The tensions of the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union spurred a technological race into space, culminating in the historic lunar landing in 1969.
Tensions escalated at the Baikonur Cosmodrome on the morning of April 12, 1961, as the Soviet Union prepared to send the first human into space in history.
Of the 16 prior attempts to launch the Soviet Vostok rocket into orbit, half had failed.
Two of the program’s top engineers were reportedly so anxious on April 12 that they had to take tranquilizers while awaiting the launch at the Kazakhstan site. Yet Yuri Gagarin remained calm in the capsule of the Vostok atop the rocket.
After months of rigorous physical and technical training, the 27-year-old astronaut was selected for the historic flight. Intelligent, hardworking, and well-liked by his peers, these traits were noted by the Soviet Air Force doctors; Asif Siddiqi, a Bangladeshi-American space historian, recorded that: “Gagarin understood life much better than his contemporaries.”
At 9:07 AM on April 12, 1961, Gagarin shouted “Poyekhali!” — meaning “Let’s go!” in Russian — as the rocket lifted off.
He recounted his experience to those on the ground as the rocket accelerated to a staggering speed of 27,358 km/h, pressing him back into his seat. “I see the Earth. Everything is magnificent and beautiful.”
A short time later, the Soviet astronaut became the first human in history to travel into space, and 89 minutes after launch, Yuri Gagarin was the first to orbit the planet.
This was a “golden moment” in the intense space race between the United States and the Soviet Union — a crucial milestone that would lead to America landing humans on the Moon for the first time by the end of the 1960s.
However, this was not where the story of human spaceflight truly began: That trajectory had been charted years earlier by another Soviet success.
The American Fear: The Race Begins
Despite being allies during World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union grew increasingly suspicious of each other after the war ended in 1945. The U.S. had just demonstrated its ability to obliterate entire cities by dropping atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki to force Japan’s surrender. This ignited the Cold War, where the U.S. and the Soviet Union vied for global dominance.
To showcase their superior technological capabilities, both nations began building massive nuclear arsenals and missiles capable of striking targets worldwide. By the mid-1950s, both countries announced plans to use these missiles to launch artificial satellites into space. While the U.S. scheduled the launch of Project Vanguard in 1958, the Soviet Union quietly resolved to outpace the Americans.
On October 4, 1957, the world was astonished when the Soviet Union announced that they had launched a natural satellite named Sputnik 1, which means “companion” in Russian, into Earth orbit, stunning the Americans. Although the Sputnik 1 satellite was no larger than a beach ball and had limited technical capabilities, this event was enough to instill fear in the Americans as they heard its radio signal “beep, beep, beep” as it passed overhead.
Sputnik 1 – The First Artificial Satellite in History, made by the Soviet Union. Sputnik 1 weighed nearly 84 kg, had a diameter of 58 cm, and two antennas measuring 2.4-2.9 meters. (Photo/Source: NASA)
President Dwight Eisenhower had his own concerns. White House officials feared whether the world would perceive the Soviet Union as a more modern superpower. They wrote in a report that the launch of the first artificial satellite in history, Sputnik 1, would “create a legend, myth, and superstition of a kind that is particularly difficult to erase or modify, which the Soviet Union could exploit to their advantage.”
Clearly, the small aluminum globe, 58 cm in diameter and weighing 83.6 kg, could leave America shaken with fear. Fear that the Soviet space position would diminish American power in the eyes of the world.
Reluctant to yield space to the Soviets, the U.S. established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in July 1958 and began earnestly pursuing the goal of human spaceflight.
Yuri Gagarin & Alan Shepard
Human space travel was not a novel concept in the 1950s. The U.S. had launched rockets carrying animals — including fruit flies and Rhesus monkeys — into suborbital space since the late 1940s, while the Soviet Union began launching dogs in 1951.
Just weeks after the launch of Sputnik 1 in 1957, the Soviet Union sent a dog named Laika into orbit. Unfortunately, Laika died within hours of the flight due to heat and stress.
The launching of animals into space served as precursor missions, as the ultimate goal was to send humans into space.
In 1958, NASA initiated Project Mercury with three specific goals: to put an American in orbit around the Earth, to investigate human endurance in space, and to safely return both the spacecraft and the astronaut home. The overriding objective: to accomplish all of this before the Soviet Union.
However, once again, the Soviet Union proved to be the frontrunner. Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight took place ONE MONTH BEFORE American astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. Although Shepard’s 15-minute suborbital flight aboard Freedom 7 was a significant milestone — watched by millions on television — it was overshadowed by Gagarin’s orbital journey around the Earth.
The Legendary Astronauts of the Soviet Union and the U.S.: Yuri Gagarin (left, Soviet Union) and Alan Shepard (U.S.).
Weeks after Alan Shepard’s flight, President John F. Kennedy addressed a joint session of the U.S. Congress, acknowledging that America had not sufficiently prioritized space exploration. He declared an intention to elevate space exploration to a top priority and issued an unprecedented challenge: America must land a man on the Moon by the end of the 1960s!
