Space Race between Two Superpowers - Essay Example

Early space race between USA and USSR Early space race between USA and USSR Space race began during the era of Cold War where two superpowers namely USA and USSR found it dangerous to engage each other military without use of nuclear weapons which could possibly destroy the whole world. As a result, they decided to engage their antagonism in other ways like, sponsoring conflicts in distinct regions precisely third world nations. This saw each country develop various programs to dominate in the field of science and technology. They based superiority on the ability to explore the space where the most superior country had a higher record in exploring different areas of the universe such as other planets and the moon. Although Soviet Union succeeded in launching the first satellite to the space, it was later overtaken by the United States after they launched the first exploration to the moon and managed to return cosmonauts safely. They became the world superpowers considering that their counterpart made several attempts to explore the moon failing miserably. This paper will discuss relationship, differences and programs used by the USA and USSR during their early space race. It will also illustrate the advantages that the Soviet Union had over the United States and how they were eventually overwhelmed. Initially, both USA and USSR had many similarities and ideologies, especially in the field of military and space exploration. Their superiority had influenced most people globally as they were deemed the world superpowers in terms of economy and influence of other minor nations. However, they both differed greatly in instances like, USA had embarked on empowering their economy after World War 1 through the use of internet while Russia was reformed from the collapsed Soviet Union which had shambled economy and worse space program. Since then they started engaging in the Cold War since they feared the military approach to avoid occurrence of catastrophe considering they all had powerful nuclear weapons which could possibly destroy the whole world.1 Considering their similar interests, they decided to come together in sharing the orbital stage of Meir, a plan for both countries to become first explorers of the space. They formed a shuttle-Mir program which incorporated spacecraft and statecraft to enable explores the space. It became the first phase of the international exploration program to be pioneered by the two superpowers. Their joint effort enhanced expertise and knowledge sharing on the earth as well as on the space thus making exploration effective. However, after some time, their coordination deteriorated due to competition in the field of science and technology forcing each country to be independent.2 Space exploration for both USA and USSR started after citizens of both countries employed relentless efforts in the quest for superiority in the field of science and technology. Utterance of the Soviet Union premier Nikita Khrushchev, after they became the first to explore the space that, creative genius among people develop faster and better under communism stimulated USA to react on the remarks. Through their president, John F. Kennedy, they decided to work on the goal of exploring the moon before Soviet Union, which they finally did when Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon. Cold War brought a platform where superpowers competed in the field of science and technology rather than military engagement. It all started when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik, the first man made satellite in 1957; later, Soviet Union sponsored the first human in the space, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. This stimulated USA to launch their own artificial satellite, the Explorer 1, in January 1958 in order to keep pace with their power competitors. However, both countries had started developing spacecraft long before the era of the space race for use by the military. For example, the first spacecraft used by Yuri Gagarin to explore the space had been developed by Soviet military before the heights of space race.3 Earlier in 1957 and 1958, American President Dwight D. Eisenhower had sent several letters to Soviet Union leaders asking them for cooperation in the process of securing the space in enhancing the peaceful use of space. However, they declined the offer claiming that USA deploys nuclear weapon in Turkey as a precondition before signing an agreement. Considering that the Soviet Union was the first to launch an artificial satellite, they had all reasons to boast especially to the USA because they believed to be far ahead of them. Meanwhile, USA went ahead to formulate initiatives through collaboration with the United Nations to create a peaceful space use platform. After some time, the Soviet Union felt challenged and eventually joined the United Nations committee which was formed by the United States in collaboration with the United Nations. Both superpowers were mandated to appoint vice presidents of the committee, according to the terms of the agreement which made way for dialogue between leaders of both sides. The first vice president to be appointed was, Academician Anatoli A. Blagonravov, from the Soviet Union, but interestingly, the decision could not be made before the other vice president Kremlin from America approval.4 The possibility of space collaboration appeared to emerge after Khrushchev sent a letter to Kennedy requesting on how they can both work together to invoke wonders of space instead of competing. They agreed upon sharing three crucial areas, namely coordinating weather data obtained by the satellites, mapping geometric parts of the earth and ultimately in surveying communication signals obtained by the satellites. The above factors improved cohesion between the two countries as they sought to benefit from the data obtained from the satellite to improve their reign over other inferior nations.5 Nevertheless, although there were differences during negotiations, Soviet Union appeared to have greater advantages over the United States. Firstly, the Soviet Academy of science acted as secret office that was controlled by the military and communists and they could spy everything that the United States intended to do. They could take advantage over the USA by exploiting ideas which they obtain from them and claim to be their own invention. Additionally, while Americans were transparent to the Russians, they did not know much about them. During