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The July 15 1975 rendezvous of the Apollo and Soyuz space modules marks the traditional end of the space race. The space race was the competition between the United States and the Soviet Union to advance in space exploration and technology between 1957 and 1975, most notably in relation to their efforts to land a human being on the Moon and return him to Earth.
thumb Titan II rockets launched U.S. spacecraft from the 1960s through the 1980s. The term "space race" was coined by analogy to the arms race, and is considered an important part of the cultural and technological rivalry of the USSR and the U.S. during the Cold War. Space technology was a particularly important arena for this conflict, because of its psychological effects in raising morale and its military applications.
It started after World War IIWorld War II was the most extensive and costly armed conflict in the history of the world, involving the great majority of the world's nations, being fought simultaneously in several major theatres, and costing tens of millions of lives. The war was fough, when the scientists from the V-2 rocketThe V-2 rocket was an early ballistic missile used by Germany during the later stages of World War II against mostly British and Belgian targets. Pre-operational history As early as 1927 members of the German Rocket Society had started experimenting with program were absorbed by both the United States and the Soviet Union to work on their national rocketry programs. The U.S. policy of importing German scientists (even those with strong NaziThe National Socialist German Workers' Party ( German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei , better known as the NsDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. The term Nazi is a short fo ties) to prevent the knowledge from falling into the "wrong" hands was known as Operation PaperclipOriginally called Operation Overcast Operation Paperclip was the codename for the operation by the US intelligence services and military to extract scientists specialising in rocketry (e. V-1, V-2), chemical weapons (e. Zyklon-B) and medicine from Germany. These scientists formed the core of the U.S. team, led by Wernher von BraunMarshall Space Flight Center desk in Huntsville, Alabama with models of rockets developed and in progress. Wernher Magnus Maximilian Freiherr von Braun ( March 23 1912 June 16 1977) was a Nazi German scientist, SS officer, and one of the leading figures i, which began the development of ballistic missiles during the V-2 program decades earlier.
By the mid- 1950sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s Years: 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 Events and trends Technology United States tests the first fusion bomb., both countries announced intentions to include space as part of their plans for the future. As the first satellites and living payloads began launching, the stated goal was scientific advancement. The current interpretation is that both countries were using their space programs to showcase the strength of their ideologies. The Soviets used their early successes to sway undecided countries to join the Eastern Bloc; the USA followed suit.
As of 2004, some people have suggested that another space race is taking place between the People's Republic of China and other nations. The PRC announced plans to send a mission to the Moon by 2020. A major restructuring of NASA is proposed, which would focus on a manned return trip to the Moon.