“No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish,” he stated. “In a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon — if we make this judgment affirmatively, it will be an entire nation.”
The Race of “Uneven Match”
However, before NASA could venture to the Moon, its scientists and engineers had much to learn. The agency advanced Project Mercury, sending astronaut John Glenn to become the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962. In May 1963, Gordon Cooper completed the 22-orbit flight, lasting approximately 34 hours and 20 minutes — making him the first American to spend a full day in space and the first to sleep in space.
However, just a month later, the Soviet Union once again gave America a “headache”: Soviet astronaut Valery Bykovsky spent 4 days and 23 hours in space — setting the record for the longest solo spaceflight — and Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in space.
After Project Mercury, NASA enhanced its spaceflight capabilities with Project Gemini. Regarded as a bridge to the Moon, Project Gemini aimed to rendezvous and dock in lunar orbit, test atmospheric reentry activities, and determine how space travel affects humans.
Meanwhile, the Soviet Union continued to set new records. In March 1965, astronaut Alexei Leonov became the first person to conduct a spacewalk. The excursion lasted 12 minutes and 9 seconds, at an altitude of 500 km; the spacewalk was particularly challenging: Leonov’s spacesuit was too rigid, complicating his return to the spacecraft. Fortunately, Leonov managed to handle the situation cleverly, ensuring his survival in the unprecedented mission.
Ten weeks later, on June 3, 1965, Ed White became the first American to walk in space.
After that, the United States began to gain an edge over the Soviet Union: In December 1965, the astronauts aboard Gemini 7 set the record for the longest spaceflight duration in a mission lasting two weeks. Gemini 8 achieved a record when two spacecraft docked in orbit in 1966 — although a malfunction caused the spacecraft to spin out of control, Commander Neil Armstrong, 35, managed to regain control just in time.
After 10 crewed flights over 5 years, Project Gemini concluded with the Gemini 12 mission on November 15, 1966 — a mission in which Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin set the record for 5 hours and 30 minutes of exploration outside the spacecraft.
Finally, the time had come for Americans to set foot on the Moon.
Historical Footprints on the Moon
During the Gemini missions, NASA began developing the spacecraft for the Apollo program. The spacecraft consisted of a command/service module that would fly to the Moon and enter orbit, and a lunar module that would land on the Moon and then rendezvous with the command module to return to Earth.
However, the Apollo program experienced a tragic beginning.
On January 27, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee lost their lives in a launch pad fire during a ground test for their mission scheduled for February of the same year. An investigation concluded that the fire originated from a short circuit in the wiring near Gus Grissom’s seat, and the flames spread rapidly due to the high concentration of oxygen and flammable materials in the cabin.
After a long period of reassessing the design and safety of the spacecraft, the first Apollo crew was launched on October 11, 1968, when Apollo 7 orbited the Earth.
Following this, a mission was conducted with the first flight to the Moon, more than 370,149 km away. Before Apollo 8, humans had only ventured about 1,367 km from Earth. The crew orbited the Moon ten times from December 24 to December 25, 1968. The three astronauts were the first to see the far side of the Moon and witnessed Earth rising over the lunar horizon.
The Apollo 9 mission in March 1969 was the first to carry the lunar module, testing the spacecraft in Earth’s orbit. Apollo 10 in May 1969 brought the lunar module to the Moon, descending within 15 km of its surface.
Finally, on July 16, 1969, Apollo 11 made a historic impact. On the fifth day in space, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepared to land the lunar module named Eagle on the Moon’s surface. They touched down precisely at 3:17 PM Houston time on July 20 — and a few hours later, at 9:56 PM, Neil Armstrong became the first person in history to set foot on the Moon.
After that historic moment, the American astronaut famously stated: “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
In the next two hours, Armstrong and Aldrin collected rock samples and set up experiments. They left an American flag planted on the Moon’s surface along with a plaque stating: “We came in peace for all mankind.”
Subsequent Explorations
Following the resounding success of Apollo 11, the United States conducted five more successful crewed missions to the Moon in the years that followed. The astronauts collected samples, conducted scientific experiments, and tested a lunar exploration vehicle. The program concluded in December 1972 with Apollo 17, where astronauts Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt spent over three days on the Moon.
After successfully carrying out lunar missions, the U.S. and the Soviet Union began to collaborate. In 1975, the nations launched their first joint mission, Apollo-Soyuz, where American and Soviet spacecraft successfully docked in orbit, allowing their crews to meet in space. After the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, the U.S. and Russia continued their partnership in space, collaborating on the construction of the International Space Station (ISS).
Since then, several countries have conducted uncrewed missions to the Moon, and the U.S. remains the only country to have sent astronauts to the lunar surface. NASA plans to return astronauts to the Moon by 2025 with its Artemis program, while other nations, including China, also have plans to send humans to the Moon in the coming years or decades.
In the future, humanity may venture to Mars. Such a journey would require unprecedented technologies.
As former U.S. President J.F. Kennedy stated to the nation in a speech in 1962: “We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.”
