Index The Cold War Race Taking People into Space The Apollo Victory Other Contributions Humanity has experienced many periods in which science and technology have progressed significantly significant in conjunction with certain world events. One of the most significant and influential, which ultimately brought the first men to the Moon, was the space race. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Cold War Race The Space Race was basically a major competition between the United States and the former Soviet Union that pitted nations against each other in their advancements in aeronautics and space travel, including the sending satellites, probes and, ultimately, humans into space. Much of the Cold War was ongoing between these two countries, in which they attempted to strengthen each other in all aspects of development due to differences in their governments' beliefs, with the United States favoring a capitalist and democratic approach while the Soviets in favor of a communist regime. The Cold War was a manifestation of the power struggle and arms race that occurred after the end of World War II between the two major powers of the time. It finally began when Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite, was launched by the Soviets in 1957, with subsequent launches of Sputnik II and III within the next two years. Sputnik I represented not only an advance in space travel, but was also a demonstration of military might, as this satellite was also a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile. The US Eisenhower administration raised a sense of anxiety that the Soviets were rapidly overtaking the United States in terms of progress and that the nation was in danger of being overwhelmed by a nuclear warhead that could make its way through US airspace . Taking People into SpaceIn response to this, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which continues to this day, was founded in 1958 as the agency responsible for advancing space research and aeronautics, particularly with the civil space program. In December of the same year, they assimilated the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of the California Institute of Technology. Regarding the development of space technology for military defense, the Advanced Research Projects Agency was also established. That year saw the launch of the US-made Explorer I, created under the direction of Wernher von Braun, a rocket scientist. Then, a year later, the Soviet space program managed to send the first space probe to crash on the Moon, Luna 2. Both NASA and the Soviet space program had the goal of bringing a human being off the Earth's surface and into the its orbit. The Soviets were the first to achieve this, with Yuri Gagarin entering Earth orbit in 1961 aboard Vostok I, a spacecraft meant to be inhabited by a single person. Alan Shepard for the United States followed suit about a month later, traveling around the Earth in a 15-minute suborbital trip, and John Glenn reached Gagarin's level of orbit in 1962. Apollo VictoryThe Apollo program was finally announced by John F. Kennedy to be able to realize the dream of being the nation that put the first man on the Moon, and the administration promised it would do so by the end of the 1960s, according to Khan Academy.org. The program increased NASA's budget by 500% from 1961 to 1964. They employed approximately 34 thousand people in the NASA program and had approximately 375 thousand contractors.