after the cost calculations began to take place, Soviet Russia had very big regrets.

• They won again?• The Soviet Union achieved another first, with the first dual-piloted

flights, Rostock 3 and Vostock 4 on 11–15 August 1962.The two spacecraft came within 4 miles of one another, close enough for radio communication. The launching of two spacecraft from the same pad during a very short period of time represented a significant accomplishment, however there was no capability for the spacecraft to maneuver closer to each other, and over the course of the mission they continued to drift as 1,770 miles apart.

• The Soviet Union achieved yet another first when it launched not only the first woman, but also the first civilian, in space Valentina Tereshkova, on 16 June 1963, in Vostok 6. Launching a woman was Korolyov's idea, and it was accomplished for propaganda value.

Tereshkova was one of a small corps of female cosmonauts who were amateur parachutists, but Tereshkova was the only one to fly. The USSR didn't send another woman into space until 1982, after the United States' opened its astronaut program to women.

(EVA) or Space Walk “Gone Wrong”

• The mission consisted of two cosmonauts: Pilot Pavel Belyayev and co-Pilot Alexei Leonov. This mission had many problems.

• The first ever spacewalk was performed by Alexei Leonov. The space walk lasted about 20 minutes. Alexei had problems in re-entering the spacecraft because his space suit had enlarged slightly. He had to let air leak out of his space suit in order to squeeze back inside.

• They landed off their target near Perm in the Ural mountains in heavy forest. The crew spent the night in the woods surrounded by wolves before being located. When the ground crew finally located them, it took a day to chop through the forest and recover them on skis.

The American Gemini Project• At the end of Project Mercury, however, the United States had amassed

only two days and six hours in space. It soon became evident that a step was needed before an attempt to go to the Moon could be made. Then, Project Gemini was born. On December 7, 1961, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration NASA announced a plan to extend the piloted spaceflight program by developing a two-person spacecraft. On January 3, 1962, NASA officially named the program Gemini, for the third constellation of the Zodiac and its twin stars, Castor and Pollux.

• • Gemini was planned to perfect the techniques needed for a lunar

mission. Its primary purpose was to demonstrate space rendezvous and docking techniques that would be used during the later Apollo flights to the Moon, when the lunar lander would separate from the command module in orbit around the Moon, then meet up with it again after the astronauts left the lunar surface. Gemini also sought to extend astronauts stays in space to two weeks, longer than even the Apollo missions would require.

Soviet Lunar Program.

• They divided their program into lunar landings and lunar orbits.

• Lunar orbit missions were launched by the “Proton rockets”• Russians were the first to orbit the moon in 1967• However, the Lunar Program for the soviets was short lived

after the Americans took that glory in 1969. In 1970 the Russians appeared defeated by the United States, so they lost interest and cancelled their competitive lunar program.

• The space program isn’t exactly over for the Soviets yet though…

The Apollo ProgramThe Apollo program was designed to land humans on the

Moon and bring them safely back to Earth. Six of the missions (Apollos 11, 12, 14, 15, 16, and 17) achieved this goal. Apollos 7 and 9 were Earth orbiting missions to test the Command and Lunar Modules, and did not return lunar data. Apollos 8 and 10 tested various components while orbiting the Moon, and returned photography of the lunar surface. Apollo 13 did not land on the Moon due to a malfunction, but also returned photographs. The six missions that landed on the Moon returned a wealth of scientific data. Experiments included soil mechanics, meteoroids, seismic, heat flow, lunar ranging, magnetic fields, and solar wind experiments.

America Wins! Lunar Landing!• Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land

on the Moon. The first steps by humans on another planetary body were taken by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969. The astronauts also returned to Earth the first samples from another planetary body. Apollo 11 achieved its main mission to perform a manned lunar landing and return the mission safely to Earth - and paved the way for the Apollo lunar landing missions to follow. Team America is victorious.

Space Race Ends

After America completed a successful lunar landing, the space race ended shortly after, but the Space program didn’t however. It’s still going strong today, but its just not as exciting as it once was. However, the Space Race was very influential during its 15 year time period. It created an era known as the…….

The Space Age!

A World All About Space

People may not realize this, but the 60s actually wasn’t the hippie age. The hippie movement was only in 5 months of the 60s in late 1969. If you correctly analyze the 1960s era, by most historians it is referred to as the Space Age.

Since space ships and research facilities began taking on aerodynamic shapes and used new materials like Titanium and fiber plastic, the society reflected back those ideas because they thought that the new Space Program would have them living in Space in the very near future. They even based a show based off future Space Age concepts called “The Jetsons.”

Architecture-• Achieved futurism standards, houses had

open, multi-leveled, glass-walled, high ceilings, incorporated land features, high tech, modern designed built in furniture, vinyl floors, more bathrooms, “high tech kitchens”, and normally built in carports with automatic doors.

Even Cars!

• Cars like this Cadillac Eldorado, took after streamline design. If you notice the car resembles a space ship, especially with the huge gaudy tailfins on the back. Other cars, not just this one took after space age design.

• Also if you needed to stop to gas in 1966 at Sunco, you might spot a worker wearing a glass bubble resembling a space helmet on his head.

• The Space Age also incorporated its “out of this world” lifestyle into its advertisements. Many companies specializing in high tech electronics took advantage of this Space association. Since the astronauts were using the most high tech gear at the time, they would associate Space like themes to make their products seem more technologically advanced. Here are a few famous Space Age Ads…

One of the most famous Space Age ads by Frigidaire to advertise their new

1966 Fridges.

People dressing like Astronauts and Aliens?

• The Space Age was very influential on the way people dressed as well. People might wear jumpsuits, clear helmets, suits and dresses made out of small mirrors, space cadet uniforms, and large pointed shoulder pads to make them appear as aliens. People wore moon boots like astronauts as well The space age brought forth many frontiers of design such as Andre Courreges who made the most iconic symbol and article of clothing from the time era. He made sunglasses with little tiny slits to see out of, they were large white and round. Similar glasses used for scientific means when observing a solar eclipse were the reason for the design. Overall the Space Age was very influential on what you wore as well.

Iconic Eclipse Sunglasses.

Space Age Furniture

• Everything was very modern and bubble like• Plastic and acrylics along with shiny “Space

Age Silver as they coined it was used.• Famous “Sputnik Lamp” named after the first

satellite in space, was popular hanging over many dinning room tables.

• Eerio Armanio makes Iconic Ball chair and hanging bubble chair out of half spherical bubbles.

I also have some art that I make influenced by the Space Age.

The Space Age gives way to other things.

• In 1969 when we landed on the Moon the Space Age was at its all time high. However, shortly after it declined internationally since the Space Race was over and the space program did not quite continue and change the world like everything previously thought it was going to.

• Also new movements like disco and the hippie era moved into histories spotlight, temporarily leaving the Space Age as that of nostalgia. However, the Space Program continued further on and thanks to this era we are now where we are today.

Far Out!

• In conclusion the American/Soviet Space Race along with the Space Age helped mold the space programs, consumer products, Architecture, and technological advancements we have today. Without these parts of History, the World as we know it would be completely “Alien” to us.

• THE END!!!!