thesis statement space race

The Space Race Between the United States and Russia Research Paper

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The space race was a competition between two rivals who aimed at achieving spaceflight capability power in the 20 th century. The United States of America and the Union Soviet Socialists Republics (USSR), currently known as Russia, engaged in a battle to prove their superiority after the Second World War. The origin of struggle began in the intercontinental ballistic missile-based nuclear weapons between the two nations. The conflict hostility constituted physical battles, diplomatic engagements, and technological advancements. In the 1960s, the war extended beyond the earth’s gravity. The warfare advanced to another level of space due to the atmospheric control prospect and the undebatable message translated to the international community. Space was the final avenue for the Soviets and the United States to compete for their sole superpower status. This paper shows how space exploration has contributed significantly to the rapid growth of technology and other technical ways of addressing global challenges, among other benefits for humanity.

National leaders from the United States and Russia discovered the space exploration opportunity from a political perspective. The investigation led to a funding mission for scientists, among other researchers, to study more and provide equipment that could enable them to win the battle. They spent billions of dollars on the projects to outdo each other. Superior scientific equipment sent people messages about military capabilities and different conclusions (Gainor 80). Sky dominance was more important than land battles since it was a way of proving to the entire world unchallenged superiority.

In October 1957, the USSR launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, which alarmed the Eisenhower administration, the 34 th president of the United States. The US public knew the Soviets had surpassed their technologssical achievements, creating intense fear and anxiety. The sputnik satellite was orbited and could send out beeps from the radio transmitter, which could be detected as it passed through the orbit (Wang). In November 1957, Russia achieved more space ventures by making Sputnik 11 that could carry a living creature, a dog.

The United States had been working independently to launch a satellite before the unveiling of Sputnik. Space exploration activities in the United States have been consolidated into an agency in the government known as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). This committee’s formation indicated their commitment to winning the Space Race. It had made two failed attempts at launching a space station. In January 1958, they completed a rocket called Explorer that carried a satellite. The team consisted of German rocket engineers who were involved in developing ballistic missiles for NAZI in Germany. The Explorer could take several instruments into space for science experiment procedures. The gadgets applied a Geiger counter that detected cosmic rays (Wang). This careful experimentation and other measurements from later satellites have proved the existence of Van Allen radiation belts on earth.

The Soviets produced the first human in space who made one orbit on April 1961 around the earth. The flight lasted 108 minutes in the rotation before returning to the earth (Taylor et al. 3453). The discovery by the Soviet’s space program crushed a blow to NASA scientists. Three weeks later, NASA launched an astronaut into space on a suborbital trajectory, unlike the Soviets, who did an orbital flight (Wang). NASA’s suborbital aeronautics lasted 15 minutes since it was made to go some way around (Taylor et al. 3455). The Soviets were ahead of NASA technologically, although this was a sigh of relief for the United States scientists.

Launching the first world artificial satellite, the first human, and the first dog in space led to other achievements of the Soviet Union ahead of the United States. The milestones included Luna 2 in 1959, which became the first human-made object to reach the moon. USSR also launched Luna 3 a few months later, a human orbit mission around the earth for a full day. Russia was the first to achieve the spacewalk and introduced the Vostok 6 mission, which involved the first woman, Valentina Tereshkova, to travel to space (Carroll 8). President John F. Kennedy challenged the Americans to develop an ambitious goal of landing on the moon and returning to earth safely.

In the 1960s, progress was made following President Kennedy’s goal of the landing on the moon program. The project was named Gemini, whereby astronauts tested their ability to endure spaceflight for many days and the technology required to make the trip successful. Project Apollo later followed that took astronauts to the lunar surface and orbit around the moon between 1968 and 1972 (Shelhamer 51). All along, the Soviets had suffered from low funds to finance the scheme, which made them withdraw from pursuing the moon program. Russia had been drained financially from its investment in developing new intercontinental ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons to achieve strategic correspondence with the United States.

The cosmonauts encountered many challenges while developing the scheme, including tragedy. For instance, in 1967, Apollo 1 fire swept through the spacecraft’s command module. The deaths of Edward White, Gus Grissom, and Roger Chaffee were witnessed, which was a real blow to those who rooted for the US to win the space race (Shelhamer 51). In December 1968, Apollo 8 was the first successful crew to orbit the moon (Shelhamer 51). The astronauts took photos that helped safely land Apollo 11 on the moon. In 1969, the United States successfully sent its first astronauts to the moon (Shelhamer 52). Neil Armstrong was pronounced the first human to set foot on the moon’s surface (Shelhamer 52). During this time, the cosmonauts collected samples of lunar dust and rocks that aided scientists in studying more about the moon.

NASA launched a series of space probes during the 1960s and 1970s known as Mariner, in which they studied Mars, Venus, and Mercury. Space stations marked the next phase of space exploration. Soviet Salyut 1 station was the first space station in earth orbit in 1971 (Crusan and Galica 56). NASA also launched Skylab space, the first orbital laboratory for scientists and astronauts who studied the earth and the effects of spaceflight on the human body. NASA also carried out the project Viking which landed on Mars in the 1970s (Crusan and Galica 57). They took several photographs and examined the chemistry of the surface environment. The scientists also tested the Martian dirt and the microorganism’s presence.

