After World War II, the capitalist United States and the communist USSR developed a long period of tension and rivalry, commonly referred to as "the Cold War." In our history class, we learned that this rivalry led to a space competition between the two superpowers to prove which had the better economic, military, scientific and technological system. This competition is known as the “Space Race”. It all started on October 4, 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik 1 into space. Sputnik (“traveler” in Russian) was the first satellite manufactured by humanity. It was a small, beeping metal ball, less than two feet in diameter and weighing less than 200 pounds. The balloon was small, but it started a great space race between the USSR and the United States. This race lasted around twenty years and, without a doubt, completely changed the world. Sputnik 1 was not the first artificial technological creation in space. Towards the end of World War II, the Germans had used the V-2 rocket as a desperate attempt against the Allied powers. The V-2 was a ballistic missile with supersonic speed, and at the end of the war the United States and Soviet Union asked the scientists who created it to use them for their own developments. In August 1957, the USSR had actually tested the R-7 Semyorka, the first ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile). The R-7 was used two months later to launch Sputnik 1 into space. At this point, the Soviet Union was ahead in the space race. Unhappy with this, President Eisenhower demanded that the Navy launch a U.S. satellite as soon as possible. On December 6, 1957, the United States attempted to launch the Vanguard TV3. Unfortunately, two seconds after takeoff, the rocket fell and exploded. The... middle of paper ... and gift exchange. The space race had great historical significance for the United States and the entire world. On the surface, it looked like a battle between science and technology. In reality, it was a political battle between the world's two great superpowers and their economic systems, an ideological battle between communism and capitalism. So, was the space race a waste of time? Could all those millions of dollars have been better invested in something else? Perhaps, but we must not forget that the space race stimulated research in many areas, and that research resulted in many life-changing developments. LED therapy to treat cancer, freeze-dried foods, and memory foam used in mattresses all come from technologies developed by NASA for space. And let's not forget to thank the space program for the satellites essential to our GPS and cell phones.!