Space Race
The Space Race refers to the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1975, involving their efforts to explore space with satellites and to eventually land a human being on the Moon and return him to Earth. Generically, a space race (uncapitalized) may refer to any competition between two or more states, international organizations, or nongovernmental organizations to advance in space exploration and technology.
Though its roots lie in early rocket technology and in the international tensions following World War II, the Space Race effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957. The term was coined as an analogy to the arms race. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural and technological rivalry between the USSR and the U.S. during the Cold War. Space technology was a particularly important arena in this conflict, both because of its military applications and due to the psychological benefit of raising morale.
Origins
The origins of the Space Race lie in the years after World War II, when the scientists from Germany's V-2 rocket program were absorbed by both the United States and the Soviet Union to work on their national rocketry programs. The U.S. policy of importing German scientists (even those with strong Nazi ties), to prevent the knowledge from falling into the "wrong" hands, was known as Operation Paperclip. These scientists, who had begun the development of ballistic missiles during the V-2 program decades earlier, formed the core of the U.S. team, led by Wernher von Braun.
By the mid-1950s, both countries announced their intention to include space as part of their plans for the future. As the first satellites and living payloads began to be launched, the stated goal was scientific advancement. Modern historians feel that both countries largely used their space programs to showcase the strength of their ideologies: The Soviets used their early successes to sway undecided countries to join the Eastern Bloc, and the USA followed suit.
Early military influences
Though rockets had been of interest to scientists and amateurs since 300 BCE, they were unable to reach altitudes high enough for space travel until the early 20th century. Any "space race" would be inextricably linked to military ambitions of the countries involved, despite its mostly scientific character and peaceful rhetoric. In the 1910s and 1920s the American Robert Goddard performed his work on rocketry in obscurity. Even The New York Times scoffed at Goddard; it took war to catapult rocketry into notoriety.
German contributions
In the mid-1920s, German scientists had begun experimenting with rockets which used liquid propellants capable of reaching relatively high altitudes and distances. A team of amateur rocket engineers had formed the Verein für Raumschiffahrt (German Rocket Society, or VfR) in 1927, and in 1931 launched a liquid propellant rocket (using oxygen and gasoline).
In 1932, the Reichswehr (which in 1935 became the Wehrmacht) began to take an interest in rocketry, seeing the possibility of using rockets as long-range artillery fire. The Wehrmacht initially funded the VfR team, but seeing that their focus was strictly scientific, created its own research team. At the behest of military leaders, Wernher von Braun, at the time a young aspiring rocket scientist, joined the military (followed by two former VfR members) and developed long-range weapons for use in World War II by Nazi Germany, notably the A series of rockets, which led to the infamous V-2 rocket (initially called A4).
In 1943, production of the V-2 rocket began. The V-2 had an operational range of 300 km (185 miles) and carried a 1000 kg (2204 lb) warhead, with an amatol explosive charge. Thousands were fired at various Allied nations, mainly England, as well as Belgium and France. Because of its velocity and angle of attack, the V-2 could not be intercepted, and its effects were devastating, killing 2,754 people in England alone, and wounding another 6,523 until the termination of the launches.
At the end of the war, competing Russian, British, and U.S. military and scientific crews raced to capture technology and trained personnel from the German rocket program at Peenemünde. Russia and Britain had some success, but the United States benefited most, taking a large number of German rocket scientists—many of whom were members of the Nazi Party, including von Braun—from Germany to the United States as part of Operation Paperclip. There the same rockets which would have been destined to rain down on Great Britain had the war continued were used by scientists for other uses.
After the war, rockets were used to study high-altitude conditions, by radio telemetry of temperature and pressure of the atmosphere, detection of cosmic rays, and further research. This continued under von Braun and the others, who were destined to become part of the U.S. scientific complex.
The Cold War and the start of the Space Race
After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union were locked in a bitter Cold War of espionage and propaganda. Space exploration and satellite technology fed into the cold war on both fronts. Satellites could spy on other countries, while space-faring accomplishments could be used as propaganda to tout a country's scientific prowess and military potential. The same rockets that could send a human into orbit or hit a specific spot on the Moon could send an atom bomb to a specific enemy city. Much of the technological development required for space travel applied equally well to wartime rockets, such as ICBMs. Along with other aspects of the arms race (such as the development of nuclear weapons), progress in space was also seen as an indicator of technological and economic prowess, demonstrating the superiority of the ideology of that country. Space research was a dual-use technology: It could be used for peaceful means, but could also contribute to military goals.
