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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Space Race was a technological and ideological competition between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (USA) for supremacy in outer-space exploration during the mid-to-late 20th century. The term refers to a specific period in human history, 1957-1975, and does not include subsequent efforts by these or other nations to explore space. The race involved pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, sub-orbital and orbital human spaceflight around the earth, and piloted voyages to the Moon.
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Space Race | |||||
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Part of the Cold War | |||||
The Space Race closes with the joint Apollo-Soyuz Test Project mission in 1975 | |||||
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Belligerents | |||||
United States | Soviet Union | ||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||
James E. Webb Robert R. Gilruth Wernher Von Braun Christopher Kraft George Low Thomas O. Paine Samuel C. Phillips |
Sergey Korolyov Vladimir Chelomey Vasily Mishin Nikolai Kamanin Valentin Glushko |
The Space Race era during the Cold War, with its origins in the missile-based arms race between these nations that arose just after the end of the Second World War; with both sides capturing advanced German rocket technology and personnel. It was motivated by the desire to display scientific and technological superiority, which translated into military strength. It effectively began with the Soviet launch of theSputnik 1 artificial satellite on 4 October 1957, and concluded with the co-operative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project human spaceflight mission in July 1975 as a symbol of the détente between the USA and USSR. In between, it became a focus of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the two nations. It provided spin-off benefits including unprecedented increases in education funding, and spending on pure research and development that accelerated technological and scientific advancements. An unintended effect was that it also was partially responsible for the birth of the environmental movement, as this was the first time in history that humans came to see their home-world as it really was – when the first colour pictures from space showed a fragile blue planet bordered by the blackness of space.