The Space Race and ICBMs
In 1957 the Soviets launch the first Earth-orbiting satellite named Sputnik.
About the size of a basketball.
To the Americans, Sputnik represented how they were behind the Soviets in regard to research, and also to a certain degree, weapons development, because the Soviets seemed to have the upper-hand if they could arm satellites with weapons.
The whole of the space race was motivated by the goal to show that one’s political ideology was better (more productive and smarter). It was a matter of pride, primarily.
ICBMS
ICBM: Inter-continental ballistic missile.
MIRVS: Multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles
Nuclear submarine
M.A.D. Mutually assured destruction.
The pre-emptive strike was a useless strategy
SAC (Strategic Air command) planes flying 24 hours a day.
The war becomes a deterrent to war.
About the size of a basketball.
To the Americans, Sputnik represented how they were behind the Soviets in regard to research, and also to a certain degree, weapons development, because the Soviets seemed to have the upper-hand if they could arm satellites with weapons.
The whole of the space race was motivated by the goal to show that one’s political ideology was better (more productive and smarter). It was a matter of pride, primarily.
ICBMS
ICBM: Inter-continental ballistic missile.
MIRVS: Multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles
Nuclear submarine
M.A.D. Mutually assured destruction.
The pre-emptive strike was a useless strategy
SAC (Strategic Air command) planes flying 24 hours a day.
The war becomes a deterrent to war.
Sputnik 1
History.com
Upon surrendering with his rocket team to the Americans in 1945: "We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else. We wanted to see the world spared another conflict such as Germany had just been through, and we felt that only by surrendering such a weapon to people who are guided by the Bible could such an assurance to the world be best secured.”
- Wernher Von Braun |
Could we see the Space Race as a positive consequence of the Cold war?
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