A race that started with a satellite
This article looks at what happened around and after the first satellite, rather than at the satellite itself. The launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957 is described in our article on the Sputnik launch; here the focus is on how it fits into the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union and the exploration that followed.
Before Sputnik, both countries had rocket programs with military purposes. The Soviet Union and the United States both used German rocket engineers and V-2 designs after World War II as starting points. Spaceflight was a secondary goal for the military, and the satellite plans for the International Geophysical Year of 1957 and 1958 were a scientific effort. What made it a race was public reaction. Once the first satellite was in orbit, space became a field in which countries could compete for prestige.
The first year
The pace of events in the months afterward was fast.
- November 1957: Sputnik 2 carried a dog named Laika, the first animal in orbit. She did not survive the flight, and the Soviet Union gave varying accounts of when and how she died. The mission raised the prospect of human spaceflight.
- December 1957: the U.S. Vanguard test vehicle rose a short distance and fell back in flames on live television, which embarrassed the American program.
- January 1958: Explorer 1, built with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and launched on an Army rocket, reached orbit. Its instruments helped reveal the Van Allen radiation belts.
- July 1958: the U.S. Congress passed the legislation creating NASA, which began operations in October.
These events show that the competition quickly became organized and public. Historians often point out that American officials knew of Soviet progress, but the public effect was still large.
Moving beyond Earth orbit
Over the next few years the Soviet Union achieved a series of early milestones. Luna 2 reached the Moon’s surface in September 1959, and Luna 3 returned the first photographs of the far side the following month. In April 1961, Yuri Gagarin made a single orbit of the Earth aboard Vostok 1, becoming the first person in space. The United States launched Alan Shepard on a short suborbital flight in May 1961, and John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962. The capsules and clothing used by early astronauts are discussed in our article on the Mercury suit.
In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy proposed that the United States aim to land a man on the Moon and return him safely before the decade ended. The goal gave the American effort a clear target. Between 1961 and 1969, the Gemini and Apollo programs developed techniques such as rendezvous and spacewalking, built the huge Saturn V rocket and tested the equipment needed, including the lunar spacesuits that Apollo astronauts wore on the surface. Apollo 11 landed on July 20, 1969. The Soviet Union’s own crewed lunar program did not succeed, and its giant N1 rocket failed in its test launches. Its long-term program turned toward space stations, which are described in our article on space stations.
Cooperation and rules
The competition was not the whole story. The International Geophysical Year had shown that scientists from both sides could cooperate, and in 1967 the Outer Space Treaty set basic rules, including that space is not subject to national claims of sovereignty and that nuclear weapons must not be placed in orbit. In 1975, an Apollo and a Soyuz spacecraft docked in orbit in a symbolic joint mission. Later cooperation on the International Space Station continued the pattern.
Practical spin-offs
Often forgotten is that the race was also a catalyst for practical satellite applications. The money and attention that went into rockets helped launch weather, communications and navigation satellites. Our articles on communications satellites and GPS describe how those uses grew. The Navy’s Transit system, for example, came directly from studying Sputnik’s radio signal. Some historians argue that much of the long-term value of the program came from these applications rather than from the flags and footprints.
Interpreting the race
Views differ on how to judge the space race. Supporters note that it produced a great leap in science, engineering and education, and that it channeled rivalry into something other than direct conflict. Critics point out the large cost, the fact that space and missile technology are closely linked, and that prestige motives rather than scientific ones often set the agenda. Both views have some basis. It is a fair summary that the first satellite changed both what was technically possible and what governments chose to attempt.
Seen this way, the title “space exploration” fits the aftermath of Sputnik better than the satellite itself. A small sphere that did little more than send a radio signal began a period in which people, probes and instruments left the Earth, and much of what we know about the solar system came from that period.