Space Race

Image above: On July 16, 1969, Apollo 11

Image above: On Oct. 14, 1966, the towering Saturn
V rocket rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building
and heads for Launch Pad 39A.
Commander Neil A. Armstrong leads astronauts
Michael Collins and Edwin E. Aldrin, Jr., from the
Manned Spacecraft Operations Building to the
transfer van for the eight-mile trip to Pad 39A.

"First, I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth."

That proclamation by President John F. Kennedy before a joint session of Congress on May 25, 1961, set the
stage for an astounding time in our nation's emerging space program. The goal -- fueled by competition with the
Soviet Union dubbed the "space race" -- took what was to become Kennedy Space Center from a testing ground
for new rockets to a center successful at launching humans to the moon. Neil Armstrong's "one small step" on
the lunar surface in 1969 achieved a goal that sounded like science fiction just a few years earlier.

As the decade dawned in 1960, gas cost 31 cents per gallon, the No. 1 song of the year was the instrumental
"Theme from a Summer Place" by Percy Faith, and the two-year-old space agency was launching rockets along
the east coast of Florida. Project Mercury already was under way, having launched the first American, Alan
Shepard, on a suborbital flight May 5, 1961 -- just a few weeks before the president's bold proclamation. On
Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn lifted off from Launch Complex 14 aboard an Atlas rocket to become the first
American to orbit Earth.

America had a new set of heroes -- the Mercury 7 astronauts.

During these early days, the Launch Operations Directorate in Florida, under the leadership of Dr. Kurt H.
Debus, was an arm of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. On July 1, 1962, the launch facility was
given full center status as the Launch Operations Center with Debus as its first director.

Throughout the course of two years, Project Mercury had six successful launches of solo astronauts aboard
Redstone and Atlas rockets. Following closely behind were Project Gemini's 10 missions, with crews of two,
aboard Atlas and Titan launch vehicles. The first crew flew aboard Gemini 3 on March 23, 1965, lifting off on a
Titan rocket from Launch Complex 19. The Gemini missions established their own astounding set of firsts,
introducing pioneering spacewalks and spacecraft dockings -- revolutionary new feats as astronauts were
quickly learning to live and work, and even troubleshoot, in space.

During this time, the infrastructure of the Launch Operations Center took shape as preparations for the lunar
missions continued, but the name of the center changed after a tragic turn of events. On Nov. 29, 1963, just five
days after the assassination of the president who set the moon as NASA's goal, the center was renamed the John
F. Kennedy Space Center in his honor.

While Mercury and Gemini launches lifted off from pads on Cape Canaveral, NASA was building its own
moon launch facility, Launch Complex 39, to support the mighty Saturn V rocket. The gigantic Vehicle
Assembly Building began to take shape in 1962 and was completed in 1965. Launch pads A and B were
constructed, with a crawlerway to serve as the highway between the VAB and the pads. A crawler-transporter
was built to carry the towering moonbound rockets along the gravel path.

Further south, the Manned Spacecraft Operations Building, now known as the Operations and Checkout
Building, was constructed in 1964 in what became known as the Industrial Area. Kennedy's Headquarters and
Central Instrumentation Facility were built nearby to house the growing workforce at the center. With the last
Gemini mission in 1966, the stage was set for the final march to the moon.

President Kennedy said Americans would go to the moon before the end of the decade, and although he didn't
live to see that proclamation fulfilled, the Apollo Program rapidly took shape. A bigger, more powerful rocket
was needed to deliver astronauts beyond Earth orbit and propel them toward the moon, as well as two separate
spacecraft -- a command service module and a lunar lander -- to accomplish the task of reaching the surface.
Both crew and spacecraft were coming together for the first flight when tragedy struck the bustling moonport.

On Jan. 27, 1967, the three astronauts set to fly the first Apollo mission the following month -- Gus Grissom, Ed
White and Roger Chaffee -- lost their lives in a flash fire that swept through their command module during a
launch pad test at Complex 34. The exhaustive investigation of the fire and extensive reworking of the Apollo
command module postponed launches of astronauts until NASA officials cleared the module for flight. In the
spring of 1967, the flight originally scheduled for Grissom, White and Chaffee was officially designated Apollo
1 for the history books.

The first test of the powerful Saturn V without a crew on board was Apollo 4 on Nov. 9, 1967. Center Director
Kurt Debus described its liftoff at the time: "The release is very slow and the rise along the umbilical tower is
very slow. It takes a total of 19 seconds, which at that moment appeared to be minutes as it takes off," he said,
"and as this rocket lifts off, the majestic way in which it performs is very impressive, more impressive than
anything I have ever seen."

