U.S./ Soviet Space Race?

Question

What was the first thing launched by U.S. into space, during this race? What happend after that?

Answer 1

Here is what happened in short!

The space race started in 1957 between USSR and USA when the Russians launched Sputnik 1. American was freaked out (because they thought that the Russians might actually kick their ***) so Eisenhower created NASA among other things. Four months after Sputnik, USA launches Explorer 1. Remember, that even though the race had militaristic purposes and the public supported it because of national pride on both sides, both of these satellites were used purely for scientific purposes.

For the first living creatures in space, US launched dogs into the captured V-2 rockets in 1946. The Russians were the first ones to launch living beings on their own. They launched a dog in 1957 in Sputnik 2 but technology did not exist to retrieve it so it died. They launched two more dogs later on in 1960 who orbited the Earth and returned. The Russians also sent turtles to fly around the moon in Zond 5 in 1968. The Russians also sent the first human in space who was Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961 on Vostok 1 in 1962. The first dual-manned mission was also Russian and the first woman in space was also Russian. The Russians beat us to a launch with a multiple-personnel crew which did not have to wear space suits. The Russians also did the first space walk in 1965. The Russians were the first to reach the vicinity of the moon in 1959 and also to land a probe on the moon later in 1959. The Russians also beat us to both Venus and Mars in 1960. The landed first on Venus too in 1971.

So as you can see, the Russians clearly kicked our behind in the Space Race. The only exception is Neil Armstrong landing on the moon first but that only happened because of USSR officially announcing that they were not concerned with putting a man on the moon.

Answer 2

The first attempted launch was Vanguard 1 in 1957. It blew up before it cleared the pad, so Sputnik became the first manmade object in space. America quickly put a new payload and rocket together and launched Explorer 1, just to keep up. But the USSR kept managing to stay a few steps ahead. Laika, the dog, was the first animal in space. Yuri Gagarin was the first human to orbit the Earth. First space walk, first woman in space, all were accomplished by the Soviets, as the Americans struggled to keep pace.

Secrecy was a big part of the Soviet propaganda campaign, as they aggressively, even recklessly, strove to show their space superiority. We only heard about the successes, not the failures. America's space missions were transparent, conducted in real time, warts and all. Any setback or disaster drew criticism and demoralized the program.

But unlike the Russian effort, the American program had clearly understood objectives. Each of the Mercury / Gemini / Apollo milestones were passed in order, and the setbacks were overcome. At some point, Soviet muscle, or perhaps money, fell short. They couldn't put a reliable vehicle together that could get cosmonauts to escape velocity. They never admitted abandoning the effort, so America still dilligently pursued the original goal, orbiting, testing docking and descent maneuvers, and eventually landing safely on the Moon.

Answer 3

The first satellite was Explorer 1 in 1958. I'm not sure what yo mean by what happened after that but, there were a series of launches that included a dog and a monkey. Everybody realized pretty quickly that the next big thing to do was to get a man in space. So, both sides focused on launches that were either proving out the rockets needed or were returning information about how space affected living things.

Answer 4

The last sentence of the Brain's response is wrong. the USSR gave up on the moon race because their answer to the Saturn V rocket was a big failure. It blew up on the launch pad and that was the end of the rocket and the launch site.

Their rocket had 32 engines, as opposed to just 5 huge ones in the Saturn V. That caused immense problems in getting them into synchonisation. Just a couple off the mark here and there will send the thing off on a wrong course.

That is why they gave up. They did not have a viable launch vehicle that had the fuel and power to take men to the moon.

Answer 5

We put up many suborbital flights before launching the explorer satellites. There were more satellites followed by manned launches in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs as well as a number of probes All but the first two Mercury flights at least achieved orbit ...

Try here

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race

Answer 6

Well the U.S. made many attempts to stay up with the Soviets in the space race. The soviets put a man in orbit first and also put the first satiellete in orbit. We hadn't even put a man in orbit when we acutally landed on the moon. America did awesome on that.