When the Russians launched the Sputnik 1 satellite in 1957, the United States was highly troubled. This singular event shocked the nation, causing Americans to believe that they might no longer be the most powerful country. The notion of the Soviets beating the Americans into space, looking down and watching over America (Sputnik was visible as it passed over America) was frightening to some. This fear was exacerbated by continuing Cold War tension.
In America, the Sputnik launch was seen as the USA losing out to a scientifically superior USSR. This spurred a movement to improve scientific education and resulted in an influx of physicists into the American work force and government. It also provoked greater support for expenditures in military funding for scientific research.
The motivation for these American efforts was expressed by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson to President John F. Kennedy as follows:
- In the eyes of the world, first in space means first, period; second in space is second in everything.1
Funding
The huge expenditures and bureaucracy needed to organize successful space exploration led to the creation of national and international space agencies. In addition to the achievements of the United States and the Soviet Union, many other countries developed their own space programs for scientific, militaristic and nationalistic reasons.
The Russian Aviation and Space Agency (RKA) (in Russian: Российское авиационно-космическое агентство) is the current government agency responsible for Russia's space science program and general aerospace research. It was formed after the breakup of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Soviet space program.
On July 29 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When it began operations on October 1 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four laboratories and some 8,000 employees of the government's 46-year-old research agency for aeronautics, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA).
Scientific achievements
The technology of the Space Race involved:
- Spacecraft propulsion, including rocket engines for the successful launch from Earth.
- Space vehicle guidance using the gyroscopic compass, after launch was accomplished.
- Celestial mechanics, such as Wallace J. Eckert's tables for the trajectories needed to travel between the Earth and the Moon.
- Artificial satellites of the earth, which were to advance telecommunications.
- Remote sensing, including optical, infrared and microwave sensors to track the progress of the mission.
- Robotic control, including electronic and mechanical control of the spacecraft.
- Electronic communications, including transistorized circuitry for overall mission control.
The USSR was the undisputed leader in rocketry, even up to the end of the Cold War. The U.S. was superior in electronics, remote sensing, vehicle guidance, and robotic control. Even during the Apollo program, debate continued on the cost-effectiveness of manned space flight, compared to robotic exploration. However, the political symbolism of a human in space won over robotic exploration. After the end of the Apollo program, robotic exploration has continued as of 2004, and is set to culminate (for now) with autonomous van-sized robot landers in 2009.
Timeline (1957-1975)
1Project Vanguard was transferred from the NRL to NASA immediately before launch.
2 The Soviet Union had attempted an earlier rendezvous on August 12, 1962; However, Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were only within five kilometers of one another, and were in different orbital planes. Pravda, however, did not mention this information and indicated that rendezvous had been accomplished.
Artificial satellites
First artificial satellite
On October 4 1957,the USSR successfully launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite in orbit, and the Space Race was underway. Sputnik caused fear and stirred political debate in the United States because of its military and economic implications. Before Sputnik, the average American citizen assumed that the U.S. was superior in all fields of technology. After Sputnik, a huge effort to regain technological supremacy was launched, even to the extent of revamping the school curriculum of the U.S..
Nearly four months after the first Russian satellite was sent into orbit, the first U.S. satellite, Explorer I, was launched. In the interim, there had been a number of embarrassing launch failures at Cape Canaveral. But on January 31 1958, Explorer I discovered the Van Allen radiation belt. While the Soviets were first off the mark, Explorer I was the first satellite to perform a meaningful function.
Satellite communications
The first communications satellite was Project SCORE, launched on December 18 1958, which relayed a Christmas message from President Eisenhower to the world. Other notable examples of satellite communication during (or spawned by) the Space Race include:
- 1972: Anik 1: first Domestic Communications Satellite(Canada)
- 1974: WESTAR: first U.S. Domestic Communications Satellite
- 1976: MARISAT: first mobile communications satellite
Other noteworthy satellites
The first geosynchronous satellite was Syncom-2, launched on July 26 1963, by the U.S. . This success of this class of satellite meant that a simple satellite dish no longer needed to track the orbit of the satellite, as it was geostationary. Henceforth ordinary citizens could use the communications transmissions for television broadcasts, after a one-time setup.
