The Soviet Union's Point of View
The space race was effectively started by the Soviet Union, with their launch of the artificial satellite Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. It was the first artificial satellite launched into orbit by mankind. The satellite itself was small, a sphere only 23 inches in diameter, and its main purpose was to send back information on the temperatures of space. However, it represented a monumental and possibly dangerous advancement in technology to the US. If the Soviets could get objects to orbit around the Earth, they could eventually figure out how to get weapons up there, leaving the US extremely vulnerable. About a month later Sputnik 2 was launched. It was a cone-shaped capsule, 4 meters high with a 2 meter diameter. It was designed to allow the first life form, a dog named Laika, to travel into orbit. This opened up the possibility of life forms traveling into outer space and surviving, as Laika survived for two days in zero-gravity on gelatinized food and water before the temperature reached un-survivably high levels due to a loss of some thermal insulation. The Sputniks’ launch, along with the failure of two of the United States’ Project Vanguard artificial satellite launches, lead many to place the Soviet Union in front of the United States in the developing space race.
The Soviets had a handful of other firsts in the space race. They brought the first probe to the Moon and took the first pictures of the far side of the Moon. On April 12, 1961, the first human, Yuri Gagarin, was launched into orbit. The spacecraft he traveled in, the Vostok 1, was a spherical capsule with few onboard controls; most of the work was done automatically or from the ground. The orbit lasted 108 minutes, traveling around the Earth once before coming back into the atmosphere. Vostok 1 had no way to land back on the Earth safely, so Gagarin ejected from the craft four miles above the Earth and parachuted down. During the re-entry he experienced forces up to eight times the pull of gravity. Gagarin survived, becoming a hero of the Soviet Union. Sadly, he died about 7 years later while test-piloting a MiG-15 fighter jet. After Gagarin, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, was put into orbit on June 16, 1963. She flew in the Vostok 5 spacecraft, and orbited the Earth 48 times over a period of 2.95 days. Despite all of these accomplishments, the Soviets seemingly lost their upper hand in the race when the United States became the first country to land humans on the moon. This was the peak of the space race, and the fierce competition between the two superpowers for space dominance slowed down and finally cooled off with the launch of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Launched on July 15, 1975, was the first joint US-Soviet space flight, and symbolized the end of the space race and the release of some of the tension between the two superpowers.
Cited From: https://sites.google.com/site/drexeluniv241section2/home/1-1950---1970/thespaceracethesovietunionpointofview
The Soviets had a handful of other firsts in the space race. They brought the first probe to the Moon and took the first pictures of the far side of the Moon. On April 12, 1961, the first human, Yuri Gagarin, was launched into orbit. The spacecraft he traveled in, the Vostok 1, was a spherical capsule with few onboard controls; most of the work was done automatically or from the ground. The orbit lasted 108 minutes, traveling around the Earth once before coming back into the atmosphere. Vostok 1 had no way to land back on the Earth safely, so Gagarin ejected from the craft four miles above the Earth and parachuted down. During the re-entry he experienced forces up to eight times the pull of gravity. Gagarin survived, becoming a hero of the Soviet Union. Sadly, he died about 7 years later while test-piloting a MiG-15 fighter jet. After Gagarin, the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, was put into orbit on June 16, 1963. She flew in the Vostok 5 spacecraft, and orbited the Earth 48 times over a period of 2.95 days. Despite all of these accomplishments, the Soviets seemingly lost their upper hand in the race when the United States became the first country to land humans on the moon. This was the peak of the space race, and the fierce competition between the two superpowers for space dominance slowed down and finally cooled off with the launch of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. Launched on July 15, 1975, was the first joint US-Soviet space flight, and symbolized the end of the space race and the release of some of the tension between the two superpowers.
Cited From: https://sites.google.com/site/drexeluniv241section2/home/1-1950---1970/thespaceracethesovietunionpointofview