America Takes the Lead
How did the United States manage to pull ahead in the Space Race?
Despite many setbacks, the United States kept its commitment to the space program and encouraged the scientists and engineers at NASA to come up with new ways of exploring space.
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Tensions between the United States and the USSR remained high. The Cuban Missile Crisis demonstrated just how dangerous the Cold War could be. To prevent the accidental start of nuclear war, the two nations had agreed to establish a hotline in April 1963. The hope was that future emergencies could be dealt with better if the two nations could reach each other immediately. There was much more than national pride at stake.
A determined President Kennedy decided to visit West Berlin to reassure European allies that the United States, despite seemingly behind in space and missile technology, was firmly committed and able to defend Western Europe.
On June 26, 1963, President Kennedy gave a passionate speech to nearly half a million West Germans in West Berlin. In his famous “Ich bin ein Berliner” address, he pledged “I am a Berliner,” declaring America’s solidarity with West Germany and Western Europe. He scolded the Soviet Union, saying: “Democracy is not perfect, but we have not had to put a wall up to keep our people in.” The Soviets still considered Berlin to be part of East Germany, and an American president supporting this outpost of Western democracy was not well received.1
You can listen to President Kennedy’s “I am a Berliner” speech at this website. How did his words affect the relationship between the United States and the USSR?
Kennedy Berliner speech
COOPERATION
Despite Kennedy’s speech, both nations spent much of 1963 seeking ways to slow the growing number of nuclear weapons and their dangerous tests. In August, the United States, United Kingdom, and USSR signed the Limited Test Ban Treaty, ending the detonation of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, beneath the ocean, and in space.
In announcing his hopes for the Limited Test Ban Treaty at American University on June 10, 1963, Kennedy said: “If we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity. For, in the final analysis, our most basic common link is that we all inhabit this small planet. We all breathe the same air. We all cherish our children’s future. And we are all mortal.”2
Encouraged, Kennedy addressed the United Nations that fall and called for more cooperation between the two nations—including a joint mission to the moon. Kennedy wasn’t proposing a joint mission simply for peaceful reasons. The cost of winning the Space Race would be incredibly high, and many people saw it as a waste of money and resources that could be better spent elsewhere. The president had considered ending the program, or at least scaling back America’s efforts.
The Soviets were also aware of the cost of the race, and committing huge amounts of their military’s money for national prestige did not sit well with many in the Kremlin. Sharing the costs and risk might be the answer for both governments.
There was some interest from Khrushchev, but before any decisions could be made, talk of cooperation between the two powers ended with the tragic events in Dallas, Texas.
THE DEATH OF A PRESIDENT
The morning of November 22, 1963, a crowd of more than 150,000 people gathered to see the president and his wife make their way through downtown Dallas. But as the motorcade went by, the excited cheers were interrupted by the sound of gunfire. President Kennedy and Texas Governor John Connally (1917–1993) were both shot as their car drove through Dealey Plaza. Just an hour later, it was officially announced that President Kennedy had died.
After the swearing in of Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, Nikita Khrushchev expressed his condolences to the new president and the American people. The United States, and much of the world, was in mourning.
President Kennedy, moments before he was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, 1963
credit: Victor Hugo King
With the loss of President Kennedy, some Americans wondered if the space program would continue. But Kennedy’s commitment was a part of his legacy, one that President Johnson intended to honor.
At NASA, work progressed on Gemini, the second human spaceflight program. A successful, un-crewed test in April 1964 of Gemini and its new booster, the Titan II missile, told the world that the Americans were still in the race. Meanwhile, Korolev and his team worked on Soyuz, the next Soviet manned spacecraft.
At the time, the cost of getting to the moon reached about $10 billion, which would be about $100 billion today!
Khrushchev was eager to keep the Soviet lead in space. He demanded that Korolev send up a crew of three cosmonauts before the two-person Gemini could get off the ground. Under pressure from Moscow, Korolev hatched a simple but dangerous plan.
VOSKHOD 1
To beat Gemini, the Soyuz program was put on hold. Instead, the Soviets returned to the craft that had successfully beaten the Americans several times. Vostok was roomy on the inside, but was meant to carry only one cosmonaut. Korolev set to work turning Vostok into a craft called Voskhod.
Engineers decided to remove the ejection seats to make space for three cosmonauts. While this also meant less weight, there would be no safe exit during the first few minutes after launch. Landing rockets were added to allow the crew to ride the craft all the way to the ground. Additionally, the bulky spacesuits would be left behind. If Voskhod lost pressure, the cosmonauts would not survive long in space.
