video n°39 A brief history of space exploration

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the competition between the united

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states and the soviet union

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sparked some of the greatest innovations

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and technological developments in

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history the space race

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is considered to have begun in 1955.

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that year both the united states and the

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soviet union

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made announcements just a few days apart

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that they would launch an artificial

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satellite into earth's orbit

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within the next two to three years the

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russians were the first to achieve their

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goal

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the soviet satellite sputnik was

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launched on october 4th

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1957

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with the soviet union's success america

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was no longer the undoubted world leader

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in innovation

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this situation called the sputnik crisis

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led president dwight eisenhower

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to give more military importance to

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winning the space race

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and spend a bigger budget on space

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research and development

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in 1961 russia achieved another first

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by putting an actual human into orbit

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yuri gagarin

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not to be outdone the united states soon

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trumped

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the soviet union's crowning achievement

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as announced by kennedy

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and no nation which expects to be the

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leader of other nations

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can expect to stay behind in this race

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for space

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the united states was the first country

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to land on the moon

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on july 20th 1969

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astronauts neil armstrong and buzz

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aldrin became the first human beings

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to set foot on another celestial body

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the soviet union never managed to catch

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up before its collapse in 1991.

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just content with the moon both

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superpowers also wanted to explore the

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rest of the solar system

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so unmained probes were sent to visit

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the solar system's other planets and

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moons

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the most successful of these probes

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voyagers 1 and 2

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were launched in 1977.

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together the probes have done flybys of

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jupiter

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uranus and neptune back on earth

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the russians proved that humans could

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live in space for months at a time

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by sending a number of space stations

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into orbit

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and in 1998 the international space

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station was launched

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and it continues to operate today

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