The beginning of space race
Space exploration is the investigation of physical conditions in space and on stars, planets, and other celestial bodies through the use of artificial satellites (spacecraft orbiting the earth), space probes (spacecraft that pass through the solar system and that may or may not orbit another celestial body), and spacecraft with human crews. The Space Race was a heated competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, as each side tried to match or better the other's accomplishments in exploring outer space. It involved the efforts to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send man into space, and to land him on the Moon.
The Space Race effectively began after the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. The term originated as an analogy to the arms race. The Space Race became an important part of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War. Space technology became a particularly important arena in this conflict, because of both its potential military applications and the morale-boosting social benefits. After the Second World War, the US and the USSR, once wartime allies, became involved in a Cold War (1945–91) of espionage and propaganda. The United States defence strategy included a large air-refuelable, strategic bomber air force and advance bases in countries close to Soviet airspace. Having neither an equivalent air force, nor analogous advance bases near the continental United States, the USSR countered with long-range rockets and missiles.
On July 29, 1957, in recognition of the 1957-1958 International Geophysical Year, the White House announced that the U.S. intended to launch satellites by the spring of 1958. This became known as Project Vanguard. On July 31, the Soviets announced that they intended to launch a satellite by the fall of 1957. On 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union successfully launched Sputnik 1 into space, the first artificial satellite to orbit the Earth, thus beginning the Space Race and making the USSR the first space power. A month later, the USSR successfully orbited Sputnik 2, with the first living passenger, a dog named Laika.
In the Soviet Union, a country recovering from a devastating war, the launch of Sputnik and the following program of space exploration were met with great interest from the public. It was also important and encouraging for Soviet citizens to see the proof of technical prowess in the new era. But nearly four months after the launch of Sputnik 1, the United States successfully launched its first satellite, Explorer 1, with an alternate program on an accelerated schedule, becoming the second "space power". Within a year, the United States Congress passed the legislation creating NASA. When it began operations on 1 October 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four laboratories and some 8,000 employees of the government's 46-year-old research agency for aeronautics.
Apart from their political value as technological achievements, these first satellites had real scientific value. Sputnik helped to determine the density of the upper atmosphere, through measurement from the ground of the satellite's orbital changes. It also provided data on radio-signal distribution in the ionosphere. Pressurized nitrogen, in the satellite's body, provided the first opportunity for meteoroid detection. If a meteoroid penetrated the satellite's outer hull, it would be detected by the temperature data sent back to Earth. Engineering and biological data from Sputnik 2 and the dog Laika were transmitted back to Earth. Two photometers were on board for measuring solar radiation (ultraviolet and x-ray emissions) and cosmic rays.
Explorer 1 flight data led to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt by James Van Allen, considered one of the outstanding discoveries of the International Geophysical Year. The first animal to orbit the earth, the dog Laika (in English, "Barker"), traveled in the Soviet Union's Sputnik 2 in 1957. The dog was not meant to be returned back to Earth, and died five to seven hours after launch from overheating and stress. In 1960 Soviet space dogs Belka and Strelka orbited the earth and successfully returned.
The U.S. space program imported chimpanzees from Africa and sent at least two into space before launching their first human orbiter. The Soviet Union launched tortoises, flies, and mealworms in 1968 on Zond 5, which became the first animals to fly around the Moon. The Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space when he entered orbit in the Soviet Union's Vostok 1 on April 12, 1961, a day now celebrated as a holiday in Russia and in many other countries. He orbited the Earth for 108 minutes. Twenty-three days later, in the Mercury capsule Freedom 7, Alan Shepard became the first American in space. Though he did not achieve orbit, unlike Gagarin he was able to exercise manual control of his spacecraft's altitude and retro-rocket firing. On 20 February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, completing three orbits in Friendship 7. His capability of manual altitude control became crucial when the automatic system failed.
Technology, especially in aerospace engineering and electronic communication, advanced greatly during this period. The effects of the Space Race, however, went far beyond rocketry, physics, and astronomy. "Space age technology" extended to fields as diverse as home economics and forest defoliation studies, and the push to win the race changed the very ways in which students learned science. Today over a thousand artificial satellites orbit earth, relaying communications data around the planet and facilitating remote sensing of data on weather, vegetation, and human movements to nations who employ them. In addition, much of the micro-technology which fuels everyday activities from time-keeping to enjoying music derives from research initially driven by the Space Race.