Arms Race and Space Race

Arms Race

And

Space Race

Unit 11, Lesson 3

Learning Goals

Essential Question

Objectives

Infer how the threat of nuclear war impacted civilian life during the Cold War

What impacts did the Cold War arms race and the Space Race have on the United States and the Soviet Union?

Evaluate whether the Space Race had value in the Cold War

Important People, Places, Things, and Events

Apollo 11, deterrence, intercontinental ballistic missile, mutually assured destruction, Space Race

Vocabulary

Arms race: a competition to build up military strength

Nuclear weapon: weapons that create explosions through the energy released by the splitting or fusing of atoms

The Arms Race

The US and Soviet Union engage in an arms race to build up their military strength

1952: the US develops the hydrogen bomb

1958: the USSR develops the first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), which could reach other continents

The Arms Race

Two related concepts take prominence in the arms race

Mutually assured destruction (MAD): if the Cold War became "hot," the conflict would result in the complete destruction of both sides

Deterrence: building up weapons would convince the other side from attacking

Threat of Nuclear War

Space Race

The Space Race was a rivalry between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space flight capability

Space Race

The US uses a satelitte to locate Soviet military sites

The USSR launches the world's first satellite, Sputnik 1, into orbit

1960

1958

1957

1955

The US launches its first salellite, Explorer 1

The US announces its intention to launch the world's first satellite, the USSR follows

Space Race

US President John F. Kennedy announces that the US will land a human on the Moon before 1970

The US lands humans on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission

1969

1966

1961

1960

The USSR lands an unmanned spacecraft on the Moon

The USSR sends the first human, Yuri Gagarin, to space

Learning Goals

Essential Question

Objectives

Infer how the threat of nuclear war impacted civilian life during the Cold War

What impacts did the Cold War arms race and the Space Race have on the United States and the Soviet Union?

Evaluate whether the Space Race had value in the Cold War

Important People, Places, Things, and Events

Apollo 11, deterrence, intercontinental ballistic missile, mutually assured destruction, Space Race