Space Race

July 30, 1955 – July 16, 1969 · Era in United States, Soviet Union

Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union for spaceflight supremacy, from the US satellite announcement of 29 July 1955. The USSR launched the first satellite, Sputnik 1, in 1957 and the first human, Yuri Gagarin, in 1961; Kennedy's Moon commitment was fulfilled by Apollo 11 in 1969, and the rivalry gave way to joint programs like the International Space Station.

On the map Contemporaries