Living creatures in space
Animals in space
Technically, the first animals in space were fruit flies launched by the U.S. on captured German V-2 rockets in 1946. The first animal sent into orbit during the Space Race was a dog, Laika, in Sputnik 2 in 1957 by the USSR. While in any event the technology did not exist at the time to recover Laika after her flight, she is thought to have died of oxygen delivery failure soon after reaching space. In 1960 the Russian dogs Belka and Strelka orbited the earth and successfully returned. The first animals to fly around the Moon were Soviet turtles on Zond 5.
Humans in space
Yuri Gagarin became the first successful cosmonaut when he entered orbit in Russia's Vostok 1 on April 12 1961. This day is still celebrated as a holiday in Russia and other countries from the former USSR, along with some other European and Asian countries. Alan Shepherd first entered space for the U.S. shortly thereafter, and John Glenn later became the first American to successfully orbit Earth, on April 12 1962.
The first dual manned flight was also by the USSR, August 11-15, 1962. The first flight with more than one crew member was the USSR's Voskhod 1, launched on October 12 1964. This was also the first flight in which the crew did not wear spacesuits.
Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman in space on June 16 1963, on a flight launched by the USSR. The first spacewalk was performed by Aleksei Leonov from Voskhod 2, which was launched by the USSR on March 18 1965.
Lunar missions
Though the achievements made by the US and the USSR brought great pride to their respective nations, the Space Race would continue at least until the first human walked on the moon. Before this could be done, unmanned spacecraft had to first explore the moon by photography and demonstrate their ability to land safely on it.
Unmanned missions
The Soviet Luna program reached several milestones first in this next segment of the competition. Luna 1, launched on January 4 1959, was the first spacecraft to fly by the moon, and was also the first artificial satellite of the sun. Its successor, Luna 2, was the first spacecraft on the moon, while Luna 3 took the first photos of the far side of the moon on October 7 1959. The first "soft landing" on the moon was by Luna 9, launched by the USSR on February 3 1966, and the first spacecraft to orbit the moon was Luna 10 on April 3 1966.
The robotic Surveyor program was part of the American effort to determine where it was safe for a human to land on the moon. Five of its seven missions were successful, helping to find the best target for the Apollo astronauts. The first manned orbit of the moon was completed by Apollo 8 on December 27 1968, and the first human landing on the moon followed, by Apollo 11 on July 20 1969.
First human on the moon
While the Soviets beat the Americans to most of the Space Race's early "firsts", they failed to beat the U.S. Apollo program to land a man on the moon. The U.S. moon exploration program was conceived during the Eisenhower administration, but was discarded because the President thought the operation too expensive and with little potential for scientific or military reward.
After the early Soviet successes, especially Gagarin's flight, President Kennedy was keen to find an American project that might capture the public imagination. Kennedy seized upon the Apollo project as the ideal focus for American efforts in space. He ensured continuing funding, shielding space spending from the 1963 tax cut and diverting money from other NASA projects. This dismayed NASA's leader, James E. Webb, who urged support for other scientific work.
In conversation with Webb, Kennedy said:
- Everything we do ought to really be tied in to getting on to the moon ahead of the Russians [...] otherwise we shouldn't be spending that kind of money, because I'm not interested in space [...] The only justification for [the cost] is because we hope to beat [the USSR] to demonstrate that instead of being behind by a couple of years, by God, we passed them.2.
Whatever was said in private, a different message was needed to gain public support. Later in 1963, Kennedy asked Vice President Johnson to investigate the possible technological and scientific benefits of a moon mission. For the program to succeed, it would have to defeat criticism from politicians on the left, who wanted more money spent on social programs , and on the right, who favored a more military project. By emphasising the scientific payoff, and playing on fears of Soviet space dominance, Kennedy and Johnson managed to swing public opinion: By 1965, 58 percent of Americans were in favor of Apollo, up from 33 percent two years earlier. When Johnson became President, his continuing defense of the program allowed it to succeed in 1969, as Kennedy had originally hoped.
Meanwhile, the USSR was more ambivalent about going to the moon. Soviet leader Nikita Krushchev was unwilling to be "defeated" by any other power, but was equally unwilling to be drawn into such an expensive project. In October 1963, he said that the USSR was "not at present planning flight by cosmonauts to the moon", qualifying this statement with his insistence that they had not dropped out of the race. It would be another year before the USSR would fully commit to a moon landing attempt.