meetings, Americans could disclose to Russians about their plans on Mars and Venus while they found it difficult to ask Soviet Union leadership to disclose their prior plans. USA programs The first human space flight in the United State was Project Mercury with the aim of placing a single person into the space orbit and return safely. They carried out an unmanned mission involving test animals where they succeeded in the seventh round test. It begun in 1959 to 1963 immediately after USSR launched their Sputnik, which motivated many USA citizens as they could not watch rivals thriving. A project Mercury test was conducted at Cape Canaveral where the astronaut carried a supply of water, food and oxygen. The craft was controlled on the ground using trackers and communication devices. After taking off to the space, finally the astronaut and the capsule were recovered from the seas by the navy. The entire project was done by almost 2 million people where after its success, sent shock waves globally paving way for Project Gemini.6 Project Gemini was the second to be undertaken by the United States, which begun in 1961 and completed in 1966. The spacecraft carried two astronauts on the crew and it marked the lead of the United States over the Soviet Union in the space race. It was a platform to help land astronaut on the moon during Apollo project. The mission succeeded to land astronauts on the moon and returning safely thus making it easy set the next project rolling. Unfortunately, three astronauts died in the air during training after a crash and they were further succeeded by the back crew.7 The Apollo program was the third project undertaken by the National Aeronautic and Space Administration (NASA) from 1969 to 1972 which landed twelve humans on the moons surface. The idea was conceived during the era of President Dwight D. Eisenhower to succeed the previous Project Gemini. The success of Apollo project encountered some setbacks, where in 1967, Apollo 1 cabin crew died of fire during a pre-launch test. However, in the Apollo 11 mission, astronauts Neil Armstrong landed on the lunar module and later they landed on earth safely. During the Apollo 17 program, nine-manned mission returned with lunar rocks and soil to the earth as the evidence of their success.8 USSR space programs Soviet Union was the first to get a satellite and human in the orbit, although they were not certain of their safety. They launched their space exploration under five programs, namely space dogs, expendable cosmonauts, the Voskhod, the moon shot and manned plan to Mars and Venus. Firstly, their space exploration begun between 1951 and 1966 where they sent twenty dogs to the space for test since they were not certain about their safety. They never had the intention of bringing animals alive as opposed to Americans who were cautious about the safety of the monkeys. Unfortunately, Laika, the first dog used in space exploration by Soviet Union, died horribly after the spacecraft exploded just a few hours of launch. However, after relentless effort, they managed to sponsor a dog in the space and landed safely in a region with negative 45 degrees Russian winter where rescuers saved its life before freezing.9 The second program was expendable cosmonauts where they launched the first human to the space and returned safely in 1961, Yuri Gagarin. Nevertheless, some people argued that Gagarin was not the first human to land in the space because many had tried but did not return safely. The program, though faced some criticism from people claiming that Soviet Union covered their failures and destroyed any evidence for the same. For example, in 1959, a German scientist claimed that four cosmonauts had died during the launch of 1957 and 1959 spacecraft.10 In 1964, the Soviet Union launched the third program, the Voskhod where they were trying to get to the moons surface using a bigger spacecraft. Voskhod 1 was the first to board more than two people, to explore the space. Later, they launched Voskhod 2 with cosmonaut Alexei Leonov who became the first person to walk in the space. Crew members craned at an angle of 90 degrees to enable them read the instruments and the capsule had an emergency exit in case uncertain thing occurred during re-entry. Unfortunately, automatic landing failed, but the cosmonauts were able to get to the navigation system safely despite the failure. Sadly, failure to land automatically cost them time, thus they were not able to land on course, instead, they landed in the thicket where helicopters could not find a way to rescue them. Their fourth program was a moonshot where they relentlessly devoted their efforts to be the first ones to get to the moon and return with moon rocks as evidence. During this program, the cosmonauts had to study on how to land on the moon, how to exist the spacecraft and ultimately know how to walk in the spacecraft. However, after inspection by Yuri Gagarin, 203 structural setbacks were identified and resulted in postponement of the planned practical launch. Around this time, they felt challenged by the USA who had already launched their Apollo program successfully to the moon. Their quest led to the launch of Soyuz 6, 7 and 8 to challenge Americans that they were capable to explore the space despite failing severally.11 Ultimately, despite losing to USA, Soviet Union left with a bang by launching a manned flight to the Mars and Venus. They set up missions to explore Mars for a period not less than three years. To sustain cosmonauts for that period, USSR scientists developed a system to grow crew food in hydroponic greenhouse in a range of 20 to 50 percent. They had planned cosmonauts to orbit the Mars, and then bypass the Earth to go to Venus, then come home after completing the mission. Shockingly, their first launch failed miserably for four times because the spacecraft broke into pieces during the pre-test sessions. They made a mistake of using a mixture of kerosene and benzene because the two are very flammable as opposed to Americans who used oxygen and hydrogen. Although United States were defeated during the initial stages of the space race, this did not deter their quest of emerging victorious in the field. Initially, USSR managed to launch the first artificial satellite to the space before Americans and boasted a lot for their achievement. This stimulated Americans to devote a lot of energy to surpass the Russians in space exploration since they both wanted to retain superiority. Their second blow on United States came after