In October, the crash course to turn Vostok into Voskhod paid off when three cosmonauts rocketed into orbit stuffed tightly into their Voskhod 1 capsule. Piloted by Vladimir Komarov (1927–1967), the crew also included spacecraft engineer Konstantin Feoktistov (1926–2009) and flight doctor Boris Yegorov (1937–1994).
It was a short flight. With three crew members, the craft could carry only enough supplies for one day in space, and after 16 trips around the earth, Voskhod 1 returned safely to Earth. Publicizing the “new” ship, Khrushchev praised the crew and its designers. To the world, Voskhod seemed to be a brand-new craft capable of much more than the still-in-progress Gemini. The Soviets always seemed to be one step ahead, anticipating what the Americans would do and beating them to it.
As Khrushchev celebrated the success of Voskhod 1 from his vacation home, things were moving quickly in Moscow. Many in the Kremlin were unhappy with Khrushchev’s leadership, and wanted a change. Almost a year after the death of President Kennedy, in October 1964, a group of Communist Party leaders removed Khrushchev from his post as premier. Promising greater prosperity and a de-escalation of hostility with the West, Leonid Brezhnev (1906–1982) became the new leader of the USSR.
VIETNAM HEATS UP
Despite the sudden change in Soviet leadership, the Cold War remained outwardly calm. Many hoped that the Space Race would remain the only source of competition between the two nations, but another conflict in Southeast Asia threatened to turn the world back toward war.
Like Korea, the country of Vietnam was divided between the communist North and the non-communist South. Since the late 1950s, the U.S. military had sent thousands of advisors to Vietnam, helping to train the South Vietnamese army to fight the Soviet- and Chinese-supported North. In March 1965, the first American combat forces arrived in Vietnam. It was a dramatic escalation. Brezhnev was outraged at the arrival of American troops, stating that their presence threatened to start a larger war.
Unhappy with the president’s decision, many anti-war protests broke out across the United States. But President Johnson was unwilling to back down.
GOING FOR A WALK
Just weeks after the escalation in Vietnam, Voskhod 2 left the Baikonur Cosmodrome, prepared to make history. Instead of three tightly packed passengers, it carried only two—Pavel Belyayev (1925–1970) and Alexey Leonov (1934–). Without the third cosmonaut, Voskhod 2 could support its crew a little longer, but this wasn’t the goal of the mission. Attached to the outside of the craft was an inflatable airlock, designed to let a person leave the safety of the capsule and float freely in space.
The airlock from Voskhod 2, now at the Memorial Museum of Astronautics in Moscow
credit: Armael
As Voskhod 2 started its second orbit, the airlock was extended from the craft. Air filled the small chamber, equalizing pressure between it and the capsule. Leonov, protected in his spacesuit, floated into the airlock, while Belyayev closed the hatch behind him.
Alexey Leonov’s historic spacewalk was a turning point for spaceflight, proving that people could survive outside a spacecraft. You can watch footage of Leonov’s spacewalk here. Why was reporting such a significant part of traveling in space on these early missions? Is it as important today?
first spacewalk video
He was attached to his spacecraft by a long cable that kept him from drifting away from his ticket back to Earth. Psychologists had worried that a person might not be able to handle the experience of floating alone in space, but Leonov was mesmerized. He was fascinated by everything he experienced—the heat of the sun, the blackness of space, and the earth below. He was the first person to perform a spacewalk, and he loved it.
During his spacewalk, Leonov’s spacesuit had puffed up like a balloon, making it hard for him to move. Worse, he was now much too big to fit through the airlock. He was exhausted from fighting his suit, and if he couldn’t find a way in, he would be stranded outside as day turned to night. He had to reduce the pressure in his suit.
Without informing mission control, he slowly allowed air to escape from a valve. If he let out too much, bubbles could form in his blood and kill him, a condition deep-sea divers call the bends. Fortunately, he squeezed into the capsule before he lost consciousness.
Nobody on Earth knew how close Alexey Leonov had been to being the first man to die in orbit.
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Back on Earth, Moscow broadcast the historic achievement, with Brezhnev praising Leonov’s performance and bravery. NASA had yet to fly a Gemini mission, and the Soviets had stretched their lead in the Space Race even further. Many critics complained that at this rate, there would be a Soviet flag on the moon long before an American one. For the Soviets, Leonov’s triumph marked an end to the successful Vostok/Voskhod program.
