Space Race

Overview

The Space Race is the birthplace of modern space travel technology. Most of today's space organizations are a consequence of the intense competition between the USA and Soviet Union between 1957 and 1975. The Space Race involved the efforts to send humans into space, insert satellites into Earth orbit and to send man to the Moon. Primarily driven by military intentions, most launch vehicles were based on ballistic missile systems as developed for nuclear strikes (see ICBM). This consequently formed the basis of all present launch vehicles for Mars and other planetary missions.

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