Deep Dive: The Space Race

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March 15, 2022

Few moments in history captured the attention of the world like the moon landing on July 20, 1969. While this was a momentous achievement, the sheer magnitude of this event was almost beyond belief. How did we get to this point? The bounds of human achievement were tested during a 20-year endeavor dubbed “The Space Race”. The Space Race officially started on October 4^th 1957. On this day Russia, then Soviet Union, launched Sputnik which is Russian for “traveler”. The sputnik was the first man-made object to be put into space. This caught the attention of the United States in a big way, there was a Cold War going on at the time. The United States followed suit and in 1958 launched the Explorer 1 satellite. That same year president Eisenhower created NASA; The Soviet Union, and The United States were off to the races. (Pun Intended) For the next 12 years, scientists for NASA and for the USSR worked tirelessly to improve their respective space programs. The Soviet Union took a major lead in the space race by sending the first man made object in space and then in 1961 sending the first person to orbit the earth. The Moon became the focus of the space race that year when John F. Kennedy famously announced that the United States would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. With this scientists had to switch the focus from simply rocket science to space flight. The moon is roughly 238,900 Miles away, you could fit 30 earths in that distance. The game was completely changed, both governments threw practically unlimited resources to their space programs. From 1961 to 1964 NSAS’s budget increased almost 500%! Setbacks on both sides made this task seem almost impossible but in December of 1968, NASA’s Apollo 11 mission successfully orbited the moon and returned home safely. This set the stage for July 20^th, 1969, when Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins maned a successful mission of landing on the moon and returning home. Many people would consider this the conclusion of the space race and would dub the United States as the “winners” of the space race. On the surface it may look that way, but it is not so simple. To say the moon landing was purely an American feat would just not be correct. The foundations of the Apollo program were set by a German scientist, and in 1975 the United States and Russia had a joint mission to space where Russian and American space crafts docked together in what has been called the “handshake in space”. After these momentous feats though, the public interest in space dwindled. The space race was very beneficial to the public in ways you may not be aware. Insulin Pump’s, water filters, wireless headsets, and even modern athletic shoes all came about because of NASA’s research during the Space Race. The public’s interest in space was peaked again with the Space shuttle program but after billions of dollars and 2 tragic shuttle disasters the public’s interested faded again and the United States government decided to defund NASA. Which brings us to today, where we have entered the modern-day space race. We have private space companies, most notably Space X, trying to go to Mars and NASA’s Artemis program which goal is to set up a permeant research station on the Moon. Because of this the public’s interest in space has been revitalized and space is “cool” again. In a way “The Space Race” never really ended but has been a grueling marathon spanning decades. This new chapter in the space race looks to reach new heights (pun intended again) and the public will again unknowingly benefit from the research that comes from it.

This breath of new life to the space race is what inspired our Coffeehouse theme this spring; The Great Beyond. We are excited to celebrate the achievements of the human spirit with song, dance, and hilarious videos. Come Join us on March 26^th at 11:30 PM for Coffeehouse: The Great Beyond, tickets are on sale now for only $5!

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