Race to the Moon

To The Moon: Apollo 11

Photograph 1 of Astronaut Edward H. White II's Space Walk on Gemini IV

Throughout the 1950s and 60s, the United States was locked in competition with its Cold War rival, the Soviet Union (USSR), to prove supremacy through space travel. Along with the heated nuclear arms race, the space race became a way for each country to prove their technological prowess. It had its roots in ideology too, as both Cold War powers tried to prove the strength of their nation’s economy and politics through the success of their space programs.
The NASA Mercury space programs began in 1958 and were the first manned space flights, introducing the American public to its first astronauts. Project Mercury made six flights with astronauts aboard between 1961 and 1963 with the goal of determining capabilities for sending humans into space, as well as orbiting a manned craft around the Earth.
After being the first to launch a satellite into orbit in October 1957, the USSR advanced ahead of the US and its Mercury program again with another space exploration milestone. On April 12, 1961, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit in the Vostok I, making him the first man in space. Three weeks after Gagarin orbited the Earth, the US sent Alan Shepard into space in the first Mercury flight, the Freedom 7. Shepard’s flight went perfectly but the US was still one step behind the USSR.
After two defeats by the Soviets, the US was desperate for a win, and the next critical milestone was sending a man to the Moon. Since neither country had the necessary rocket technology to achieve this goal yet, the US would not be starting at a disadvantage. It became President John F. Kennedy’s goal to land a man on the Moon by the end of the decade.

Telegram, Khrushchev to Kennedy re: Yuri Gagarin April 30, 1961

Senator Warren G. Magnuson with John Glenn and crowd viewing Friendship 7 space capsule at Century 21 World's Fair Exposition, Seattle, Washington, 1962

Racing to Space

International Politics: Cooperation and Competition

Life in Space

Space and the Popular Imagination

Building Bridges and Space Stations

A view of the 363-foot high Saturn V launch vehicle that will carry Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders into space. The launch vehicle is being moved from the Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad A, Complex 39. Apollo 8, scheduled for launch in December, will be the first manned Saturn V flight

National Archives at College Park - Still Pictures

National Archives and Records Administration

On December 21, 1968, the United States’ Apollo 8 mission was launched and made a six-day trip to orbit the Moon, circling it a total of ten times. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell, and William Anders were the first to take deep space pictures of Earth. Watching as Earth rose over the Moon, all three astronauts began snapping photographs, causing some dispute over who actually produced what became one of the most iconic images in American history. The public was able to experience the Apollo 8 mission with the crew via live television coverage, and on Christmas Eve the crew’s legendary Genesis reading was broadcast over radio transmission to everyone listening back home. 
Apollo 8 achieved many firsts, including the first manned mission in the Saturn V spacecraft, sending men around the Moon and returning them safely to Earth. NASA took a risk sending the astronauts to orbit the Moon, knowing that transmission would be lost once the spacecraft was directly behind it. Without direction from the NASA command center, the crew successfully burned the engines at the exact position needed to curve the spacecraft around the Moon’s back and return home. The United States was getting closer to conquering the Moon.

Race to the Moon

Full Orbit: Apollo 8

Full Orbit: Apollo 8