At the same time, various joint programs had been suggested by Kennedy, including a possible moon landing by Soviet and American astronauts, and the development of better weather-monitoring satellites. Krushchev, sensing an attempt by Kennedy to steal superior Russian space technology, rejected the idea: If the USSR went to the moon, it would go alone.
While unmanned Soviet probes did reach the moon before any U.S. craft, American Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the lunar surface, after landing in July of 1969. Commander of the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong was accompanied by command module pilot Michael Collins and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin in an event watched by millions of people around the world. The lunar landing is widely recognised as one of the defining moments of the 20th century, and Armstrong's words on his first touching the moon's surface are similarly memorable:
That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind.
Unlike other international rivalries, the Space Race has not been directly influenced by the desire for territorial expansion. After its successful landings on the Moon, the U.S. explicitly disclaimed the right to ownership of any part of the Moon.
Some conspiracy theorists still insist that the lunar landing was a hoax. These Apollo moon landing hoax accusations flourish in part because, while many enthusiasts predicted that moon landings would become commonplace, this has not become the case.
Other successes
Missions to other planets
The first spacecraft to fly by Venus was the Mariner 2, sent by the U.S. on December 14 1962. Mariner 4, launched in 1965 by the U.S., was the first to fly by Mars, and the U.S also sent Pioneer 10 on a successful fly by of Jupiter in 1973.
In 1974 the U.S. launched Mariner 10, which became the first, and so far the only, spacecraft to fly by Mercury. The U.S. also recorded the first flyby of Saturn in 1979 with Pioneer 11, and the first and only flybys of Uranus and Neptune with Voyager 2.
The first spacecraft to land on Venus was the USSR's Venera 7, launched in 1971. It was only one in the long Venera series; several other previous Venera spacecraft performed flyby and attempted landing missions. Seven other Venera landers followed. The first spacecraft on Mars was Mars 3, also launched in 1971 by the USSR.
Launches and docking
The first space rendezvous was between Gemini 6 and Gemini 7, both U.S. craft, on December 15 1965. Their successor, Gemini 8, performed the first space docking on March 16 1968. The first automatic space docking was performed by the USSR's Cosmos-186 and Cosmos-188 on October 30 1967.
The first launch from the sea was Scout B, on April 26 1967, by the U.S.. The first space station was Salyut 1, on June 7 1971, by the USSR, while their Mir became the first modular space station in 1986.
The "end" of the Space Race
Most hotly contested during the 1960s, the Space Race continued apace through the Apollo moon landing of 1969. At this point, American space science turned to new arenas, such as Skylab and the Space Shuttle. Many Americans would claim that by first landing a man on the moon they had won this unofficial "race". Soviet scientists meanwhile pushed ahead with their own projects, and would likely not have conceded anything like defeat. In any event, as the Cold War cooled and as other nations began to develop their own space programs, the notion of a continuing "race" between the two superpowers became less real. The most definitive "end" to the Space Race might be considered to be the joint Soviet-American Apollo-Soyuz mission of 1975.
The legacy of the Space Race
Technology and especially aerospace engineering advanced greatly during this period. "Space age technology" extended to fields as diverse as home economics and forest defoliation study.
Deaths
In the United States, three astronauts from Apollo 1 died in a fire during a ground test on January 27, 1967. They were Command Pilot Virgil Grissom, Senior Pilot Edward White, and Pilot Roger Chaffee.
The Soviet Union's Soyuz 1 and Soyuz 11 resulted in cosmonaut deaths. Soyuz 1 was launched into orbit on April 23 1967, carrying a single cosmonaut, Colonel Vladimir Mikhailovich Komarov, who was killed when the spacecraft crashed after return to Earth. In 1971, Soyuz 11's cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Viktor Patsayev, and Vladislav Volkov were asphyxiated during re-entry. American telemetry has recorded other deaths (based on loss of their telemetered vital signs in spaceflight) which were unannounced by the Soviet Union.
Notable scientists
Wernher von Braun, who moved to the United States after World War II, became the best known and the most important designer in the NASA space program. His counterpart in the Soviet Union was Sergei Korolev, the chief engineer whose designs included the R-7 rocket which sent Sputnik 1 into orbit, and the N-1, designed to launch cosmonauts to the Moon.