On March 23, 1965, America was back in the Space Race as Gemini 3 carried Gus Grissom and John Young (1930–2018) into orbit. Gemini 3 was a shakedown mission, a short flight to test the craft’s systems. During their five-hour flight, Grissom and Young managed to change the size and shape of Gemini 3’s orbit, a first for a spacecraft and a major goal of the program. With a successful splashdown, Gemini 3 was the first in a rapid series of Gemini launches that put America firmly on the path to the moon.
Leonov and Belyayev’s harrowing adventure didn’t end with the spacewalk. The two cosmonauts landed more than 236 miles off course in a frozen, remote area. They spent two nights in the wolf- and bear-infested countryside before heading out with their rescue teams—on skis!
Three months after Gemini 3, Gemini 4 lofted Ed White (1930–1967) and Jim McDivitt (1929–) into orbit for a four-day flight packed with difficult and dangerous goals. First, Gemini 4 was to rendezvous with the upper stage of its Titan II booster as it drifted after them. But judging distance by eye turned out to be much harder than expected, and the astronauts quickly ran out of time. The most anticipated and dangerous part of the mission was about to begin.
Gus Grissom and John Young
credit: NASA/MSFC archives
Leaving the comforts of a spaceship is not easy, but spacewalks have become a necessary and important part of living and working in space. Check out this video to see how EVAs have changed through the years.
EVA video
On their third orbit, Ed White pushed open the hatch over his seat. With the Pacific Ocean gliding beneath him, he stood up and used a small “zip gun” of compressed air to push himself away from Gemini 4. Like Leonov, White was awed by the magnificent view and the feeling of floating in empty space. After more than 20 minutes, White reluctantly returned to Gemini 4, calling it the saddest moment of his life.
Ed White’s spacewalk proved that the U.S. space program was capable of matching the Soviet achievements. With Soyuz delayed, Korolev could only watch as the Americans began moving ahead.
EIGHT DAYS IN A GARBAGE CAN
The first time the United States could claim a true first in space was with Gemini 5. Gordon Cooper (1927–2004) and Pete Conrad (1930–1999) spent seven days and 22 hours in their cramped capsule, breaking the Soviet endurance record and demonstrating that people could survive in space long enough to make it to the moon and back.
They also tested new electrical and navigation systems meant for travel to the moon, and performed medical tests to monitor their health during the long mission. After the mission, Conrad joked that he wished he’d brought a book with him to read during “eight days in a garbage can.”
Jim Lovell (1928–) and Frank Borman (1928–) followed Conrad’s advice, and brought books along for their Gemini 7 mission. Lifting off on December 4, 1965, for almost two weeks in orbit, their trip was even longer than Gemini 5. But before they returned to Earth, Wally Schirra and Thomas Stafford (1930–) headed up to meet them aboard Gemini 6A.
Once in orbit, Schirra and Stafford tracked Gemini 7 using radar, another first. Soon, the two capsules could see each other, and managed to fly as close as 1 foot apart. Unlike the Vostok rendezvous, the two Gemini capsules could stay together instead of drifting apart, and could have docked with each other if they’d had the right equipment.
Gemini was a huge success. NASA flew five missions in just nine months, an amazing feat on its own, with no flights from the Soviets. The Americans had performed a spacewalk, changed orbit, made a rendezvous, and shattered the record for longest spaceflight. All the while, the Soviet Cosmodrome was silent.
For the first time, the United States seemed ahead in the race to the moon. But would it last?
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FAREWELL TO THE CHIEF DESIGNER
With the United States’ Gemini program making progress at an incredible rate, Korolev was under pressure to provide a Soviet answer. The Soyuz spacecraft he hoped would take cosmonauts to the moon was still behind schedule, and the stress affected his health.
On January 14, 1966, Sergei Korolev died from complications in surgery. Korolev was finally revealed to the world as the architect behind Sputnik and the man who put the first person in space. He received a hero’s burial at the Kremlin, with his cosmonauts and Leonid Brezhnev in attendance. The death of the Chief Designer was a blow to space exploration, and had a devastating impact on the Soviets’ efforts to beat the United States to the moon. He left behind a huge amount of unfinished work, something his successor, Vasily Mishin (1917–2001), inherited, including Korolev’s secret, massive moon rocket, the N-1.
In 1996, the Russian city of Kaliningrad was renamed Korolev to honor the accomplishments of the Chief Designer. Today, it is home to many parts of the Russian space program, managed by an agency called Roscosmos.
With the brilliant successes of 1965, NASA’s Gemini 8 mission was expected to mark another successful milestone on the way to the moon. After their March 16, 1966, launch, astronauts David Scott (1932–) and Neil Armstrong (1930–2012) got to work on Gemini 8’s main goal: docking with the unmanned Agena target craft. The crew located its target quickly and docked successfully, another U.S. first. But after linking together, the ships began rolling. As the rate of the roll increased, mission control directed the astronauts to pull away from Agena, suspecting the problem was with the unmanned vehicle.
