The Space Race: A Surrogate Superpower War - HISTORY

America's competition with the U.S.S.R. for technological dominance spurred the U.S. to achieve the world's first-ever moon landing.

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In this video clip from Ask Steve, the reason for Americans interest in the Space Program was explored. It is explained that competition, and the technological wonder of the space race were some of the reasons for the Americans interest. Between President Kennedy saying that they would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade, and a famous photo taken by the Apollo 8 in 1968 of the earth from a distance, the Americans knew that the space race would be a very important technological breakthrough.

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Radio Moscow announces the historic flight of the first woman in outer space. On June 16, 1963, aboard Vostok 6, Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova completed 48 orbits of Earth in 71 hours.

President Kennedy establishes his New Frontier with a challenge to venture into outer space. John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the earth, one step in America's endeavor to land on the moon.

On April 12, 1981, NASA launched the first space shuttle into orbit.