The Apollo lunar program ended in 1972 when human space exploration became limited to low-earth orbit. Many countries are now involved in researching International Space Station (ISS). Other unpiloted probes have traveled through the solar system, making various discoveries. Some findings include the moon of Jupiter, a moon of Saturn, and oceans under their surface that scientists conclude might harbor life (Crusan and Galica 57). Instruments in space have also discovered other planets orbiting other stars, the exoplanet. Advanced technology since 1995 allows the gadgets in space to characterize the atmospheres of these other planets.

The space race fueled cold war suspicion and rivalry between the United States and Russia. However, it yielded considerable benefits to the entire world. The exercise required a rapid improvement of various fields, including micro-technology, telecommunications, solar power, and computer science (Arzo). Space exploration was necessary since the world could tell which country had the best science, economic system, and technology. After the Second World War, the Soviets and the Americans realized the importance of rocket research to the military. Sending the first man to the moon showed that the United States was a leader in the world, although the Soviets had achieved the first human in space.

Space exploration led to many societal benefits that included the generation of scientific knowledge, the inspiration of people worldwide, and the diffusion of innovation. It introduced agreements between countries that participated in the probe and the creation of markets (Arzo). The International Space partners are strengthened through the association, and job opportunities for the space products and services are created (Arzo). Other benefits of the space race involve economic prosperity, environmental advantages, health, safety, and security (Arzo). The competition made it easy for other researchers to understand humankind’s place in the universe. Admittedly, the human experience is expanded through study and experiments.

The world has created new opportunities for addressing global challenges through partnerships and capabilities development. Space exploration has attracted broad international interest by producing relationships, competencies, and knowledge that help society deal with matters pressing them. It is a catalyst for nations to introduce other explorations of the planetary worlds, emphasizing that other planets might support life. Countries have mutual understanding and trust that advance common discovery goals helping align interests in the community and promoting diplomacy. For instance, the International Space Station (ISS) program requires more extensive international cooperation to achieve the best results (Pekkanen 96). The unity strengthens the capacity for peace and globally coordinated activities on earth and in space.

The ISS partnership has demonstrated the international cooperation functional dimension. It enables parties with different investment levels to access the unaffordable space laboratory for any partner (Neubert et al. 13). The collaboration has overcome economic and political strains to achieve its core mission. The diplomatic value of international unity has been shown through the exploration exercise. Astronauts who served in the ISS are observed as achievers since it is a technical procedure (Neubert et al. 15). cooperation between nations on challenging space projects establishes the ability to advance common goals jointly, thus improving diplomatic ties and other activities.

The space race between the United States and Russia has benefited humans and society. Space exploration yielded technological and scientific innovations that help people every day. Having machines and humans in space presents a challenge that the utmost imagination can overcome. The exercise led to new knowledge and technical revolution that is used on earth in unpredictable ways. The competition served a cultural and inspirational purpose by satisfying a deep need to explore and understand the world. It addresses the questions about the origin and nature of life and the universe. Global challenges can quickly be addressed since satellites provide unique opportunities to counter issues facing society today. The cooperation of nations beyond space help promote more union among the countries. The togetherness aligns interests that enhance peace and stability on the entire globe. No activity on earth matches the exceptional threats of the space race, thus giving reasons for confidence that renews investments for future generations’ positive impact.

Works Cited

Arzo, Sisay Tadesse, et al. “Essential Technologies and Concepts for Massive Space Exploration: Challenges and Opportunities.” IEEE Transactions on Aerospace and Electronic Systems , 2022.

Carroll, Clover. “The First Woman in Space.” Guardian (Sydney) 2011, 2022, vol. 8.

Crusan, Jason, and Carol Galica. “NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative: Enabling broad access to space.” Acta Astronautica, vol. 157, 2019, pp. 51-60.

Gainor, Christopher. “The Nuclear Roots of the Space Race.” Militarizing Outer Space: Astroculture, Dystopia and the Cold War , 2021, pp. 69-91.

Neubert, Torsten, et al. “The ASIM Mission on the International Space Station.” Space Science Reviews, vol. 215, 2019, pp. 1-17.

Pekkanen, Saadia M. “Governing the New Space Race.” American Journal of International Law, ol. 113, 2019, pp. 92-97.

Shelhamer, Mark. “Reaching for the Moon: A Short History of the Space Race.” Perspectives on Science and Christian Faith, vol. 72, no. 1, 2020, pp. 51-53.

Taylor, Andrew J., et al. “Factors Affecting Flavor Perception in Space: Does the Spacecraft Environment Influence Food Intake by Astronauts?” Comprehensive Reviews in Food Science and Food Safety, vol. 19, no. 6, 2020, pp. 3439-3475.

Wang, Erik. “Sputnik to Apollo: The Constituents of America’s Response to Soviet Space Accomplishments.” Available at SSRN 3772353 , 2021.

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EL Education Curriculum

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• ELA 2019 G6:M4:U1:L7

Trace an Argument: The Space Race and the Great Political Rivalry

In this lesson, daily learning targets, ongoing assessment.

• Technology and Multimedia

Supporting English Language Learners

Materials from previous lessons, new materials, closing & assessments, you are here:.

• ELA 2019 Grade 6
• ELA 2019 G6:M4
• ELA 2019 G6:M4:U1

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Focus Standards:  These are the standards the instruction addresses.

• RI.6.1, RI.6.4, RI.6.6, RI.6.8

Supporting Standards:  These are the standards that are incidental—no direct instruction in this lesson, but practice of these standards occurs as a result of addressing the focus standards.

