1969: Apollo 11 lands on the moon

DATE: July 20, 1969

DESCRIPTION: After the USSR launched the Sputnik satellite and successfully sent the first living creature, a dog named Laika, into space, the Soviets were leading in their “Space Race” battle with the USA. The US began to panic (more than a third of Americans believed that the Soviets could wipe out America in a few hours with their new rockets/missiles) and America rushed to develop the space exploration technology the Soviets had; this led to the creation of the Apollo Program, which was a mission to complete the first manned lunar landing. The Apollo 11 landing was ultimately a great success: it was the first spaceship to land on the moon, carrying American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin; Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon. Soil and rock samples were also collected and scientific studies were performed during the time spent on the moon.

BLAME: This event was mostly spurred into place by the USSR. The Americans wouldn’t have rushed to develop the technology they needed to visit the moon if the Soviets didn’t develop their space technology. In general, the USSR was also the primary cause of the event that effectively began the Space Race: the launching of the Sputnik 1 satellite. However, America was the one that caused the Soviets to start the event leading to the Space Race when they first launched their atomic bombs over Japan during 1945 – the Arms Race. The Space Race was merely another part of the Arms Race between the two countries that was already taking place: just in space this time. In this way, we can say that the USSR was the main person to blame for the landing of Apollo 11 via the Space Race, but altogether, America was really the one that caused the event that started it all off via the Arms Race.

TENSION INCREASE: The news about the first man on the moon was broadcasted in the USSR, but considering that it was an American achievement, it didn’t get as much attention as it did in other places and did not have a very strong popular effect on the people there. Apparently Khrushchev did not want to compete in getting the first man on the moon because it would have been too expensive and that he had other priorities in making the lives of the Soviet people better; in fact, Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon did not push the USSR’s space program further at all. This was apparently because they already had the achievements of launching the Sputnik and having the first man in space. They were probably disappointed that they had lost this aspect of the space race, but the tension did not increase as largely as other events +0.5

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