became the first American to orbit the planet. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy set the national goal of landing astronauts on the moon and returning them safely to Earth within the decade. The Soviets denied that they had any plans to put humans on the moon, but historical documents have proved this wrong. Also their Luna launches proved that they had an interest in the moon. On September 13, 1959, the USSR's Luna II crashed on the moon carrying a copy of the Soviet coat of Arms. Then on October 4, 1959, Luna III set out to orbit the moon and photographed seventy percent of its farside. The last great first in space exploration came on July 20, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and his crew on Apollo 9 reached the moon.It was difficult to tell which nation was really ahead in the space race each country racked up a series of important firsts. The moon marked the finish line for the space race and once that was conquered there was little left to explore with the current technologies. But the space programs continue and with them bring us new technologies and products. The cold war although was still in its prime but with the end of the space race closed one of the sources from which it was fueled. Bibliographywww.nytimes.com/partners/aol/special/sputnik/sput-04.html (Primary Source)Von Braun, Wernher & Fredrick I. Ordway III. History of Rocketry & Space Travel. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1975Raibchikov, Evgeny. Russians in Space. (New York: Doubleday, 1971). Rowland, Robert. America's Agenda For Space. (Lincolnwood, Illinois: National Textbook Co, 1990)....