• RL.6.10, RI.6.10, W.6.10
• I can trace and evaluate an argument in an essay about the Space Race. (RI.6.8)
• I can analyze the author's point of view in The Space Shuttle Decision and how it is conveyed in the text. (RI.6.6)
• Opening A: Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 7 (RI.6.1, RI.6.8)
• Work Time A: Trace an Argument: Evidence Cards (RI.6.1, RI.6.8, W.6.10)
• Work Time B: Analyze Point of View: The Space Shuttle Decision (RI.6.1, RI.6.4, RI.6.6, W.6.10)

• Prepare the materials for the activity in Work Time A. Strategically group students into pairs. Make copies of the Trace an Argument: Evidence Cards, one per pair. Gather scissors, or cut apart the evidence cards in advance to save time during the lesson. Write out the points/reasons onto chart paper or be prepared to project them onto a large external screen for display.
• Gather a small, soft ball for the activity in Work Time B, or use a different object that can easily and safely be tossed among classmates. Consider using a soft rocket ship, or other such object that matches the module topic.
• Review the teacher version of the materials used in this lesson to see what will be required of students.
• Prepare independent research reading journals. These should be a continuation of the journals started in Module 1, although students may wish to create a fresh copy for the new topic.
• Become familiar with several of the books provided on the research reading list to direct students toward books that match their interests and reading levels.
• Post the learning targets and applicable anchor charts (see Materials list).

Tech and Multimedia

• Work Time B: Display age-appropriate images of the Poor People's Campaign led by Ralph Abernathy on July 15, 1969 to provide visual context for the text under examination in this section.
• Closing and Assessment A: Use video book trailers to introduce and build excitement for the research reading books.
• Closing and Assessment A: Use a free, online parent communication tool, such as http://eled.org/0120 , to provide advance notice to parents about the expectations for independent reading at home.

Supports guided in part by CA ELD Standards 6.I.B.6, 6.I.B.7, 6.I.B.8, 6.II.A.1, 6.II.A.2, and 6.II.C.6.

Important Points in the Lesson Itself

• To support ELLs, this lesson revisits a familiar text and invites students to reread it for a different purpose: to deconstruct the essay’s argument structure and identify its main claim. Rereading the same text for multiple purposes enhances ELLs’ reading comprehension, reduces their cognitive load, and supports gains in reading fluency.
• ELLs may find it challenging to elucidate and understand the argument presented in the supplemental text. Although the argument essay structure is not entirely new to students—they analyzed and wrote literary argument essays during Module 3—the complexity of the language in this text increases the challenge of analyzing it.
• Characteristics of Effective Argument Writing anchor chart (example for teacher reference) (from Module 3, Unit 3, Lesson 1, Closing and Assessment A)
• Equity sticks (from Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 1, Work Time C)
• Independent Reading Sample Plans (for teacher reference) (from the  Tools page )
• Text: "This Is How the Space Race Changed the Great Power Rivalry Forever" (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time A)
• Text: The Space Shuttle Decision Excerpt (one per student; from Module 4, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Homework A)
• Independent reading journals (one per student; begun in Module 1, Unit 1, Lesson 6, Work Time B)
• Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 7 (answers for teacher reference)
• Trace an Argument: Evidence Cards (example for teacher reference)
• Analyze Point of View: The Space Shuttle Decision (example for teacher reference)
• Small, soft ball (one)
• Entrance Ticket: Unit 1, Lesson 7 (one per student)
• Highlighters (one per student)
• Trace an Argument: Evidence Cards (one per pair)
• Scissors (one per pair)
• Analyze Point of View:  The Space Shuttle Decision (one per student)

Each unit in the 6-8 Language Arts Curriculum has two standards-based assessments built in, one mid-unit assessment and one end of unit assessment. The module concludes with a performance task at the end of Unit 3 to synthesize students' understanding of what they accomplished through supported, standards-based writing.

Copyright © 2013-2024 by EL Education, New York, NY.

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The Space Race

By: History.com Editors

Updated: February 21, 2020 | Original: February 22, 2010

After World War II drew to a close in the mid-20th century, a new conflict began. Known as the Cold War, this battle pitted the world’s two great powers—the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union—against each other. Beginning in the late 1950s, space became another dramatic arena for this competition, as each side sought to prove the superiority of its technology, its military firepower and–by extension–its political-economic system.

Causes of the Space Race

By the mid-1950s, the U.S.-Soviet Cold War had worked its way into the fabric of everyday life in both countries, fueled by the arms race and the growing threat of nuclear weapons, wide-ranging espionage and counter-espionage between the two countries, war in Korea and a clash of words and ideas carried out in the media. These tensions would continue throughout the space race, exacerbated by such events as the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961, the Cuban missile crisis of 1962 and the outbreak of war in Southeast Asia.

Space exploration served as another dramatic arena for Cold War competition. On October 4, 1957, a Soviet R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile launched Sputnik (Russian for “traveler”), the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise, and not a pleasant one, to most Americans. In the United States, space was seen as the next frontier, a logical extension of the grand American tradition of exploration, and it was crucial not to lose too much ground to the Soviets. In addition, this demonstration of the overwhelming power of the R-7 missile–seemingly capable of delivering a nuclear warhead into U.S. air space–made gathering intelligence about Soviet military activities particularly urgent.

Did you know? After Apollo 11 landed on the moon's surface in July 1969, six more Apollo missions followed by the end of 1972. Arguably the most famous was Apollo 13, whose crew managed to survive an explosion of the oxygen tank in their spacecraft's service module on the way to the moon.