The flight proved the huge new Saturn rocket had the power to perform and that the team at Kennedy was up to
the task of successfully launching such a rocket.

The maiden voyage of an Apollo crew came on Oct. 11, 1968, as Wally Schirra, Donn Eisele and Walt
Cunningham lifted off from Launch Complex 34 aboard a Saturn-IB for the Apollo 7 Earth orbital mission.

Just two months later, the Apollo 8 astronauts flew the first lunar orbital mission after launching from Launch
Pad 39A aboard a Saturn V on Dec. 21, 1968. During that historic mission, Americans sat spellbound on
Christmas Eve watching a live broadcast by the astronauts orbiting the moon, as they presented amazing, never-
before-seen images like "Earthrise" over the lunar surface.

The lunar orbital missions of Apollo 8 and 10 demonstrated that it was possible to reach the moon and return,
but it was up to the Apollo 11 crew to prove that they could not only get there, but also land on the moon and
return home. At Kennedy, three astronauts -- Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins and Buzz Aldrin -- along with
the Kennedy launch team, prepared for a test like no humans had ever faced before.
The Apollo 11 launch from pad 39A came on July 16, 1969. The eight-day mission took the crew on a 935,000-
mile journey to another world. On July 20, an estimated 530 million people watched the televised image and
heard Armstrong's words as he became the first human to set foot on the moon, fulfilling President Kennedy's
challenge.

By decade's end, the Apollo Program had completed two successful moon landings, and Kennedy Space Center
was the launch capital of the world.

Against a backdrop of the decade's national tragedies and social changes, the exciting achievements in space
gave Americans collective pride.

Cheryl L. Mansfield
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy began a dramatic expansion of the U.S. space program and committed the
nation to the ambitious goal of landing a man on the moon by the end of the decade.

In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on. The Soviets' triumph jarred
the American people and sparked a vigorous response in the federal
government to make sure the United States did not fall behind its
Communist rival.

A new space program, Project Mercury, was initiated two years later,
during President Dwight D. Eisenhower's administration. Seven men
were selected to take part in the program: Scott Carpenter, Leroy Gordon
Cooper, John Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan
Shepard Jr., and Donald "Deke" Slayton. Project Mercury's goals were to
orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth, investigate the ability of
astronauts to function in space, and recover astronauts and spacecraft
safely.

Then, in 1961, the nation suffered another shock when Soviet cosmonaut
Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. The United States,
it seemed, was still falling behind.

President Kennedy's Challenge

President Kennedy understood the need to restore America's confidence and intended not merely to match the
Soviets, but surpass them. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on "urgent
national needs." He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space
program, proclaiming that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of
landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth." President Kennedy settled upon this dramatic
goal as a means of focusing and mobilizing the nation's lagging space
efforts. Skeptics questioned the ability of the National Aeronautics and
Space Administration (NASA) to meet the president's timetable. Within
a year, however, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom became the first two
Americans to travel into space.

An American in Orbit
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn Jr. became the first American to orbit Earth.
Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Friendship 7 capsule carrying
Glenn reached a maximum altitude of 162 miles and an orbital velocity of
17,500 miles per hour. After more than four hours in space, having circled the
 earth three times, Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere
and landed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda.

Glenn's success helped inspire the great army of people working to reach
the Moon. Medical researchers, engineers, test pilots, machinists, factory
workers, businessmen, and industrialists from across the country worked
together to achieve this goal. By May 1963, astronauts Scott Carpenter,
Walter Schirra Jr., and L. Gordon Cooper had also orbited Earth. Each
mission lasted longer than the one before and gathered more data.

To the Moon
As space exploration continued through the 1960s, the United States was on
its way to the Moon. Project Gemini was the second NASA spaceflight
program. Its goals were to perfect the entry and re-entry maneuvers of a
spacecraft and conduct further tests on how individuals are affected by long
periods of space travel. The Apollo Program
followed Project Gemini. Its goal was to land humans on the moon and assure their
safe return to Earth. On July 20, 1969, the Apollo 11 astronautsNeil Armstrong,
Michael Collins, and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr.realized President Kennedy's dream.
The Space Race
After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle
pitted the worlds two great powersthe democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Unionagainst
each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space would become another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side
sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower andby extensionits political-economic system.

