The Space Race
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Related resources
Decolonization in Africa
Decolonization in Asia
Globalization and the Modern World
Origins of the Cold War
The Berlin Wall
The Cuban Missile Crisis
What students do
- Trace the Space Race from Sputnik's 1957 launch through Gagarin's 1961 flight to the Apollo 11 landing
- Explain why Kennedy committed the United States to reaching the Moon
- Read NASA's actual July 1969 press kit to analyze how the Apollo 11 mission was presented before its outcome was known
- Evaluate what the Space Race reveals about Cold War rivalry and eventual cooperation
What it covers
- The Apollo program's setbacks, including the Apollo 1 launch pad fire
- Kennedy's Moon commitment and the July 1969 landing
- The 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission that eased Cold War tensions in space
Learning targets
- Explain why the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957 shocked the United States.
- Describe how early Soviet space firsts put the U.S. on the defensive.
- Explain why Kennedy committed the U.S. to landing a man on the Moon.
- Trace the Apollo program from its setbacks to the July 1969 Moon landing.
- Evaluate what the Space Race reveals about Cold War rivalry and cooperation.
From one teacher to another
The space race lands with students who've gone a little numb on the Cold War's military lessons, because for once the competition plays out in rockets instead of troop counts. I keep every launch tied back to the rivalry, right down to having students read NASA's own 1969 press kit for how the agency framed the mission before anyone knew Apollo 11 would work. Ending on the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz handshake lets the unit close on cooperation instead of just competition.
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