NASA Is Created

In 1958, the United States launched its own satellite, Explorer I, designed by the U.S. Army under the direction of rocket scientist Wernher von Braun . That same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a public order creating the National Aeronautics and Space Administration ( NASA ), a federal agency dedicated to space exploration.

Eisenhower also created two national security-oriented space programs that would operate simultaneously with NASA’s program. The first, spearheaded by the U.S. Air Force, dedicated itself to exploiting the military potential of space. The second, led by the Central Intelligence Agency ( CIA ), the Air Force and a new organization called the National Reconnaissance Office (the existence of which was kept classified until the early 1990s) was code-named Corona; it would use orbiting satellites to gather intelligence on the Soviet Union and its allies.

Space Race Heats Up: Men (And Chimps) Orbit Earth

In 1959, the Soviet space program took another step forward with the launch of Luna 2, the first space probe to hit the moon. In April 1961, the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to orbit Earth , traveling in the capsule-like spacecraft Vostok 1. For the U.S. effort to send a man into space, dubbed Project Mercury, NASA engineers designed a smaller, cone-shaped capsule far lighter than Vostok; they tested the craft with chimpanzees  and held a final test flight in March 1961 before the Soviets were able to pull ahead with Gagarin’s launch. On May 5, astronaut Alan Shepard became the first American in space (though not in orbit).

Later that May, President John F. Kennedy made the bold, public claim that the U.S. would land a man on the moon before the end of the decade. In February 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, and by the end of that year, the foundations of NASA’s lunar landing program–dubbed Project Apollo –were in place.

See Photos of How Astronauts Trained for the Apollo Moon Missions

NASA created simulations that mimicked everything from the moon’s gravity to its landscape.

From Sputnik to Spacewalking: 7 Soviet Space Firsts

On the anniversary of Sputnik's launch, explore seven of the Soviet Union’s firsts in the history of space exploration.

7 Things You May Not Know About John Glenn

Check out seven things you might not know about John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Achievements of Apollo

From 1961 to 1964, NASA’s budget was increased almost 500 percent, and the lunar landing program eventually involved some 34,000 NASA employees and 375,000 employees of industrial and university contractors. Apollo suffered a setback in January 1967, when three astronauts were killed after their spacecraft caught fire during a launch simulation. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s lunar landing program proceeded tentatively, partly due to internal debate over its necessity and to the untimely death (in January 1966) of Sergey Korolyov, chief engineer of the Soviet space program.

December 1968 saw the launch of Apollo 8, the first manned space mission to orbit the moon, from NASA’s massive launch facility on Merritt Island, near Cape Canaveral, Florida . On July 16, 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong , Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin and Michael Collins set off on the Apollo 11 space mission, the first lunar landing attempt. After landing successfully on July 20, Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon’s surface; he famously called the momen t “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”

Who Won the Space Race?

By landing on the moon, the United States effectively “won” the space race that had begun with Sputnik’s launch in 1957. For their part, the Soviets made four failed attempts to launch a lunar landing craft between 1969 and 1972, including a spectacular launch-pad explosion in July 1969. From beginning to end, the American public’s attention was captivated by the space race, and the various developments by the Soviet and U.S. space programs were heavily covered in the national media. This frenzy of interest was further encouraged by the new medium of television. Astronauts came to be seen as the ultimate American heroes, and earth-bound men and women seemed to enjoy living vicariously through them. Soviets, in turn, were pictured as the ultimate villains, with their massive, relentless efforts to surpass America and prove the power of the communist system.

With the conclusion of the space race, U.S. government interest in lunar missions waned after the early 1970s. In 1975, the joint Apollo-Soyuz mission sent three U.S. astronauts into space aboard an Apollo spacecraft that docked in orbit with a Soviet-made Soyuz vehicle. When the commanders of the two crafts officially greeted each other, their “ handshake in space ” served to symbolize the gradual improvement of U.S.-Soviet relations in the late Cold War era.

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Neil Armstrong and the Moon Landing

Written by: bill of rights institute, by the end of this section, you will:.

• Explain the causes of economic growth in the years after World War II

Suggested Sequencing

Use this Narrative at the beginning of the chapter to discuss how the Space Race culminated in the United States’ launch of Apollo 11.

The Cold War between the United States and Soviet Union took shape as a geopolitical struggle around the globe, an ideological contest between capitalism and communism, a nuclear arms race, and a space race. The nuclear arms race helped lead to the development of rocket technology that made putting humans into space a practical reality in a short time. Only 12 years after the Russians launched a satellite into orbit around the Earth, Americans sent astronauts to walk on the moon. The space race was one of the peaceful competitions of the Cold War and pushed the boundaries of the human imagination.

The origins of spaceflight occurred a few decades before World War II, with the pioneering flights of liquid-fueled rockets. American Robert Goddard launched one from a Massachusetts farm in 1926 and further developed the technology on a testing range in New Mexico in the 1930s. Meanwhile, German rocketeer Hermann Oberth read Goddard’s research and fired the first liquid-fueled rocket in Europe in 1930, with the dream of spaceflight in mind. In Russia, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky developed the idea of rocket technology, and his ideas bore fruit when they influenced Sergei Korolev in the 1930s.

The greatest advance in rocket technology took place in Nazi Germany, where Werner von Braun led efforts to build V-2 and other rockets that could hit England when launched from continental Europe, spreading terror among the British population during World War II. At the end of the war, Russian and Allied forces raced to Berlin as the Nazi regime collapsed in the spring of 1945. Preferring to surrender to the Americans, von Braun and his team turned over 100 unfinished V-2 rockets and 14 tons of spare parts and blueprints. The United States secretly brought more than 100 German scientists to Texas and then to Huntsville, Alabama, to develop American rocket technology as part of the nuclear arms race to build intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs).

