Space Race
Introduction:Americans in Space
“We have vowed that we shall see space filled not with weapons of mass destruction,
but with instruments of knowledge and understanding" (President Kennedy, April 1962)
Against the backdrop of the Cold War conflict, a new kind of rivalry took shape in the early 1960s between the United States and the Soviet Union. During this time, secret eyes in space were constantly spying to determine potential targets and any warnings of attack.However, the launch of Sputnik came as a surprise. The Russians appeared to be ahead in the so-called "race for space" as they followed their launching of the first satellite, Sputnik, in 1957 with the history-making flight of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in April 1961. The following month, Alan Shepard became the first U.S. astronaut in space in a fifteen-minute sub-orbital flight. Three weeks later, President Kennedy called for the landing of an American on the moon by the end of the decade as he sought a major mobilization of the nation's resources to catch up with and surpass the U.S.S.R. in the space race. By February 20, 1962, when John Glenn returned safely after orbiting the earth three times aboard Friendship 7, the U.S. space program clearly had moved into high gear.(JFK Library).
The Russians were ahead in the Space Race from 1957 through the early 1960’s largely due to the United States concentrating on bombs rather than rocket technology.The space race was part of a larger competition involving not only the arms race, but also a competition between communism and democracy.You have already studied various aspects of the Cold War and should be familiar with the Marshall Plan, the Truman Doctrine, the Berlin Airlift, the Iron Curtain, the Domino Theory, the Korean War and the Cuban Missile Crisis.Through your studies of Cold War events, the arms race seems of logical importance.What many of us often don’t realize is that a rocket able to carry a bomb across the globe also could be used to loft machines and men into orbit. The United States and the Soviet Union thus engaged in a long competition to develop rockets for both warfare and the exploration of space.The rockets for warfare were secret; however, any successes in the space race were made very public.By recognizing that the race for space was indeed a race to prove the global power and superiority of the U.S. over the Soviet Union, we can then begin to formulate our own ideas as to why the space race was such a public campaign.At the end of the lesson, you should be able to compare the space race to the arms race and understand the competition with the United States and the U.S.S.R extended into many different areas other than just arms.
The documents below provide us with information on the status of the U.S. space program in 1961 and reasons why it was so important.By reading these documents, you will be able to formulate theories as to why the space race was so important, as well as appreciate the value of a primary source (hopefully).In addition, you will see the process that goes into the president’s decisions.
#1: Analyze the following documents three documents.Write at least 5 conclusions that you have made from reading the documents.
- Telegram to Premier Khrushchev, April 12, 1961
Read President Kennedy's telegram congratulating the Soviet Union on the first manned space flight, April 12, 1961. - Memorandum to Vice President Johnson, April 20, 1961
Read President Kennedy's Memorandum, instructing Vice President Johnson to evaluate the U.S. space program. - Vice President Johnson's response, April 28, 1961
Read Vice President Johnson's discussion of the importance and status of the U.S. space program.
Five conclusions:
*
*
*
*
*
What is the main difference between what President Kennedy says in the telegram and
what he says in the memo in terms of how the Americans and the Soviets should explore
outer space?
#2. Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961
Read and listen to an excerpt of President Kennedy's speech in which he establishes the goal of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. Delivered in person before a joint session of Congress.
Start at 30:55 and end around 36:50.
#3. Correspondence between Myer Feldman and 13 year-old Mary Lou Reitler
Read the letter that Mary Lou Reitler wrote to President Kennedy asking him why the United States was spending so much money on the space program, as well as the response she received from Myer Feldman (writing on behalf of President Kennedy).