Sources:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Race
This Wikipedia article is very thorough and detailed. It starts explaining the beginning of the movement which would be during WWII when the Soviet Union, the U.S., and Great Britain would attain German rocket engineers, their rockets, and their designs. The Cold War also prompted the Space Race because this war was actually, according to Wikipedia, a continuing state of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition, primarily between the Soviet Union and the U.S. The Soviet Union was the first country to Outer Space with the launch of Sputnik. The USSR also launched the first man into space. The U.S. got the first man onto the moon, though, which was in the mission called Apollo 11. By the 1970s, the United States began inventing reusable spacecraft called the Space Shuttle while the USSR continued to develop space station technology. By 1991, the USSR ended its space program and distributed it amongst other Eastern European countries. The U.S. and Russia would work together in space with the Shuttle-Mir Program and the International Space Station. This article is a credible source because it is extensively cited and has a lot of references.
2. http://www.thespacerace.com/
This website is also very detailed in its information about the Space Race. It is mainly focused on the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs along with the people involved in the space programs and government. The timeline from the very beginning, Sputnik, to the end of launching into space, the 1969 first precision landing, was extremely fascinating to read. There are biographies on every man and woman involved in the space program as well as in-depth articles on the technology. Again, this website is very informational, and I have enjoyed my time getting to read most of it! This website is a credible source because its references and sources are from NASA and other government websites. It has also been attaining this information for ten years, so it is probably not a high school student and is a knowledgeable author.
3. http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/
This Smithsonian website includes information and pictures on past, current, and future exhibitions for the Air and Space Museum. (I went there this summer.. I was most excited to see this museum.. And it was well worth it! I loved every moment of it!) There is also a gallery on the Fifty First Years of Human Space Flight. It is like a more-detailed timeline with primary sources. Some things I learned about, which are specific features in the world of space, are the Skylab Orbital Workshop, the largest component of America's first space station, and the Minutemen Guidance System, which has led indirectly to today's inexpensive computing power and the mass production of [computer] chips. This website is a definite credible sources because it is from the Smithsonian Institution, an educational and research institute administered and funded by the U.S. government.
4. http://www.vibrationdata.com/SpaceRace.htm
This website is a nice, clear, and concise article from categories of Early Rocket History to Sputnik to U.S. and Soviet Union Achievements to Astronauts/Cosmonauts deaths to Apollo 11. I learned a lot about early rocket history and its scientists that none of my other sources included. Two scientists that were two of the first to start researching and inventing for rocket science, really caught my eye while reading. Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (And don't get that confused with the Russian composer, Tchaikovsky) was a Russian school teacher who developed the basic theory of rocket propulsion. He wrote an article in 1903 called "The Exploration of Cosmic Space by Reaction Propulsion Apparatuses" and developed manned spacecraft in later writings. His design included garden plants for oxygen and liquid oxygen and hydrogen propelled the spacecraft. The other scientist, Robert Goddard, launched the world's first successful liquid-propelled rocket, which was fueled by liquid oxygen and gasoline. The credibility of this cite was questioned at first because of the unknown background of the author, Tome Irvine. I searched him on the internet and found a Google Profile about him. His occupation is with Shock and Vibration Analysis (He works at Vibrationdata - Also the name of the website), performs mechanical shock and vibration analyses on rocket vehicles, and teaches shock and vibration analysis. His background and knowledge on the field of rockets seems to be backed up by his occupation. I find this website as a credible source.
About The Space Race and Reflection
1. What is a movement?
A movement is a large group or people, or organizations, that focus on specific political or social issues and resist against the issue in order to change it. In other words, it is a group of people that will fight to get what they want or believe what is right for the better of everyone or just themselves. For example, the Civil Rights Movement, in the United States, was a movement to stop racial discrimination against African Americans and other minorities.
2. Why is your movement important to U.S. history?
The Space Race is important to U.S. history because it lead to more knowledge of Earth's moon and the universe and helped our country find a productive topic of interest and goal to complete. The Space Race overshadowed the Cold War and helped make the war a technological and research competition rather than a possible World War III. This was also a battle of ideology. This movement was used to help the U.S.S.R. Communists and the U.S. Capitalists prove which political system works best. Both sides wanted to prove that their system worked better, so this race was extremely important for both sides to win.
3. How did this movement influence movements after it?
This movement, the Space Race, being a pretty specific subject compared to many other movements, has particularly influenced the Environmental Movement. The Environmental Movement focuses on conservation, green politics, and the caring for our Earth's resources. The Space Race unexpectedly facilitated the Environmental Movement because of the first color pictures of Earth, showing a fragile, blue planet amongst darkness. The picture from Apollo 8 titled Earthrise and the first picture to show the full circular earth, Apollo 17's The Blue Marble, became iconic pictures for the Environmental Movement. The Apollo 8 picture partly instigated the first Earth Day. Also, astronauts mentioning how Earth looks so fragile from space and how it is our only home for now triggered the want and need to keep our world clean and harmonious.
4. How did your movement affect your community and what signs of it do you see there?
The Space Race has affected my community mainly with the advancement of technology. The signs are all around us. Just from one machine, the Minutemen Guidance System, we have an easy, inexpensive computing power as well as computer chips being able to be mass produced. Other than technology, the Space Race has greatly affected the genre of science fiction. Science fiction and outer space coincide with one another with the goal of searching through the unknown and finding answers. The simplest of materials were also created for our use today. These materials range from plastics to polyesters to memory foam to LEDs to infrared ear thermometers and to artificial limbs. The technology and materials created from the Space Race and NASA are endless and without these commodities, our lives would be very different.
5. Now that you have learned about this movement, what questions do you have about the movement?
What questions do I have about the movement? Hmm... Most of my questions and statements that I wonder to myself are mostly about... How did the Space Race movement end? Did the Cold War ever actually end? This puzzles me. I understand that the Soviet Union eventually collapsed, and they also distributed their space program amongst other European countries, but this subject still has me wondering at some points. But other than those questions, my other questions have been answered to a degree of satisfaction.
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