Space Race

Around the period of the launch of Sputnik America and Russia were interlocked in the cold war. The two nations were very competitive with each other. When Russia launched Sputnik, it had many implications for the two nations. It was a way for Russia to exert power of the United States. They were advancing faster than the U.S. It was much more than simply about space travel, it gave the impression that Russia was smarter, more powerful, and also superior to the U.S. This was not a place the U.S. wanted Russia to be in, especially given the cold war era. The U.S. then decided it was time to focus their goals and to develop a space program that could surpass the Russian program. The U.S. decided to allocate funds to the space programs and NASA was formed. This push was all it took to increase the funds and technology to get a person in to space just a few years later. In 1969, America became the first nation to put a man on the moon. This space race began with Russian’s launch of Sputnik.