The Avro team typifies the American aerospace industry's efforts during the Space Race. California was a particularly important aerospace host. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory at Caltech in the Los Angeles area still manages space missions.
See also: List of spacecraft manufacturers
Recent developments
Recent timeline
| Date | First Success | Country | Mission Name |
|---|---|---|---|
| April 12 1981 | Reusable manned spacecraft | File:Us flag large.png USA-NASA | STS-1 |
| June 13 1983 | Extra-solar system spacecraft | File:Us flag large.png USA-NASA | Pioneer 10 |
| September 11 1985 | Comet probe | File:Us flag large.png USA-NASA | International Cometary Explorer |
| April 28 2001 | Space tourist | File:Russia flag large.png Russia File:Us flag large.png USA | Soyuz TM-32 |
| June 21 2004 | Privately developed manned spacecraft | File:Us flag large.png USA-MAV | SpaceShipOne 15P |
Reusable spacecraft
The first reusable spacecraft (space shuttle) was launched by the USA on the 20th anniversary of Gagarin's flight, April 12 1981. The first (and so far only) automatic reusable spacecraft was Buran, launched by the USSR on November 15 1988.
Additional "space races"
Space tourism
A second "space race", the competition to run the first commercial trips into orbit, culminated in a bilateral result. On April 28 2001 American Dennis Tito became the first fee-paying space tourist when he visited the International Space Station on board Russia's Soyuz TM-32.
In recent years, numerous companies have looked into the viability of sending further tourists into space, realising the potential for a whole new area of tourism. However, since the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster of February 1 2003, both public and commercial interest has lessened due to concern over the safety of space flight.
The Ansari X Prize, a competition for private suborbital spaceships, has also been called the new space race. It is expected to promote a wider interest in space travel.
In late 2004, American aviator-financier Richard Branson announced the launch of Virgin Galactic company, which will use SpaceShipOne technology. They hope to launch commercial flights by 2008.
America vs. China?
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In 2003, with the successful manned space flight of Shenzhou 5 by the People's Republic of China, there has been speculation of a new space race. Their "opponent" would be the United States, which is considering creating a permanent base on the Moon, a manned mission to Mars, or both.
Notes
- 1 letter from Johnson written to Kennedy on April 28,1961
- 2 from a tape recording in the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library
See also
- Category:Celestial mechanics
- Category:Lunar spacecraft
- Category:Space
- Category:Spacecraft
- Category:Spacecraft propulsion
- Category:Space exploration
References
- An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963, Robert Dallek (2003). ISBN 0-316172-38-3
- Arrows to the Moon: Avro's Engineers and the Space Race , Chris Gainor (2001). ISBN 1-896522-83-1
- Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon, Colin Burgess, Kate Doolan, Bert Vis (2003). ISBN 0803262124
- Light This Candle : The Life & Times of Alan Shepard--America's First Spaceman, Neal Thompson (2004). ISBN 0609610015
- The New Columbia Encyclopedia, Col.Univ.Press (1975)
- The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe (pbk ed. 2001). ISBN 0553381350 ISBN 0613916670
- Russia in Space: The Failed Frontier?, Brian Harvey (2001). ISBN 1852332034
- The Soviet Space Race With Apollo, Asif A. Siddiqi (2003). ISBN 0813026288
- Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft, Rex Hall, David J. Shayler (2003). ISBN 1852336579
- Space for Women: A History of Women With the Right Stuff, Pamela Freni (2002). ISBN 1931643121
- Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge, Asif A. Siddiqi (2003). ISBN 081302627X
- Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles, Roger E. Bilstein (2003). ISBN 0813026911
- Yeager: An Autobiography, Chuck Yeager (1986). ISBN 0553256742
External links
- CORE/NSF Arrows to the Moon synopsis
- Artwork representing the cold war in space
- Space Race Exhibition at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
- TheSpaceRace.com – Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs
- Timeline of the Space Race to the Moon 1960 - 1969
- 570Kb PDF file containing a scan of a letter from Wernher Von Braun to Vice President Johnson, dated 29 April 1961, responding to a memorandum from President Kennedy to Johnson. Von Braun provides a personal assessment(rather than an official view in his then-capacity as director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center) of United States and Soviet capability. The analysis includes the opinion that the U.S. has "an excellent chance" of beating the Russians to a manned lunar landing, adding "with an all-out crash programme I think we could accomplish this objective in 1967/68."
- Communications Satellites article by NASA