Comparing The Space Race And The Cold War

The Space Race and the Cold War “That's One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind”. These words were heard worldwide when astronaut Neil Armstrong first stepped foot on the moon. When the
Apollo 11 mission launched on July 16, 1969, carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong, Michael
Collins, and Buzz Aldrin, the world was immersed in the middle of the Cold War between the
United States and the Soviet Union which had in essence split the globe into two radically different ideologies that lasted four decades. The Cold War between the United States and
Soviet Union separated the world into a clash of civilizations, but one aspect of this global conflict, the space race, ultimately helped to bring the world closer together through
This caused Russia to change positions and join the Allies, even though Russia’s leader Joseph Stalin was very distrustful of the United States and Great Britain partially because they had refused to open a second front against the Nazis. Shortly after the end of World War II, conflict tension arose between Russia and the other allies as each had differing ideas as to how the German borders should be redrawn, they also disagreed on how the establishment and maintenance of post-war security should be run. At the Potsdam Conference in July of 1945 the Allies finally came to an agreement deciding to split Germany into four occupation zones with the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union each controlling one. The agreement also stated that Germany’s reparations would be decided by the county that controlled the individual zone. By the time of the Potsdam Conference Russia had already joined with the surrounding countries in Eastern Europe, dominating the countries the Red Army had previously pushed back the Nazis in, creating what Churchill called “The Iron Curtain”. Russia feared the United States wanted to use money and power to dominate Europe and destroy the Russian communist system; they saw the rebuilding efforts in Western Europe and Japan as the United States trying to expand its markets. The United States set up the Marshal Plan, which gave
The technology that came from the space race resulted in many things that are used every day, worldwide such as the satellites we use for predicting weather, navigation, worldwide communications such as telephone service, data, television transmission and even the satellite surveillance used to protect countries all over the world. Technology from the Space Race also brought us laptops, the ability to have tele-conferences, which has ultimately lead to the development of Skype and FaceTime allowing people to connect with friends and family all over the world with just the touch of a button. Space Race technology has also been crucial in medical breakthroughs such as Telemedicine, and CAT & MRI Technologies. It even helped Michael DeBakey in the development of the artificial heart pump. Space race technology is found in smaller objects we take for granted every day, such as scratch-resistant lenses, athletic shoes, and cordless power tools¬—even insulation for our