Cold War: The Space Race and its' Significance.

The Space Race was a result of years of deep mistrust and despite between the U.S and the U.S.S.R, and the deep international conflicts that had occurred. The superpowers had been rivals for decades, and had always been mistrustful and suspicious towards one another. This mistrust was based on political, moral and economic beliefs that were engraved into both systems that could be traced back since the Russian civil war in 1919. Communism and capitalism were mutual enemies. For communism to succeed, it saw the need to eradicate capitalism to liberate the oppressed and rid of the corrupt. Whilst capitalism saw liberty and free market, threatened by communism. Both systems had been constantly seeking ways to gain the upper hand. Such was seen when both competed in developing nuclear arms, and later the competition of excelling in space flight.

With both superpowers having developed nuclear weapons by the end of the 1960's, if both were to utilize these weapons, nuclear exchange would be devastating. The superpowers would not only destroy one another but the entire world, causing Mutually Assured Destruction. As a consequence the Cold War and the competition between the U.S and U.S.S.R had to be played out in other ways. A great example of this, is the sponsorship of third world countries as satellite states, such as North Korea, South Korea, Vietnam and Afghanistan. It was a way of putting those countries in important strategic positions, and establishing spheres of influence. In this sense the space race was similar as it provided another means which the superpowers could compare and compete without direct military conflict. The space race would help prove the superiority and prestige of both system.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first man made satellite into orbit. It circled the Earth every hour and a half, circling the United States 7 times a day. Sputnik had a profound effect on citizens and governments all over the world, especially the United States because it indicated a major Soviet advancement in technology. The Soviets capitalized on it's success, insisting that Sputnik was a symbol of communist superiority over the West. The reactions that followed in America include both astonishment and a deep measure of fear because the Americans had thought they were more advanced than the Soviets, in terms of technology and now the Soviets had achieved what no one knew was possible of doing. At that present time, no one knew what Sputnik I was capable of doing, all they knew was there was an enemy satellite streaking across their sky, this fear was fueled when less than a month later, the Soviets launched Sputnik II, this time with the company of a dog.

Initially, Sputnik I was dismissed by President Eisenhower as a~irrelevant' because it wasn't a weapon. On the other hand Khrushchev directly linked the success of Sputnik to their ICBM technology. He harnessed on the fear of ICBMs as a bargaining chip, this was seen earlier on November 1956, when Khrushchev threatened Britain and France to withdraw their forces with ICBMs. Britain and France conformed, Khrushchev would concluded that missiles would become an important strategy for the Soviets. Even though Khrushchev claimed on many occasions that Soviet ICBM missiles were "coming out like sausages" and were capable of any target in America and Europe, it was actually quite the contrary. The Soviets had fewer ICBMs than boasted and the ICBMs were unreliable at delivering warheads. Khrushchev had on many occasions "threatened with missiles [that he] didn't have." (Sergei Khrushchev). The launch of Sputnik was highly significant in Khrushchev's a~rocket-rhetoric'. It provided evidence of Soviet missile strength which the West started to question, in effect it proved that Soviet ICBMs worked. It was clear to the United States political leaders which had earlier doubted Soviet missile strength: that if the Soviet Union had ICBM rockets powerful enough to launch satellites into space , they had ICBM rockets powerful enough to launch atomic warheads on the United States. To the world the Soviets showed they were the equals of the West in high technology, and to it's rivals they had finally demonstrated that they had the world's first ICBM, because that was what it took to orbit the satellite.

The launch of Sputnik had proved that communism worked not only in theory but practically. For until 1957 the West generally saw the Soviet Union as a country in poverty and distress , the old "Russian Steamroller", fighting to sustain stability. It was the country capable of fielding a mass army with tens of thousands of men but not a country capable of developing sophisticated technology and electronics like that of the United States . This image was shaken when the Russians launched Sputnik. The American attempts to put their own satellites into orbit, failed dramatically as rocket after rocket ended up in spectacular explosions. The Soviet used the failures of the U.S attempts to prove that collective labor in socialist systems was capable of achieving what the selfish and profit-centered capitalist system couldn't. In Europe, the NATO allies began to wonder whether the American military technology on which they were relying to defend themselves was really as superior as they have imagined.

The superiority of Soviet Union was one view the United States refused to accept. Many domestic changes in policy were made in America immediately after the commencement of the space race. The American long range missile research program which was originally in planning stage was speeded up and it's military budgets were dramatically altered. Eisenhower increased the funding for missile development from $4.3 billion in 1958 to $5.3 billion in 1959. He also called for faster production of a stockpile of nuclear weapons for NATO. Further more in 29 July 1958, NASA was established for the sole purpose of winning the space race. The space race also caused long terms changes made to the United States(which still affects the United States today), such as the change of the educational system. Shortly after the launch of Sputnik, politicians and the public began placing greater emphasis on math and science in the nation's schools through the National Defense Education Act of 1958. Billions of dollars were placed into the study of science in universities, and one third of all scientists and engineers in practice were called to direct their researches towards weapons research.

