The Space Race

Scientists in Germany in the 1940s had developed the first guided missiles, using technology that might make it possible for people to travel into space. This prompted the US and the Soviet Union to embark on a ‘space race’.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1, the first artificial Earth satellite. It took 96 minutes to orbit the Earth. In the following year, the US launched its first satellite, Explorer 1. Both countries spent vast amounts of money on space science.

The first person to orbit the Earth was Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union in 1961. The US set out to land a man on the Moon by 1970. This ambition was achieved when Neil Armstrong became the first person to walk on the Moon in 1969.

During the 1970s, Britain, China, France, India and Japan sent small spacecraft into orbit. Many of these were satellites, used for weather forecasting and for communications. The US and the Soviet Union sent craft deeper into space, sending back pictures and scientific information from the planets.

Since the 1990s and the easing of the Cold War, US and Russian scientists have worked together on space projects such as building the International Space Station.