Sputnik in Context
By the mid-1950s, the U.S.-Soviet Cold War had worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in both countries, fueled
by the arms race and the growing threat of nuclear weapons, wide-ranging espionage and counter-espionage between the
two countries, war in Korea and a clash of words and ideas carried out in the media. These tensions would continue
throughout the space race, exacerbated by such events as the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban missile
crisis of 1962 and the outbreak of war in Southeast Asia.

After Apollo 11 landed on the moon's surface in July 1969, six more Apollo missions followed by the end of 1972.
Arguably the most famous was Apollo 13, whose crew managed to survive an explosion of the oxygen tank in their
spacecraft's service module on the way to the moon.

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7
intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for traveler), the worlds first artificial satellite and the first
man-made object to be placed into the Earths orbit. Sputniks launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most
Americans. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of
exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the
overwhelming power of the R-7 missileseemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air spacemade
gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.

A New Urgency
In 1958, the U.S. launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the direction of rocket scientist
Wernher von Braun. That same year, President Dwight Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration.

Eisenhower also created two national security-oriented space programs that would operate simultaneously with NASAs
program. The first, spearheaded by the U.S. Air Force, dedicated itself to exploiting the military potential of space. The
second, led by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the Air Force and a new organization called the National
Reconnaissance Office (the existence of which was kept classified until the early 1990s) was code-named Corona; it
would use orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union and its allies.

Space Race Heats Up

In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the
moon. In April 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth, traveling in the capsule-
like spacecraft Vostok 1. For the U.S. effort to send a man into space, dubbed Project Mercury, NASA engineers designed
a smaller, cone-shaped capsule far lighter than Vostok; they tested the craft with chimpanzees, and held a final test flight
in March 1961 before the Soviets were able to pull ahead with Gagarins launch. On May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard
became the first American in space (though not in orbit).

Later that May, President John F. Kennedy made the bold, public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon
before the end of the decade. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, and by the end of
that year, the foundations of NASAs lunar landing programdubbed Project Apollowere in place.

Achievements of Apollo
From 1961 to 1964, NASAs budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved
some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. Apollo suffered a setback
in January 1967, when three astronauts were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch simulation.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Unions lunar landing program proceeded tentatively, partly due to internal debate over its
necessity and to the untimely death (in January 1966) of Sergey Korolyov, chief engineer of the Soviet space program.

December 1968 saw the launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon, from NASAs massive
launch facility on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, Florida. On July 16, 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin
Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt. After landing
successfully on July 20, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moons surface; he famously called the moment
one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

Conclusion of the Space Race

By landing on the moon, the United States effectively won the space race that had begun with Sputniks launch in 1957.
For their part, the Soviets made four failed attempts to launch a lunar landing craft between 1969 and 1972, including a
spectacular launch-pad explosion in July 1969. From beginning to end, the American publics attention was captivated by
the space race, and the various developments by the Soviet and U.S. space programs were heavily covered in the national
media. This frenzy of interest was further encouraged by the new medium of television. Astronauts came to be seen as the
ultimate American heroes, and earth-bound men and women seemed to enjoy living vicariously through them. Soviets, in
turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power
of the communist system.

With the conclusion of the space race, U.S. government interest in lunar missions waned after the early 1970s. In 1975,
the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent three U.S. astronauts into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft that docked in orbit with
a Soviet-made Soyuz vehicle. When the commanders of the two crafts officially greeted each other, their handshake in
space served to symbolize the gradual improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations in the late Cold War-era.

Timeline of Space Exploration

1957 Oct. 4 - USSR launches Sputnik 1.

Nov. 3 - USSR launches Sputnik 2 which carried a small dog named Laika into orbit.

1958 Jan. 31 - Explorer 1, the first American satellite to reach orbit, is launched. It carried scientific equipment
that lead to the discovery of the Van Allen radiation belt.

Mar. 5 - Explorer 2 is launced but it fails to reach orbit.

Mar. 17 - The Vanguard 1 satellite is launched. It continues to function for 3 years.

May 15 - Sputnik 3 is launched.

Oct. 1 - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is formed, it replaces the National
Advisory Committee on Aeronautics (NACA).

Oct. 11 - Pioneer 1 is launched to a height of 70,700 miles.

1959 Jan. 2 - Luna 1 is launched by the USSR. It is the first man made object to orbit the Sun.

Mar. 3 - Pioneer 4 is launched on a Earth-Moon trajectory. It passed within 37,000 miles of the Moon
before falling into a solar orbit.
Apr. 2 - The "Mercury Seven" astronauts are selected by NASA.

