The Race to the Moon
What is the Space Race?
The Space Race was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to explore space using manned and unmanned spacecraft. Superiority in space would demonstrate the superiority of the winner back on Earth.
|
|
Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the lunar surface in 1969 captivated the world like no other event in human history. People everywhere stopped what they were doing to watch and listen as someone set foot on another celestial object for the very first time. It was an incredible achievement, one that would be repeated five more times.
Many people think of the first moon landing as the result of human drive, intelligence, and daring—which is certainly true. But what were the real reasons behind the decision to go to the moon? What did it take to get there? And why haven’t we been back?
EARLY ROCKETS
Today’s rockets are incredible feats of engineering. They are capable of generating enough power to fling space probes to the edges of the solar system and send car-sized robots to Mars.
The earliest and simplest rockets, fireworks, are still familiar to us. Around 100 CE, the Chinese began experimenting with a simple type of explosive powder, similar to gunpowder.
Eventually, gunpowder-filled bamboo tubes were attached to arrows, which helped keep them pointed in the right direction. This was the first example of a solid-fuel rocket. They were even used in war. In 1232, devices called fire-arrows were used by the Chinese in battle against the Mongols.
Most of the rockets at the time, however, were used either in firework displays or in battles to scare and frighten the enemy. It wasn’t until the twentieth century that rockets grew beyond their primitive beginnings.
According to legend, a Chinese official named Wan Hu attached dozens of rockets to the back of a chair. Once lit, there was an incredible sound, and when the clouds of smoke eventually cleared, Wan Hu was nowhere to be found. Hundreds of years later, the rocket chair would make a return as a testing device! Check out this video.
Wan Hu rocket chair video
Early fireworks in China used saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal dust to give them a bang! Occasionally, instead of exploding, they rocketed away.
DREAMING OF SPACEFLIGHT
In the 1865 science fiction classic by Jules Verne (1828–1905), From Earth to the Moon, three adventurers are fired from a giant gun to explore the moon. Although the story was fictional, it inspired many people to explore ways of making it a reality.
In 1903, Russian school teacher and scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1857–1935) published Exploration of Cosmic Space by Means of Reaction Devices. Tsiolkovsky described how rockets could be used to leave the earth and circle it, just as the moon does. He used physics and mathematics to determine the speed a ship would need to escape the earth’s gravitational pull, about 25,000 miles per hour.
Multi-stage rockets, airlocks to safely move between a spacecraft and the vacuum of space, and even whole cities above the earth were described in the book. Tsiolkovsky was a visionary, and his concepts would one day make their way to the moon.
In 1923, the Romanian-born Hermann Oberth (1894–1989) published The Rocket into Planetary Space, which outlined how a rocket could escape Earth’s atmosphere and orbit the planet. Oberth realized that to do so, a new, more powerful type of rocket engine was needed.
In 1926, the American physicist Robert Goddard (1882–1945) changed rocketry forever. Goddard, inspired by the stories of Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and other science fiction writers, was the first to develop a liquid-fueled rocket engine. This was a much more powerful way to propel a rocket through the atmosphere. With the liquid-fueled rocket engine, Goddard was able to achieve unprecedented heights with his simple rockets.
Despite his success, rocketry remained a hobby to most people. It wasn’t until World War II that this type of power was recognized for its effectiveness in battle.
Robert Goddard is on the far left in this 1940 photograph.
credit: National Geographic Society
Near the end of World War II, Europe was terrorized by a new German weapon—the V-2. Standing nearly 50 feet tall and carrying about 1 ton of explosives, the German V-2 rockets were unlike anything used in war before.
Launched from German-occupied Holland, these “vengeance weapons” could reach London in just five minutes. There was no way to shoot them down. An early autopilot system onboard helped steer the missile to its target without any help from controllers on the ground.
Capable of flying 50 miles high and traveling more than 500 miles, the liquid-fueled rocket crashed to Earth at nearly twice the speed of sound. There was little anyone could do to avoid its impact.
The chief engineer behind the German rockets was Wernher von Braun (1912–1977), a life-long champion of space flight and exploration and a pupil of Hermann Oberth. Also inspired by the science fiction classics of H.G. Wells and Jules Verne, von Braun joined the German army during World War II to build what would become the V-2.
In 1945, as the war began to draw to an end, von Braun realized that Germany was going to lose the war. He decided it made more sense for him to surrender to the Americans than to the Soviet army. Most of his staff agreed with him. Whatever country gained von Braun and his associates gained all of their knowledge as well.
During the War of 1812, British troops used early rockets to attack Fort McHenry, prompting Francis Scott Key to write the lyrics “the rockets’ red glare,” which later became part of “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
OPERATION PAPERCLIP
Both the United States and the Soviet Union were eager to learn about the German rockets. It was the United States that won the first stage of the Space Race with Wernher von Braun’s surrender.
The Americans brought the German rocket scientists and almost all of their technology back to the United States under a program called Operation Paperclip. In the United States after the war, the German scientists continued their experiments with larger and more powerful rockets.
THE LAUNCH OF SPUTNIK
On October 4, 1957, history was changed forever. Sputnik, a tiny artificial satellite measuring only 22 inches across, was placed into orbit by the Soviet Union. The world, and especially the United States, was shocked. Suddenly, the Soviets were capable of lifting something into space. More ominously, they had a rocket that could deliver a nuclear bomb anywhere on Earth.
And with that, the Space Race began.
In The Space Race: How the Cold War Put Humans on the Moon, you’ll explore the history behind the Space Race and discover how the Cold War drove one of the greatest achievements of the twentieth century. You’ll examine the people, places, and events that shaped the world during the drive to be the first nation to plant a flag on the moon, then see how the Space Race in turn affected events back on Earth.
You can listen to the sound Sputnik sent back to Earth at the NASA website.
Listen to Sputnik
•How might the Space Race have been different if German engineers had surrendered to the Russians instead of the Americans?
•How does science fiction inform real scientific progress? Can one exist without the other?
FIRST-PERSON ACCOUNT
The Cold War and Space Race were very important events in history. People around the world lived through the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union, and millions tuned in to witness humanity’s first steps on a different world. Do you know someone who lived through these events?
VOCAB LAB 
Write down what you think each word means. What root words can you find to help you? What does the context of the word tell you?
Cold War, engineering, lunar, orbit, satellite, science fiction, Space Race, and technology.
Compare your definitions with those of your friends or classmates. Did you all come up with the same meanings? Turn to the text and glossary if you need help.
•Interview a family member or friend who experienced the Cold War and Space Race up close. Questions to consider include the following.
•How was living through the Cold War different from today?
•Did it affect their everyday life?
•Were they ever afraid during the Cold War? Why or why not?
•Did they watch the moon landing? How did they and their friends and family react?
•How did it feel to watch such an important moment in human history? Did they know how special it was at the time?
To investigate more, present their story however you think best represents their experience. You could write an essay, create a presentation, film a documentary—it’s up to you!
