The Space Race

After World War Two a new conflict began known as the Cold War, this began in the late 1950’s and involved capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union.  Within this, spac became another part of the competition with each side fighting to prove who was more advanced with technology, military firepower and its economic system. 

On the 4th October 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first man made object into space known as, Sputnik. This caused a shock to America and caused the creation of nasa in 1958 with the launch of their own satilitte, Explorer I. In 1959 the space race progressed further as the Soviet space program launched the first cosmonaut into space which was then followed by the American in may 1961. 

The space race was a crazy time for the world and captivated all audiences with advance technologies and bold claims such as landing a man on the moon. So how does this link to my initial research. Well during 1960 Valentina Tereshkova volunteered  to join the Soviet Space Program. During this time she under went 18 months of intense training before Valentina was chosen to be the chief piglet of the Vostok 6. Then on the 16th June 1961 Valentina Tereshkova was launched into space on a three day mission that involved a range of new research. Including capturing photos which discovered the aerosol layers in the atmosphere. Terskova’s mission had a huge effect within the space race, as she logged more space time than all American missions combined to that date, as well as being the first woman in space. 

It was important for me to look into these details regarding the history of the space race as it allowed me to collect a range of facts and also see the vibe the situation and the effect it had on the time period. IT also allowed me to think about environment and the overall feel of Tereshkova’s intubation and story.