Sep. 12 - Luna 2 is launched. It impacts the Moon on September 13, becoming the first man-made object
to do so.
Oct. 4 - Luna 3 orbits the Moon and photographs 70% of its surface.
1960 Apr. 1 - Tiros 1, the first successful weather satellite, is launched.

Aug. 18 - The US launches Discoverer XIV, its first camera equipped spy satellite.

Nov. 8 - John F. Kennedy is elected the 35th President of the United States.

1961 Apr. 12 - Yuri Gagarin orbits the Earth once and becomes the first man in space.

May 5 - Alan B. Shepard becomes the first American in space.

May 25 - President John F. Kennedy addresses Congress and challenges the nation to go to the Moon
before the end of the decade.

Jul. 21 - Gus Grissom is launched on a sub-orbital flight. His Liberty-Bell capsule is lost when it fills
with water and sinks after splashdown.

Aug. 6 - Gherman Titov spends a day in space aboard Vostok 2.

Dec. 7 - NASA announces the Gemini Program.

1962 Feb. 20 - John Glenn orbits the Earth three times.

May 24 - Scott Carpenter repeats John Glenn's flight aboard "Aurora 7".

Sep. 12 - President Kennedy gives a speech at Rice University reaffirming the importance of the Moon
program.

Sep. 17 - NASA selects its second group of astronauts.

Oct. 3 - Walter Schirra orbits the Earth six times.

Dec. 14 - Mariner 2 flies past Venus and enters a solar orbit.

1963 May 15 - L. Gordon Cooper spends 34 hours in space. He is the last American to fly in space alone.

Jun. 16 - Cosmonaut Valentia Tereshkova becomes the first woman in space.

Oct. 17 - A third group of NASA astronauts is selected.

Nov. 22 - President Kennedy is assassinated.

1964 Jul. 31 - Ranger 7 transmits the first close range images of the Moon.

Oct. 31 - Astronaut Theodore Freeman dies in a plane crash.

1965 Mar. 18 - Alexei Leonov spends 12 minutes outside of his Voskhod spacecraft performing the first
spacewalk.

Mar. 23 - Gus Grissom and John Young fly the first manned Gemini spacecraft.

Jun. 3 - Ed White performs America's first spacewalk. Jim McDivitt remains in the Gemini capsule.

Jul. 14 - Mariner 4 returns close ranger images of Mars.

Nov. 16 - Venus 3 is launched. It becomes the first man made object to impact Venus on March 1, 1966.

Dec. 4 - Frank Borman and James Lovell begin a two week stay in Earth orbit aboard Gemini 7.

Dec. 15 - Walter Schirra and Thomas Stafford, in their Gemini 6 spacecraft, make the first space
rendezvous with Gemini 7.

1966 Feb. 3 - Luna 9 becomes the first spacecraft to soft-land on the Moon.
 Feb. 28 - Astronauts Charles Bassett and Elliott See die when their plane crashes in bad weather.

Apr. 3 - Luna 10 becomes the first satellite to orbit the Moon.

Jun. 2 - Surveyor 1 soft-lands on the Moon.

Aug. 14 - Lunar Orbiter 1 enters orbit around the Moon and takes the first picture of the Earth from that
distance.

Nov. 11 - Gemini 12, the last flight of the Gemini Program, launches with James Lovell and Edwin
"Buzz" Aldrin aboard.

1967 Jan. 27 - Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee are killed when a fire ignites in their Apollo 1
capsule while performing a test on the launch pad.
Apr. 24 - Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov is killed when the parachutes of his Soyuz 1 capsule fail to open
properly following re-entry.
Jun. 6 - Astronaut Edward Givens is killed in an automobile accident.

Oct. 5 - Astronaut Clifton Williams is killed in a plane crash.

Oct. 18 - Venera 4 transmits data about the atmosphere of Venus.

1968 Mar. 27 - Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, dies in a plane crash.

Sep. 15 - Zond 5 is launched. It carried a biological payload (including two turtles) around the Moon and
returned to Earth six days later.

Oct. 11 - The crew of Apollo 7 begin a 10 day mission to study the new spacecraft.

Dec. 21 - Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders begin the first manned journey from the
Earth to the Moon. On Christmas Eve they take turns reading Genesis in a broadcast heard
around the world.

1969 Jan. 16 - Soyuz 4 & 5 perform the first Soviet spacecraft docking.

Jul. 20 - Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin become the first men to walk on the Moon while
crewmate Michael Collins orbits around the Moon alone.
Nov. 19 - Pete Conrad and Alan Bean perform the first precision lunar landing, touching down just 600
feet from the Surveyor 3 probe that arrived two years earlier.