By Brianna Johnson
SPACE RACE IN THE 1950S
AND 1960S
They Beat Us…
 In October, 1957, the Soviet Union started
the Space Race when they launched the
first satellite named Sputnik to be hurled
into orbit around the Earth.
Sputnik…
Sputnik was actually no larger than a beach ball and
sent meaningless signals back to earth, but it had a
profound effect on the thinking of citizens and
governments around the globe. It was a shiny steel
sphere about 23 inches across with four antennas
trailing behind it. Russian engineers wanted to make
sure that people around the globe could both see and
hear it. Sputnik was polished so it would reflect light
that could be seen with the naked eye even from 175
miles up in the sky. And it broadcast a "beep-beep"
pattern of signals that could be picked up by
amateur radio operators around the world.
Our Reaction…
 The reaction of the U.S and around
the world was astonishment and
somewhat fear. All of a sudden,
there was an "enemy satellite"
streaking across the sky over the
U.S. At the time, no one knew what
it was capable of doing. What U.S
political leaders did know was that
if the Soviet Union had rockets
powerful enough to launch a
satellite, they had rockets powerful
enough to launch atomic bombs on
the U.S. This was a scary thought.
Headlines Were Going Crazy!
 We were
Surprised and
mad at the
same time !
We Tried… And Failed.
The "space race" between the Soviet Union
and the United States was on. But our first
attempts at catching up ended in
spectacular explosions. We tried to create
our own version of Sputnik called
Vanguard TV3, but we failed miserably.
This satellite was a disaster, so it was
nicknamed “Flopnik”.
Explorer 1
 Later on came the first successful U.S
satellite named Explorer 1 in 1958. Both
Sputnik and Explorer 1 were launched as
part of each country’s contributions to the
International Geophysical year.
Contributions…
 Sputnik helped to determine the density
of the upper atmosphere and Explorer 1
flight data led to the discovery by James
Van Allen of the Van Allen Radiation Belt.
Animals In Space
Dogs launched by the U.S on captured
German V-2 rockets in 1946 became the
first animals sent into space for scientific
study. This was before the creation of
Sputnik and the beginning of the Space
Race.
Poor Laika…
 The first living creature
sent into orbit was a
dog named Laika. She
traveled in the
U.S.S.R’s Sputnik 2 in
1957. While no
technology existed at
the time to recover
Laika after her flight,
she died of stress and
overheating soon after
reaching space.
Other Animals…
 In 1960, Russian space
dogs Belka and Strelka
orbited the Earth and
successfully returned.
NASA imported
Chimpanzees from Africa,
and sent at least two into
space before launching
their first human orbiter.
Soviet- launched turtles
on the rocket Zond 5
became the first animals
to fly around the moon.
First Humans in Space
Soviet Still On Top…
 A Soviet Valentina Tereshokva, became the first
woman in space on June 16, 1963 in the Vostok 6.
 Aleksel Leonov from Vokshod 2, launched by the
USSR on March 18, 1965 carried out the first
spacewalk. Unfortunately this mission ended early
in a disaster. Leonov almost failed to return to the
capsule and due to a poor retrorocket fire, the ship
landed a 1000 miles off target.
 The USSR had also launched probes to the moon
before us
President Kennedy had a conversation with
NASA’s director James E. Webb and said:
 While unmanned
Soviet probes had
reached the moon
before any U.S craft,
American astronaut
Neil Armstrong
became the first
person to set foot on
lunar surface on July
21, 1969.
Neil’s first words on the moon
Luna 15
 On July 21, 1969, while Apollo 11 astronauts
finished the first human moonwalk, Luna 15
- an unmanned Soviet spacecraft in lunar
orbit at the time, began its descent to the
moon. Launched only three days before the
Apollo 11 mission, it was the third Soviet
attempt to return lunar soil back to Earth.
The Russian craft crashed on the moon at
15:50 UT – just a few hours before the
scheduled American lift off.
Its Over!
After the Luna 15 failure, the Soviet Union
never made another attempt to go to the
moon again, The Space Race was over