The former Nazi scientist Werner Von Braun (left) helped the United States develop missiles during the Cold War. He is shown here with President John F. Kennedy in 1963.

On October 4, 1957, the Russians shocked the United States by successfully launching a satellite into orbit. Sputnik was a metal sphere weighing 184 pounds that emitted a beeping sound to Earth. Although President Dwight Eisenhower was unconcerned because the United States was preparing its own satellite, the American press, the public, and Congress were outraged, fearing the Russians were spying on them or could rain down nuclear weapons from space. Moreover, it seemed as if the Americans were falling behind the Soviets. Henry Jackson, a Democratic senator from the state of Washington, called Sputnik a devastating blow to the United States’ scientific, industrial, and technical prestige in the world.” Sputnik initiated the space race between the United States and Soviet Union as part of the Cold War superpower rivalry.

Congress moved quickly to compete with the Soviet Union in space. In 1958, it passed the National Defense Education Act to spend more money to promote science, math, and engineering education at all levels. To signal its peaceful intentions, Congress also created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as a civilian organization to lead the American efforts in space exploration, whereas the Russian program operated as part of the military. The United States launched its first satellite into space on January 31, 1958, and NASA announced Project Mercury in December with the purpose of putting an astronaut in space.

For both sides, the space race was about the prestige of being the first to accomplish a goal in space. In April 1961, the Russians again beat the Americans by sending the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space to orbit the Earth and used the event for Cold War propaganda about the superiority of the communist system. American Alan Shepard made the first U.S. spaceflight shortly afterward, on May 5, and President John F. Kennedy addressed Congress the following month to issue a ringing challenge. “I believe this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal,” he said, “before the decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him home safely to earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space.”

The Soviet astronaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human to enter space, an achievement that only fueled the United States’ desire to put the first human on the moon.

Throughout the next several years, NASA administrator James Webb, an adept bureaucrat, oversaw the growing organization, built its relationship with the aerospace industry, and lobbied members of Congress to get more than $20 billion in funding for a moon landing. More than 400,000 people were engaged in the effort to achieve Kennedy’s goal. The successful Mercury program was succeeded by the two-person flights of the Gemini program, and then by the Apollo program, which worked on spacewalks, rendezvous, and docking in preparation for eventual flights to the moon. On January 27, 1966, three American astronauts died in a launchpad fire during a test for Apollo I, demonstrating the real dangers astronauts faced and leading to extensive investigations to prevent another deadly accident.

Americans generally saw the astronauts as heroes on the front line of discovery and the space race. They were mostly highly educated and experienced military pilots who demonstrated courage, confidence, and competitiveness. Engineers and logical problem solvers who mastered the technical aspects of spaceflight, they pushed limits and took risks but not unnecessary ones. Neil Armstrong, for example, studied aeronautical engineering at Purdue University and then flew jet fighters during the Korean War.

On July 5, 1969, three astronauts – Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins – were answering questions from reporters at a press conference about 10 days before their historic trip to the moon aboard Apollo 11. When asked whether the mission was worth the billions of dollars it cost, Armstrong responded that spaceflight was fundamentally about human discovery. “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges. It’s by the nature of his deep inner soul,” he said. His answer perfectly captured the curiosity and courage that led humans to stretch the limits of technology and try to land on the moon.

(Left to right) Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin Jr. were the three members of the Apollo 11 lunar landing crew.

On the morning of July 16, the heat and humidity at Cape Canaveral in Florida were stifling. An estimated one million spectators crowded the grounds, beaches, and water around the perimeter of the launch site, at a distance of at least three and a half miles for safety. The three astronauts, meanwhile, had eaten breakfast before donning their spacesuits and heading to the launch pad. They rode an elevator to level 34, and at 6:54 a.m. they boarded their Apollo command module, named Columbia, atop a 363-foot high Saturn V rocket filled with six million pounds of freezing liquid propellant. They powered up and ran through their safety checklist as hundreds of scientists, engineers, and doctors worked in launch control to ensure the mission’s safety and success. A flight director addressed the three astronauts on a private line and inspired them with a speech about working together as a team to make history.

The final countdown commenced, and the engines ignited with an incredible blast. At 9:32 a.m., the rocket lifted off and soon pitched into its flight plan, with the astronauts pinned to their seats by the growing G force. They blasted into the heavens, leaving an 800-foot trail of fire behind, and soon were rocketing upward at more than 6,000 miles per hour. The astronauts burned the second-stage rocket in the blackness of space while orbiting the Earth as they began to feel the effects of weightlessness in space. Their spacecraft circled the Earth at faster than 17,500 miles per hour until the third-stage rocket hurtled them out of Earth’s orbit at more than 24,000 miles per hour, headed toward the moon.

During the three-day flight to the moon, the astronauts flew their spacecraft, transmitted audio and visual images back to Earth, and slept. After 75 hours in space, Apollo 11 was caught in the moon’s gravity and safely entered its orbit. On Sunday, July 20, Armstrong and Aldrin prepared the lunar lander and climbed aboard, while Collins circled the moon aboard Columbia and waited for them to return. With countless hours of simulation training behind him, Armstrong expertly piloted the lunar landing module, nicknamed Eagle , onto the surface of the moon. “The Eagle has landed,” he reported to billions of people back on Earth.

