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The Space Race and American Short Story
1. CONTEXTUALIZATION: For over a decade, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a heated competition--the
space race. The space race began in 1957 when the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik. The Soviet
leader Nikita Khrushchev and the American presidents Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon all
agreed that conquering outer space was very important. Both countries wanted to win-to prove their scientific superiority
and to show their military strength.
Soviet Premier Khrushchev wanted to show that communist technology was superior. President Kennedy wanted to beat the
Soviets to the moon. Speaking about the prospect of sending astronauts to the moon in 1961, Kennedy said, "No single
space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space.
And none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."
2. SALIENT POINTS: The Space Race began in 1957 on October 4th with the Soviet Union launching Sputnik 1, the first artificial
satellite in space. Around four months later the United States launched their first satellite into space called Explorer 1.
These early satellites were used specifically for scientific purposes only. In 1961 the Soviets launched the first human into
space. His name was Yuri Gagarin, and he was in space for 108 minutes. The Americans responded less than four weeks later
with the launch of Alan Shepard into space, to become the first American in space. Around ten months after Alan Shepard's
flight, the US launched another mission with John Glenn. John became the first American to orbit the earth, orbiting it three
times. One year later in 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, became the first woman in space.
Over the next five years the Soviet Union and US, went back and forth with their own firsts. In December of 1968 the US
launched Apollo 8, which not only became the first manned spacecraft to orbit the moon but also the first crew to spend Christmas
in space. On July 20 1969, Neil Armstrong became not only the first American but also the first human to step foot on the
moon. His famous first words, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" were forever engraved
in history. The US continued to send flights to the moon until 1975 when they turned their attention to a space station. The
American space station was named Skylab, its main objectives were to prove that humans could live and work in space for an
extended period of time, and to gather data about space that was unable to be observed from the earth. Finally, on July 17,
1975, just less than six years after the US put a man on the moon, the US docked with the Russian space station Soyuz. This
was the first time ever that two spacecraft from different countries would dock together. This docking in space officially
marked the end of the space race between the Soviet Union and United States.
3. INFLUENCE ON THE SHORT STORY: Well before the world launched a human into space, or even landed a man on the moon,
space intrigued many writers. This want for knowledge of space presented an opportunity to many writers to speculate and create
works about outer space. This produced what we call science fiction works. These authors date back to Poe who even wrote a
story about a flight to the moon. Not until the late 1950's and into the 1960's did we actually find out what space was actually
like. Post-Modern writers like Frank Herbert, Samuel R. Delany, and Harlan Ellison explored new trends of writing and intrigued
many Americans with space, not only through their novels but also their short fiction stories. These three men won many awards
for their works, including the Hugo Award and Nebula Award. These awards in particular are given to writers of the best science
fiction writers of the previous year. In addition the Nebula Award is given to the best science fiction writer in the United
States.
4. CONNECTIONS TO OUR CLASS: The Space Race was a major turning point in American history especially in technological
advancements. In Jacquelyn McLendon's Borderlands: Contending Voices in Post War America, Writing in America 1945-1999&
he discusses the different ways that the United States has evolved since the ending of WWII. In the Revolutionary 1960's he
talks about how the 1960's really changed the face of the United States. How assassinations, riots, and diversity marked this
decade. The Space Race though only briefly mentioned in this particular work, was also a prominent event that marked the 1960's.
Material was collected from these websites:
http://www.newseum.org/cybernewseum/exhibits/
dateline_moon/space.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Space_Race
http://www.thespacerace.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_fiction
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