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Intro
Hello there! My name is David. This is a timeline of the Space Race, in a nutshell. Just so you know, this is not a list of everything that happened. This is just the biggest and most important events in the Space Race. -
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1, a Russian satellite was launched. Sputnik was the first artificial satellite. Sputnik means traveler in Russian. It is ball shaped and has four antennae on its sides. Big first for the Soviets! -
Sputnik 2
The second satellite is launched. It's is cleverly named Sputnik 2. In it was a dog named Laika. Laika was a stray dog from Moscow. Laika was the first dog in space! There is a memorial of Laika in Moscow, the capital of Russia. -
Explorer 1
Time for America! Explorer 1 is the first satellite that the Americans launched. It was launched about 4 months after Sputnik 1. Let's see if the Americans can catch up in the Space Race. -
NASA is founded
In 1958 the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, short for NASA, was founded. It was created to try to beat the Russians to space. The Russians had already launched Sputnik 1 and Sputnik 2, which made America nervous so they made NASA. -
Period: to
NASA's Budget Grows
In 1961 to 1964 there was a dramatic increase in budget for NASA. The heat from the space race made people increase NASA's budget. NASA grew in size. -
Yuri Gagarin
In 1961, a Russian man named Yuri Gagarin, became the first man to enter space. He traveled in the shuttle known as Vostok 1. When he came back down to Earth, he instantly got worldwide fame and was heralded as hero to the Soviet Union. -
Alan Shepard
A month after Yuri Gagarin and Vostok 1, America launched Freedom 7. In Freedom 7, was a man named Alan Shepard. After that Alan became the first American in space. -
JFK's Moon Speech
Following Alan Shepard's launch, JFK, the president at the time, made a speech about sending a man to the moon. He said America would be the first to land a man on the moon. He also said America would do it by the end of the decade. -
Project Apollo
After JFK's speech about the Moon, he launched the Apollo Program. The program's goal was to get a man on the moon. There was Project Gemini, which was to get the required resources for the Apollo Program. -
Valentina Tereshkova
In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, a Russian woman was launched into space. She became the first woman in space. She was aboard the ship called Vostok 6. This would take America twenty years to launch a woman into space! -
Sergei Korolev
On January 14, 1966, chief engineer Sergei Korolev, died. This was a major reason for the Soviets losing the Space Race, because Sergei Korolev was a brilliant engineer and was incredibly intelligent. -
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was launched in 1967 and was a tragedy. A fire started and swept through the command module. The command module, if you didn't know, is where all the astronauts are. It was bad. There were three astronauts and they all died. It took eighteen months and extensive redesigns to launch another rocket. -
Apollo 8
In 1968, Apollo 8 was launched. Apollo 8 was a mission to orbit the moon and back. It was a success and the crew were the first to see and photograph an earthrise! It's basically like a sunrise, but it's the Earth instead. -
Apollo 11
Ah, the moon landing. In 1969 Neil Armstrong went to the moon. Neil Armstrong, if you didn't know, was the first person to get to walk on the moon and get back to Earth. It wasn't just Neil on the mission, There were two other astronauts. Their names were Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. The moon landing heralded the end of the Space Race. -
Conclusion
Finally, the end. The Space Race is over and there's not much left to say. All the links I used for research and pictures are in the credits. Sorry for having to make three credits. I had fit in a lot of links. -
Credits 1
Research:
https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/space-race
https://www.space.com/space-race.html
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/explorer/explorer-overview.html
https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1959-014A
https://www.space.com/11772-president-kennedy-historic-speech-moon-space.html
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/mercury_mission.html
https://www.history.com/topics/space-exploration/moon-landing-1969
https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/laika-monument -
Credits 2
More Research:
https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/Why_We_29.html
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Yuri-Gagarin
https://www.space.com/17385-alan-shepard-first-american-in-space.html
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/what-was-apollo-program-58.html
Pics:
https://tinyurl.com/y2mp6joj
https://tinyurl.com/y5slrmug
https://tinyurl.com/yxp69lyn
https://tinyurl.com/y55tll6u
https://tinyurl.com/y4znmwzx
https://tinyurl.com/y37fnf7f -