Armstrong was the first human being to walk on the moon. As he set foot on the surface, he said, “That’s one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.” Once Aldrin joined Armstrong a few minutes later, the pair stood on the surface of the moon 250,000 miles from Earth. Armstrong and Aldrin walked in the footsteps of trailblazing discoverers who had conquered new frontiers for millennia in the human experience. President Richard Nixon spoke to them, saying, “For every American, this has to be the proudest day of our lives, and for people all over the world, I am sure they, too, join with Americans in recognizing what an immense feat this is.”

Despite the weight of their protective suits, Armstrong and Aldrin leaped short distances in the reduced gravity of the moon. They conducted scientific experiments, collected rocks and soil for analysis, and set up an American flag, rigged with wire to make it appear to be flying proudly in the vacuum of space. After several hours, it was time for the pair to return to the landing craft with their samples. Armstrong was too excited and too cold to sleep, so he lay awake and contemplated their achievement.

On July 20, 1969, Buzz Aldrin saluted the American flag on the surface of the moon.

The astronauts were not out of danger during their return trip. They first had to rendezvous with Collins in the Columbia and then return to Earth. The most difficult challenge was re-entering Earth’s atmosphere at the exact angle necessary to avoiding either burning up or skimming off the atmosphere and hurtling back into space. Meanwhile, the spacecraft’s heat shield would have to hold at temperatures nearing 4,000°F.

The astronauts successfully navigated Columbia to re-entry and entered the atmosphere at nearly 25,000 miles per hour. Columbia slowed until its three parachutes deployed and then drifted down into the Pacific Ocean, where the astronauts were retrieved by a helicopter and swimmers from a U.S. aircraft carrier. Aldrin, Armstrong, and Collins were quarantined for a few weeks and then honored with a ticker-tape parade celebrating their heroic achievement. They proved that humans could walk on the moon and achieve what many others had thought impossible.

The United States won the space race by sending men to the moon and back in 1969. Meanwhile, the Soviet Union’s secret efforts to get there first had resulted in frustration and failure. The Americans used the accomplishment to tout the superiority of freedom over communism. However, the success of the moon landing transcended the competition between rival superpowers or even the practical implications of manned spaceflight. The accomplishment represented the fruit of scientific and technological endeavor as the boundary of space was conquered, and it elevated the human spirit of discovery.

Review Questions

1. Which nation was the first to make the “greatest advance” in rocket technology?

• The United States
• Russia/Soviet Union
• The United Kingdom

2. The first human to walk on the Moon was

• Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin
• Werner von Braun
• Michael Collins
• Neil Armstrong

3. The first human in space was

• Yuri Gargarin

4. All the following aided the United States’ quest to put a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s except

• a drastic increase in federal spending
• higher-education opportunities
• the desire to be the first to accomplish a goal in space
• the desire to dismantle its nuclear arsenal

5. The greatest advance in rocket technology that enabled space exploration in the 1960s was based on

• work by the Soviet Union in the 1950s
• the United States’ technological developments in the 1920s
• work by various individuals in the 1930s
• the work of German scientists during World War II

6. One major difference between the Soviet system and its space program and the U.S. system and space program was that the Soviets militarized their program and the United States primarily allowed for

• a democratically elected government to make space policy
• interplay between private markets and government to make space policy
• no military influence in its space program
• complete privatization of the space program

Free Response Questions

• Describe the development of the U.S. space program.

AP Practice Questions

“Those who came before us made certain that this country rode the first waves of the industrial revolutions, the first waves of modern invention, and the first wave of nuclear power, and this generation does not intend to founder in the backwash of the coming age of space. We mean to be a part of it – we mean to lead it. For the eyes of the world now look into space, to the moon and to the planets beyond, and we have vowed that we shall not see it governed by a hostile flag of conquest, but by a banner of freedom and peace. We have vowed that we shall not see space filled with weapons of mass destruction, but with instruments of knowledge and understanding.”

John F. Kennedy, Rice Stadium Moon Speech, September 12, 1962

1. Based on the sentiments expressed in the excerpt, the political climate faced by John Kennedy’s administration was characterized by which major foreign policy concern?

• Unresolved issues of World War II
• Nuclear proliferation
• The increase in tension in Vietnam
• The Cold War

2. The text in the excerpt was primarily a reaction to

• escalation of the Vietnam conflict
• the Civil Rights movement
• Soviet advances in space technology
• unresolved issues from World War II

Primary Sources

National Aeronautics and Space Administration. “Apollo 11.” https://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/hd/apollo11_hdpage.html

Suggested Resources

Brinkley, Douglas. American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race . New York: Harper, 2019.

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Divine, Robert A. The Sputnik Challenge: Eisenhower’s Response to the Soviet Satellite. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993.

Donovan, James. Shoot for the Moon: The Space Race and the Extraordinary Voyage of Apollo 11. New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2019.

Hansen, James R. First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong . New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005.

Nelson, Craig. Rocket Men: The Epic Story of the First Men on the Moon . New York: Viking, 2009.

Shepard, Alan, and Deke Slayton. Moon Shot: The Inside Story of America’s Race to the Moon. New York: Turner, 1994.

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Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness

In our resource history is presented through a series of narratives, primary sources, and point-counterpoint debates that invites students to participate in the ongoing conversation about the American experiment.