Even with the changes made by the Americans, the cold reality remained. The Soviet was still in lead of the Space race. Their advancement in space technology was demonstrated, when the US's attempts to send more Pioneer probes into space ended in failure, whereas on 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, orbiting the earth for 108 minutes. The Soviets had again achieved what the U.S had found impossible to achieve. These early failures of the U.S space program and the seemingly successful Soviet space program further reinforced the belief that a missile and technological gap existed between the two cold war enemies. The Americans had now sense that they were on the wrong side of a technological revolution. The early space race provided John F. Kennedy support and ratings in his candidacy. He exploited this sense very effectively during the 1960 election , accusing that the outgoing Eisenhower administration had allowed a a~missile gap' to exist between the two superpowers. Even in 1957 the United States had long range missiles but Eisenhower had banned the construction of these militarily ones to launch the first earth satellite. Kennedy promised to wage the Cold War in a stronger manner than Eisenhower's administration. This demonstrated the close link between politics and the space race. Another example of the involvement of politics with the space race is the early return of Voskhod II in October 1962 due to the forced removal of Premier Khrushchev by his party rivals.

23 days after cosmonauts Gagarin's launch into space, Alan Shepherd becomes the first American in Space. This flight was enough to boost the morale of the American public. It demonstrated the potential of national pride and domestic power that could be achieved in the space race. As both the U.S and the U.S.S.R were superpowers of the world which have emerged victorious over the tyrannous regime of Adolf Hitler in World War II. In the process they had also gained new territories, responsibilities and power, this makes it a necessary for the superpowers to prove their worth. The race would position the citizens of the U.S and U.S.S.R to become more proud of their systems, which would provide them with the amount of cooperation they would need to sustain themselves throughout the Cold War. To this extent, on May 25, 1961 President Kennedy declared that the United States will send a man to the moon by the end of the decade.

The magnitude of Kennedy's challenge was enormous, but the importance of the space race towards the outcome of the Cold War was so significant and important that the President had billed 1.8 billion to NASA. The budget stood at $5400 million a year, the years space budget was three times what it was in January 1961.

The lunar mission would be a convincing value to the Cold War contest for international scientific prestige. This was recognized by both the U.S.S.R and especially the U.S which had been trailing behind. The importance of the lunar missions was clearly stated by President John F. Kennedy on 12 September 1962:
"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too."

During the "challenge to the moon", the impact and the involvement of the Central Intelligence Agency(formed July 26, 1947) in not only domestic but international affairs was clearly shown. The CIA in the Cold War had acted on several important occasions such as: interfering with politics in satellite countries, employing money diplomacy during the Suez Crisis of 1966 and sponsoring and organizing armed assault during the Bay of Pigs in 1961.

The early announcement of America's intention to launch a satellite into space reflected the understanding by the government in the American administration that satellites could form an important technology with considerable reconnaissance value as well as world-propaganda potential and psychological warfare value in the Cold War. This was demonstrated with the early Soviet success of Sputnik I which brought the Soviet incalculable scientific prestige and dealt a very severe psychological blow against the US when they have thought their technology was superior and incapable of being beaten by the Soviets. Therefore the CIA contributed a large sum of funds to the U.S satellite and space program . After Kennedy's a~call for the moon'. Millions of dollars were placed into the Gemini and Apollo programs which significantly helped its progress and development. This was done because the CIA believed the nation that first accomplishes the feat of space exploration will gain prestige and recognition throughout the globe.
As the Americans began their work towards the moon, so did the Soviets. Voskhod I was launched on October 12, 1962,marking the first multi-person flight, because of the cramp confines of the spacecraft the 3 cosmonauts on board did not wear their space suits, which was essential in the safety of space exploration. This factor would've caused certain death if depressurization were to occur, but the Soviets excluded this concern, insisting to beat the Americans by the mile stone. This again demonstrated the harsh determination of the Soviets at winning the space race.

The American's success and progress in the race was further boosted on January 14, 1966 when the Soviet's chief designer Sergei Korolev died during an operation, delivering a tremendous blow to the space effort as Korolev have played a major role in the designs of all Soviet spacecrafts and at the time of his death, they had been working on the Soviet's N-1, moon rocket. His death marked a tremendous set back in the country's race for the moon.

American satellites over the Soviet Union showed that the Soviets were completing the enormous N-1 rocket, one just powerful enough to perform man-lunar missions, for this reason NASA decides to send Apollo 8 to orbit the moon on August 1968. Apollo 8 went into lunar orbit and for many of the Soviet Union, the flight of Apollo 8 came as another severe blow, for the US had now surpassed them in sending the first people to the moon. In responses, the Soviets launched its long-waited N-1 rocket on February 21st, 1969, which exploded while taking off. Apollo 8 had been a tremendous blow to the Soviets but now with the failure of the rocket needed to place the first cosmonaut on the moon, the Soviets were simply running out of time. Another N-1 was launched soon after, but exploded after taking off. The Soviets were now incapable of reaching the moon any time soon, setting the stage for the flight of Apollo 11 which landed on the moon on July 16, 1969.

The Soviets had saw their space exploits as proof that their system was winning. Such pride made it worse when the Soviet moon program collapsed. In the Early stages of the space race, it was proven that the Soviets had the ultimate weapon in the combination of long range-missile and the hydrogen bomb. Until the West's ICBMS missiles were operational, these weapons would serve as a perfect threat during negotiation. They had also in the stages of the space race surpassed American technology but ultimately the flight of Apollo 11 had brought victory to the United States.

In conclusion, the space race played a significant part in the overall timeline of the Cold War, with many domestic changes that affected both the U.S and the U.S.S.R. psychologically, politically, economically and ideologically. It ignited the patriotism ,fervor and cooperation in both camps that would help it last through even the darkest days of the Cold War. Ultimately it was another means of periphery(competition) and demonstrated the aggressive reality of the Cold War with both the capitalist and communist systems trying to succeed one another, proving the superiority of it's own system.