Public's View on the Space Race
The United States was shocked when they heard about the launching of Sputnik. After World War II, we considered ourselves to be the technological giant of the world. We were not ravaged by war at home the way other countries were, especially the Soviet Union. We had the industry, the scientists, the engineers, and the money that others did not.
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The balance of power had been shifted now that the Soviets had beat us to space. We had to view them technologically as our equal for the first time. In response to the Soviets' success, the US government poured money into math and science education programs and founded our own space program, NASA, in 1958.
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NASA
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Our space program, in contrast with the Soviet space program, was very public and very much in the hands of the American people
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The Soviet space program was very secretive and they only publicized their successes.
This was a way for the US to display the success of capitalism by keeping programs like NASA under less control of the government. |
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NASA was completely agreed upon as a good idea and one of the few unifying forces in the country at the time.
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NASA was also very popular throughout the US because of the jobs it created and the boost it gave to the economy. During the Apollo missions, NASA directly employed over 400,000 different people. The space race also led to many other industries booming, due to demand from NASA for products. In the end, millions of Americans were employed as a result of the space race, either by NASA or by companies who provided for NASA.
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