Space Race

From SPACEwiki

The Space Race was a heated competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to develop the first real-world exploration of outer space. It involved pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites, send man into space, and land him on the Moon. The term refers to a specific period in human history, and does not include subsequent efforts by these or other nations to explore space.

The Space Race occurred during the Cold War between the late 1950's and 1970's, with its origins in the missile-based arms race between the two nations. It effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, and ended in a period of detente with the co-operative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight in July 1975. In between, it became a focus of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the two nations. It provided the side benefits of societal morale boosting, and civilian and military applications of the developed space technology.

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