Page 19 - Images Literary Magazine 2016 - 2017.pdf

Space Changes Everything By Mat t hew Buginsky,

The Space Race of the 1950s through the 1960s was not just a minor event that changed the time
period. The Space Race was a major event that fueled a war, the Cold War, and it started a for countries
to be the first in space. The Space Race started in October 1957, due to the Soviet Union launching
objects into space. The Space Race took a long time, which created a ton of tension, resulting from the
point that any country could be launching something at any moment into space. "First, I believe that
this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on
the moon and returning him safely to the Earth." (John F. Kennedy) This quote indicates that the rush
the United States had while trying to conquer space first, as a ton of people started to lose hope, and
John F. Kennedy needed to supply the momentum and hope back into them.

As well, the people who landed on the moon first were changed in negative and positive aspects.
They were satisfied as they accomplished their biggest goal in life, but at the same time traumatized
from descending and landing as fast as they had too. Additionally, the Space Race changed the 1960s
because they influenced many engineers and other people to create newly improved technology, for
not just space travel but other sorts of transportation and daily items. Many people who has previously
stopped trying to make new items related to space travel, started back up again due to the Space Race.
Lastly, the Space Race was dynamic to the 1960s because of the raging war that was associated with
the race that was happening during that time period. The Cold War, between the United States, Soviet
Union, and other smaller countries and groups fought to be the first ones into space, as they thought it
could grant advantages for war against their enemies. Due to this disagreement, it changed the United
States negatively and positively in many ways. Overall, the Space Race was not just the United States
heading into space, but it was related to a full fledged war. The Space Race brought about change in
the world.