The Space Race

• First Online: 01 January 2014

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This chapter focuses on the great Space Race between the United States and the Soviet Union, roughly in the decade and a half 1957–1972, which is the period in which public opinion polls for the first time asked many questions about spaceflight. Initially, few citizens understood anything about spaceflight, or much about the solar system, so one trend reveals increasing awareness. Depending on exactly what questions were asked, citizens always showed great disagreement over what priority should be given to the American space program. Generally the majority was opposed to increased funding, but there was sufficient public support so that political elites could invest in the program. Leaders of two kinds built the space program: (1) opinion leaders within the general society who shaped public opinion, and (2) organization leaders who influenced public opinion from outside, being or seeking to become members of a societally influential elite class.

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Home — Essay Samples — History — Apollo 11 — Apollo 11 And The Space Race

Apollo 11 and The Space Race

• Categories: Apollo 11 Neil Armstrong Space Exploration

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Published: Oct 25, 2021

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Apollo 11: revolutionary breakthrough, apollo 11: modern impact, works cited.

• Dunbar, Brian. “United States-Soviet Space Cooperation during the Cold War.” NASA, NASA, https://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/coldWarCoOp.html.
• https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/80660main_ApolloFS.pdf https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1156874/moon-landing-inspiring-nasa-apollo-11-motivated-elon-musk-create-spacex-space-news
• https://www.express.co.uk/news/science/1156874/moon-landing-inspiring-nasa-apollo-11-motivated-elon-musk-create-spacex-space-news

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"A Magnificent Desolation" : How the Media Shaped the Space Race 1957 to 1969

Journal title, journal issn, volume title, choreographer, costume designer, videographer, lighting designer, set designer, crew member, rehearsal director, concert coordinator, alternative title, original format, running time, file format, place of publication, copyright date, table of contents, terms of use, rights holder, access restrictions, description, permanent url, collections.

Illustration by Alex Schomburg

The Space Race is Over

It was perhaps most popular in the 1950s, as a new consumer society began confidently rolling off the production line, and the age of literary science fiction arguably reached its peak. It was particularly popular with children, who read about it in comics with titles like Fantastic Adventures and Planet Stories . But many adults were equally sold on the promise offered. It was assumed fairly widely that by the year 2000 the promise would have been kept, and that humanity would benefit greatly.

It didn’t take long for this optimism to abate, and for a few decades the idea seemed to disappear from the popular consciousness. But I’ve noticed that in the last few years that old promise has resurfaced in the popular consciousness. This time around, though, it has a different taste to it. This time around, it seems more like a threat.

I’m talking about the human colonization of other worlds. It seems eccentric even to write the words, but there’s no doubt that a belief in humanity’s need—perhaps its destiny—to colonize the moon, or Mars, or other worlds known or unknown, is making a strange kind of cultural comeback. No matter that it is no more practical now than it was in the 1950s. No matter that it doesn’t look likely that it could happen within the lifetime of anyone alive today, if ever. The practicalities are not the point: it is a fantasy, a motif. It is a means of salvation.

Back in the optimistic 1950s, with the promise of material abundance everywhere, the space race beginning, and much of the population of the Western world still excited about the possibilities offered by new technologies and a beneficial, authoritative science, the idea of humans some day extending their reach to other worlds seemed simply an inevitable progression. I remember believing it myself at school in the late 1970s and the early 80s. This was the future, and it looked great. I consumed Isaac Asimov novels at a rate of knots. I was looking forward to it.

Today, the world is a different place. The popular faith in science and technology has drained away, to be replaced by a widespread, if often unspoken, fear. From biotechnology to geoengineering, from unmanned drones to internet surveillance, the democratic promise of technology has been transmuted into an authoritarian threat. Meanwhile, that vision of science-fueled progress has done as much damage as it has offered improvement. With the climate changing, with the sixth mass extinction well underway, with the ocean swimming in our industrial refuse, with our own chemical backwash in our breast milk and bloodstreams, it’s a harder world for techno-optimists to find a voice. We have opened the box and seen where our ambition leads, and though we might quickly close it again and look away, it is too late in the day for any kind of innocence.

I think it is precisely this fear of the future, this sense of a looming apocalypse, this feeling that we have unleashed a monster that is now beyond our control, that has given rise to the latest outburst about the colonization of other worlds. This time, the idea is not buoyed on a tide of optimism and hope, but tinged with desperation, sadness and sometimes even anger. This time, it is not our next exciting adventure, but our final hope.

Just in the last few years, I have seen a number of people who should know better speculating on how colonizing Mars may be humanity’s best prospect for a liveable future. The logic verges on the psychopathic: We have now wrecked this planet beyond the point of no return; there are too many people here, our political systems are unable to contain our technological or economic ambitions, and individual greed and desire is running out of control. There is no way that seven billion people can live the kind of lifestyle they apparently want to live without endless conflict and ecological destruction.

The solution? Not to change ourselves, but to find another planet on which to replay the same script. If we begin to shift people "offworld," we will have new frontiers to explore. The pressure on Earth will be reduced. We will be saved, by our cleverness, from the consequences of our cleverness.

Some of the voices which have been clamoring for humans to build themselves a presence on other worlds have been predictable enough. Astronaut Buzz Aldrin, for example, a veteran of those optimistic times, called last year for "American permanence on the planet Mars" within two decades. Stephen Hawking, probably the world’s most famous scientist, recently insisted that "we must continue to go into space for humanity...We won’t survive another 1,000 years without escaping our fragile planet."

