The Soviets were the first to put a human into space when they put Yuri Gagarin into space aboard the famous space craft called Vostok 1. The US shortly after followed this by sending their own astronaut into space a few weeks later; the astronaut that was sent to space was Alan Sheperd. This showed the fierce rivalry between the two opposing space of the United States and the USSR. The Soviet's space program often did beat the American NASA program in milestones like this. (history.com) In February 1962, the United States' President John F. Kennedy said to the nation that by the end of the decade he wanted the United States and NASA to put a man on the moon. This statement led to a frenzy between both sides within because both wanted to be first. Both countries' space programs received a huge finically boost; the United State's National Aeronautics and Space Administration received a boost of five-hundred percent to it's annual budget. NASA took a slight advantage over the Russians in the race to the moon in late 1968 when the United States were the first to orbit the moon with the launch of Apollo Eight. The Russian's space program had began to slip due to the untimely death of their chief engineer Sergey Korolyov. His death led to the lesser Soviet engineers making many mistakes that proved to be very costly in the race and even finically for the economy. The United States sought to win the space race and beat the Soviet's space program on July 16, 1969 when NASA launched the famous Apollo Eleven. The crew of Apollo Eleven was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins. The task of these three men was to be the first humans to ever set foot on the moon; this goal was achieved a short four days later when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong stepped out of the spacecraft
The Soviets were the first to put a human into space when they put Yuri Gagarin into space aboard the famous space craft called Vostok 1. The US shortly after followed this by sending their own astronaut into space a few weeks later; the astronaut that was sent to space was Alan Sheperd. This showed the fierce rivalry between the two opposing space of the United States and the USSR. The Soviet's space program often did beat the American NASA program in milestones like this. (history.com) In February 1962, the United States' President John F. Kennedy said to the nation that by the end of the decade he wanted the United States and NASA to put a man on the moon. This statement led to a frenzy between both sides within because both wanted to be first. Both countries' space programs received a huge finically boost; the United State's National Aeronautics and Space Administration received a boost of five-hundred percent to it's annual budget. NASA took a slight advantage over the Russians in the race to the moon in late 1968 when the United States were the first to orbit the moon with the launch of Apollo Eight. The Russian's space program had began to slip due to the untimely death of their chief engineer Sergey Korolyov. His death led to the lesser Soviet engineers making many mistakes that proved to be very costly in the race and even finically for the economy. The United States sought to win the space race and beat the Soviet's space program on July 16, 1969 when NASA launched the famous Apollo Eleven. The crew of Apollo Eleven was Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, and Michael Collins. The task of these three men was to be the first humans to ever set foot on the moon; this goal was achieved a short four days later when Apollo 11 landed on the moon and Neil Armstrong stepped out of the spacecraft