Ready, set, go! Throughout the US-Soviet Cold War, tensions between the United States and the Soviet Union continued to mount. By the mid 1950s, what is now known as the "space race" between the two leading powers became a new arena for competition.
In 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile successfully launched the first satellite in space, Sputnik. Americans were surprised by Sputnik's success and in response Presiden Eisenhower created the National Aeronautics and Space Admistration (NASA).
From then to 1969, the USSR and the US continued to compete for supremacy in space travel. Finally, in 1969, the infamous US spacecraft, Apollo 11, landed the first man on the moon. With this achievement, the United States essentially won the "space race". Astronauts were seen thereafter as the ultimate American heroes, while Soviets were seen as "villains" whose relentless efforts to compete with America ultimately failed to be significant.
"Astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American heroes, and Earth-bound men and women seemed to enjoy living vicariously through them."
- The History Channel |