Along with the ideological confrontations between the United States and Soviet Union (democracy and communism) during the Cold War, there was a competition for technological superiority between the two superpowers. The race into space (space exploration) was a tool to exert this supremacy and was seen as a necessity for national security. Below are some significant events surrounding the Space Race. Text written in blue signify accomplishments of the United States and red signify those of the Soviet Union.
President John F. Kennedy made a special address to Congress on Urgent National Needs and asked Congress to dedicate 7 to 9 billion dollars to the space program. The United States, he declared, needed “to take a clearly leading role in space achievement” and “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.” The mission was clear: the United States must go to the moon.
President Kennedy made this request one month after the Soviet Union had sent the first man into space. The Soviet success suggested that the United States was falling behind in the arms race and fueled new tensions between the two nations entwined in a bitter Cold War. Space was the latest theater for battling the Cold War and provided an opportunity for the United States to promote leadership and demonstrate the technological advances of a free and democratic society. In order to do that, the United States needed to reach the moon before the Soviet Union.
President Kennedy made this request one month after the Soviet Union had sent the first man into space. The Soviet success suggested that the United States was falling behind in the arms race and fueled new tensions between the two nations entwined in a bitter Cold War. Space was the latest theater for battling the Cold War and provided an opportunity for the United States to promote leadership and demonstrate the technological advances of a free and democratic society. In order to do that, the United States needed to reach the moon before the Soviet Union.