Armstrong and Scott began to feel dizzy and nauseous, finding it hard to read their instruments. The astronauts were in danger of blacking out. Finally, Armstrong managed to turn off the reaction control system and stop the roll manually. But with almost all of the fuel needed to orient Gemini 8 for reentry used up, mission control ordered an emergency return to Earth. After just 10 hours in space, Gemini 8 splashed down safely, an uncomfortable reminder of the dangers of spaceflight.
Despite the setback, the pace of Gemini flights only increased. In June, Gemini 9 lifted off to try another rendezvous and docking with an Agena, as well as a second American spacewalk. But when Gene Cernan (1934–2017) and Thomas Stafford approached, they could see that the docking mechanism hadn’t opened. The docking was called off, and the next phase of the mission began.
When Cernan stepped out of his seat for his spacewalk, he felt the same awe that Alexey Leonov and Ed White had before him. But instead of just floating about, Cernan was assigned tasks to perform to see how well a human could actually work in space.
Almost from the beginning, he had trouble. As with Leonov, his suit stiffened up from air pressure, making it extremely hard to move around. As he strained to work, his visor started to fog from his sweat, making it hard to see. The rest of the spacewalk was called off, and an exhausted Cernan was glad to return to his spacecraft, and to Earth.
Cernan’s view from his spacewalk
credit: NASA
Gemini’s final three flights completed all of the program’s main goals. The flight of Gemini 10 in July of 1966 saw John Young (1930–2018) and Michael Collins (1930–) perform a double rendezvous, finally docking successfully with an Agena and using its engine to meet with another target vehicle. Two successful spacewalks by Collins capped the short but successful three-day flight.
Among the experiments carried out by Gemini 11 was an attempt to generate artificial gravity by spinning the Agena and Gemini capsules together on a cable. They managed to generate a small force, just 0.00015 times the force of gravity on Earth.
In September, Gemini 11 continued Gemini 10’s success. Dick Gordon (1929–2017) performed two strenuous spacewalks, and Pete Conrad (1930–1999) used a docked Agena engine to raise their orbit to a record 850 miles above Earth.
The final Gemini mission on November 11, 1966, with Buzz Aldrin (1930–) and Jim Lovell put America firmly in the lead of the Space Race. Although they were unable to use an Agena booster, Aldrin performed three successful spacewalks, conducting experiments and taking pictures. Their splashdown on November 15 was the end of the hugely successful Gemini program.
The knowledge gained about navigation, long-duration spaceflight, and working in space provided NASA with the tools they needed to go for the moon with Project Apollo.
•How does a change in leadership affect both a country’s politics and its ability to advance in the sciences?
•How might the vision of Earth from space change a person’s perception of our planet?
COMPARE AND CONTRAST
The early space programs of Mercury, Gemini, Vostok, and Voskhod formed the foundations for space travel. How were the programs alike and how were they different?
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?
airlock, de-escalation, escalation, Kremlin, legacy, mesmerized, navigation, prestige, radar, radioactive, and solidarity.
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.
•Compare and contrast the American and Soviet early spacecraft. For example, you can make lists, create a diagram, or design a poster.
•How did the Soviets’ use of secrecy both help and hurt their efforts in the Space Race? How did it affect the American program and NASA’s decisions?
•Despite the rhetoric of the Cold War, astronauts and cosmonauts shared many experiences. Research the space explorers from both nations. Some questions to think about include the following.
•What were they like?
•How did they describe the effect of space travel on their lives?
•Did they see each other as enemies, friends, or something else?
To investigate more, compare the space programs of the world today. Is there competition between nations, or do they cooperate? Is there still a “space race” happening today?
President Kennedy’s speech calling for an American on the moon was an inspirational challenge to the country. But Kennedy himself had limited interest in space exploration.
•Do some research into President Kennedy and his personal interests. What was Kennedy’s motivation in giving such a speech, if he didn’t feel as strongly about space as historians believe?
•Without a presidential directive to go to the moon before the end of the 1960s, do you think it would have happened?
•Why or why not?
•How might history have been different if another president had led the country during those years?
•Create a presentation to show how today might have been different had President Kennedy not been the leader of the country in the 1960s.
To investigate more, consider how history might have fared had President Kennedy not been assassinated. What would have been different? What might relations have been like between the United States and the Soviet Union?