sponsoring the first person to the orbit, Yuri Gagarin in 1961. From here, Americans took bold steps to outdo reigning Russians by launching Freedom 7’s flight that reached into the suborbital space and lasted for fifteen minutes, then splashed down to the Atlantic Ocean barely a short while after Yuri Gagarin had gone to the space. This was a great achievement considering that Gagarin landed on earth after 108 minutes as opposed to Shepard, who took only fifteen minutes to return on the earth.12 Although, Shepard won Gagarin in space, Russians still had a reason to smile because they were the first to launch spacecraft to the orbit. It took USA exactly a year to launch their spacecraft a reason that made a Soviet Union triumph of their superiority over USA in the field of science and technology. However, USA finally overwhelmed USSR in lunar exploration after Neil Armstrong led three crew members to the moon where they emerged the first humans to walk on the lunar surface. This was the ultimate blow on Russians superiority in the field because they never launched any mission to explore the moon after relentless attempts which proved futile. United States victory over the USSR was boosted by a number of factors which they utilized over their rivals to make sure they become the next reigning superpowers in the field of technology and science.13 Firstly, the USA had very cautious personnel who emphasized on correcting any systematic problems since they never intended to risk human life. Russia on the other hand, lost many people, especially during test sessions since they did not take effective precautions. For example, NASA decided to suspend launching the first human to space considering that previous test had some problems and they could never wish to kill cosmonauts just carelessly. Prior cautions undertaken by USA made it easier to defeat the USSR because of strict scrutiny of the process to ensure no loss of lives if possible. Conversely, Soviet Union encountered coordination challenges, especially when Academy of science, ministry and industry could not agree on any concepts making it difficult to implement their strategies. Additionally, USA was governed by NASA, which coordinated military and civilian contribution to the program while the USSR had no governing body leading to their decline.14 Support from the leaders further energized United States to take the lead in the space race after receiving overwhelming support from President Kennedy, who set clear outlines to enable the country get to the moon before their opponent. They formulated long-term programs to make sure they emerge victorious in a race to the moon. On the other hand, USSR only intended to beat Americans not considering proper programming which made their programs end prematurely. They emphasized on many test flights as opposed to Americans who carried out an extensive ground survey to come up with the best program that would help them to the game. Additionally, they maintained a rigid five-year program which could not accommodate emerging issues, thus directing them to ditch of failure. Americans had a flexible plan that could easily be changed when new changes emerge.15 Proper technical approach enabled USA defeat the USSR, for example, they used a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen liquid in their spacecraft after determining that the two elements could not combust. Conversely, Russians choose kerosene and a benzene mixture without considering that they can easily combust leading to entire project failure. It is unfortunate that, their spacecraft crashed miserably after it caught up fire because of using very combustive elements. They made four attempts which none succeeded because of using poor elements on their spaceship that was purported to get to the lunar surface. Notably, N1 which was the vessel to be used had flawed design, especially with the gas dynamics which could not allow it to propel enough to the moon. Additionally, they used Soyuz prior to its maturity in place of Vostok, which was cancelled eighteen days before the launch, resulting in death of Komarov because of lacking proper technical approach. However, USA maintained on using Apollo as earlier planned and making sure that the cosmonauts had adequate knowledge to operate the vessel as well as landing on the moons surface. Finally, USSR demoralization especially after several space race attempts failed increased chances of USA to carry the day considering that Americans did not have cases of deaths during testing sessions as opposed to the Russians who suffered several deaths during the testing period. Unluckily, attempts to reach N1 did not succeed despite being debugged for several times, killing engineers morale and deemed it as bad luck since they devoted all their efforts and expertise, then ultimately failed. It is from this point that the United States took the lead after successfully launching three-human crew to the moon and splashed safely in the Atlantic Ocean. From since, Americans superseded Russians as the leading scientific and technologically advanced country, thus becoming the world superpower. In conclusion, the space race was pioneered by antagonism between two superpowers, the United States and USSR as they tried to outdo each other in terms of superiority. However, it is clear that the Soviet Union is the mother of space race since they were the first to launch an artificial satellite to the space followed by the success to sponsor the first human to the space. They formulated various programs to help remain ahead of the USA because they were determined to take over their superiority in the field of technology and science. However, despite their reign during initial period of the space race, ultimately USA reaped a number of advantages over them, which made them victorious during the last phase of exploring the moon by incorporating three rigorous programs that saw them top of the game. Bibliography Arbel, David and Ran Edelist. 2004. Western Intelligence and the Collapse of the Soviet Union: 1980-1990: Ten Years that Did Not Shake the World. London: Routldge. Brünner, Christian, and Alexander Soucek. 2011. Outer Space in Society, Politics and Law. Wien: SpringerWienNewYork. Burgess, Colin, and Chris Dubbs. 2007. Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle. Berlin: Springer. Gisler, Monika, and Didier Sornette. 2009. "Exuberant Innovations: The Apollo Program." Society 46, no. 1(January 2009): 55-68. 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