Do you enjoy a good race? What does it take to win a race? For most, it takes strength, energy, and willpower. But what if your biggest challenger has all those traits and a head start?
In the late 1950s and 1960s, two world powers took part in a huge race. One of those powers was the United States. The other was the former Soviet Union. The race stretched beyond Earth's limits and far into space. But when this race began, the United States was already behind.
Both the United States and the Soviet Union had been experimenting with space travel for years. Then in 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the very first space satellite.
The space race had begun.
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America was stunned. At that time, the United States and the Soviet Union were enemies. The leaders of the United States were worried. What if the Soviet Union won the race? What if they controlled space? The United States had to catch up.
In 1961, the Soviet Union launched a human into space. Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth. The Soviet Union had pulled even farther ahead in the space race.
The United States did not give up. Instead, President John F. Kennedy made a promise. He vowed that America would be the first nation to put a person on the moon. They would do it by the end of the 1960s. To most people, a human on the moon seemed more like a movie than real life. Was this a promise
America could keep? The answer was yes! In 1968, American astronauts became the first humans to orbit the moon. Then on July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin became the first humans to walk on the moon. Real life was better than the movies!
So who won the space race? Was it the Soviet Union, who launched the first space satellite and sent the first man into space? Was it the United States, who put the first men on the moon? Perhaps the prize goes to all the people of the world.
They learned more about space because of the great deeds of both nations.
What is this article mostly about?
A
different kinds of races between countries
B how the United State prepared for
the moon landing
C why the Soviet Union was able to
launch Sputnik
D how the space race began and what
happened during it