The Space Race began in the 1950s when, in 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first manmade satellite, Sputnik 1, to orbit the Earth, during the Presidency of Dwight D. Eisenhower. The U.S. followed the next year with Explorer 1. Not to be outdone, the Soviets put a dog in space that year in Sputnik 2. The race between the U.S. and the Soviets lasted until 1975.
Equally significant was the race between Presidents John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. Kennedy beat Nixon in the 1960 Presidential race. Shortly after his inauguration, Kennedy announced plans, on May 25, 1961, for the U.S. to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963, and was succeeded by his Vice President, Lyndon Johnson, who won a term of his own in 1964. Johnson continued the space program, and NASA’s Houston headquarters were eventually named for him, in 1973.
Space Shuttle Discovery (left). President Nixon (right).
The unpopularity of the Vietnam War forced Johnson not to seek another term. Richard Nixon finally won the Presidency in 1968, a year that saw President Kennedy’s younger brother, Robert, assassinated while campaigning for the Democratic nomination to be President. President Kennedy’s goal of reaching the moon was achieved July 20, 1969 during Nixon’s first term. Always in competition with the Kennedy legacy, Nixon extended the space program on January 5, 1972 by signing a bill funding a reusable space shuttle. Five shuttles — Columbia, Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour — were used on a total of 135 missions from 1981 to 2011.
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