Term Paper on "Sputnik & Cold War the Emergence"

Term Paper 4 pages (1236 words) Sources: 3 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Sputnik & Cold War

The Emergence of Space Race through the "Sputnik" Launch: U.S. Responses to the Cold War

Mid-20th century signified the emergence of a significant event that defined the future development of countries all over the world, in both the Western and Eastern hemispheres of the world. During this period, the Cold War developed as a result of the containment policy that the United States had propagated, in response to the increasing support and popularity of Communism in Asian and East European countries. Cues from Communist countries like the Soviet Union bloc elicited corresponding responses from champions of democracy such as the U.S. What emerged, then, was a competition between Communism and democracy, represented primarily by the Soviet Union and U.S., respectively.

Among the "cues" prompted by the Soviet Union to the U.S. was the eventual development of a space race, wherein Soviets were able to produce and launch the first artificial satellite, Sputnik I. Through the Sputnik program, Soviet Union explored the Earth's geo-atmospheric features, survival during space flight, and most important of all, development of rocket technology. These are the threats that the U.S. felt when Soviet Union launched Sputnik I. Responding to this threat, U.S. also produced its own artificial satellite and created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to further develop its space technology. A space race began between the two nations, wherein Soviet Union would launch a newly-developed satellite, and U.S. would correspondingly react by producing its own artificial satellite.

This state of affairs during the early developments of the Cold War has cemented strong alliances of countries for both nations. The Soviet Union enjoyed the support of its Asian contemporaries, and also wielded strong influence and power among East European countries. U.S., meanwhile, created its own alliances among its Western contemporaries, of which Great Britain was its strongest partner.

This paper explores the implications of the launching of Sputnik I, as a catalyst that prompted the space race, further intensifying the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the U.S. This paper posits that with the launching of Sputnik I, a space race emerged, which cemented the conflict between the Soviet Union and the U.S. This established conflict, in turn, created strong alliances for both nations, wherein the U.S. was able to gain the unflagging support of Great Britain. In effect, because of the space race, hostility between Soviet Union and the U.S. increased, prompting the latter to create a Western alliance to combat the threats of the former.

An important thing to understand in analyzing the effects of the space race to the formation of Western alliance is to identify its relevance to both countries. The importance of the space race between the Soviet Union and the U.S. lies on each country's ability to use technology in its military operations. This function of space technology was reflected in a report by Martel & Yoshihara (2003), wherein space is considered vital for the maintenance of the U.S. national security and its commercial activities. Commercial activities include the monitoring of Global Positioning Systems (GPS), wherein all financial transactions are determined and tracked down from all over the world. In terms of national security, GPS satellites also help improve the military capacity of the U.S. military. An example of this improved capacity of the military is the development of an "electro-optical, hyperspectral, infrared, and radar satellites to see what are happening on the battlefield" (20).

This dependence on artificial satellites demonstrated the essence of space technology to the U.S. Similarly, Soviet Union had also relied on space technology as the forefront to improve and increase its military power. As mentioned earlier, the Sputnik program was developed to enhance the space technology,… READ MORE

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