Physicists and astronauts can be excused their daydreams, but they are no longer alone. New strands have been woven into the optimistic space rhetoric of earlier times, and one of the most common is the suggestion that colonizing other worlds will provide new space for humans to expand—and, perhaps crucially, may offer new resources for the toys, gadgets and machines we are mining our own planet to death to get hold of. Writing in the millionaire’s magazine of choice Forbes last year, technology writer James Conca made this case starkly: "Growing shortages of key inorganic elements, such as rare earth elements for all our electronic gadgets and renewable energy systems, platinum and other related metals…suggest that we may need more non-renewable resources than Earth can provide," he explained.

You will find arguments like this in every niche on the internet now: we need more space, we need more stuff, and we can’t find it here. Maybe it is "out there" instead! Bind this bundle of blind greed and desire with a length of imperial bombast—insist that exploring space is the equivalent of exploring the oceans in an earlier age, that it is our right and our destiny—and you have a whole new fantastical mythology on your hands. Now, the planet which created us is what holds us back from achieving our potential. Note how Hawking talks of "escaping" the Earth, as if the only living planet we know of, the source of all life, were a prison, and the dead vacuum of space offered the clean air of freedom. It takes a strange kind of mind to believe this. Perhaps it takes a brilliant one.

At the same time as this seed has begun to re-establish itself in the intellectual topsoil of the industrial world, I have seen other utopian weeds begin to flourish. I recently had a conversation with a woman who told me she was looking forward to the development of the artificial uterus—a technology which is currently being explored—so that women could be relieved of the burden of pregnancy and birth. She believed it would foster gender equality.

Perhaps related to this is the ever-popular dream of the "Singularity"—itself a term coined in the 1950s. The Singularity is the point at which machine intelligence surpasses human intelligence, and all bets are off about the future of our species (and presumably every other species too). The Singularity is an idea that used to be confined to the hipster idealists of Silicon Valley, but it has recently broken free and is beginning to establish itself more widely.

There is plenty more technological utopianism that could be added to this list: the ongoing crusade by neo-environmentalists to use biotechnology to recreate extinct species, for example. Or perhaps even the increasingly dominant concept of the "Anthropocene" era, the Age of Humans, in which we have changed the Earth so radically that our only option is to act as if we were not simply inhabitants but creators: to take on the mantle of gods in order to correct our mistakes. For a culture which pivots around a need for control and a deeply anthropocentric idea of human manifest destiny, the appeal of this notion is clear enough.

What are we to make of this? Is it some strange, deranged endgame? Perhaps techno-industrial society, hyped up on its own sense of indestructibility, is hitting walls everywhere and doesn’t have the intellectual or spiritual equipment to deal with the resulting mess. All we can do is argue for more of the same: more onward momentum, more technological mediation, more control. Are these anything more than the fantasies of people whose worldview is crumbling? Are they any more than delusions?

Certainly many of these fantasies—because this is what they are—start to fall apart on examination. Take that colonization of Mars, for example. The writer John Michael Greer recently drew attention to a paper published in the journal Nature in 1997. A team of economists had calculated how much value was contributed to the global economy by nature, as opposed to human effort. Their results suggested that, for every US dollar’s worth of goods and services consumed by human beings each year, around 75 cents are provided free of charge by the Earth’s ecosystems. Only the remaining 25 cents were created by human economic activity. If we were to colonize a dead planet, like Mars, we would somehow need to make up that 75 percent on our own, working it up from a world of dead rock and dust. How would we do it? We have no idea. In all likelihood, it would be entirely impossible.

So, what should we call this clutching at straws? We could call it idealism, even utopianism. It is clearly both of those things. But perhaps it is something else too. Perhaps it is a modern day form of Romanticism.

Look up the word "Romantic" in a dictionary, and you will probably be met with definitions like this: "exaggeration or picturesque falsehood… A sense of remoteness from or idealization of everyday life … Exaggerate or distort the truth, especially fantastically." "Romantic" is a word that is commonly thrown around, often by the kind of people who idealize Mars bases, to dismiss people who draw inspiration from the past rather than the future. It is a popular insult, which, as so many insults do, relieves the insulter of the burden of thinking.

A "Romantic," in these terms, is somebody who views the past through "rose-tinted spectacles," and desires a return to it. Somebody who, for example, idealizes rural communities and low technology cultures and doesn’t understand the harshness and horror of preindustrial life. A "Romantic" is usually a bourgeois escapist, who sees "nature" as welcoming rather than threatening, doesn’t realize that life before the coming of antibiotics and television was nasty, brutish and short, and is only able to hold those views because of his or her privileged position within the protective bubble of industrial society.

This caricature is not entirely unfounded. Certainly there are plenty of naive visions of the past around, and there are plenty of unrealistic assessments of the present as well. But it seems to me that Romanticizing the past, in our culture at this point in time, is less common than Romanticizing the future. The only difference is that Romanticizing the future is socially acceptable.

Consider what the two worldviews have in common. One of them looks back to a period of the past which is considered to be superior to the present, and draws inspiration from it. So a "primitivist," for example, may look right back to the Paleolithic era, before the development of agriculture, and hail this as the high point of human development. We lived in harmony with the natural world until the first grain seed was cultivated, after which we slid into a future of hierarchy, control and ecological destruction. Because there is no possibility of getting back to this period, and because we know very little about it, it is easy to project our emotional needs onto it. This is essentially the Christian narrative of the Fall re-tooled for an anti-capitalist age, and it has the same primal appeal.

It’s not hard to find people who swim in these waters. I’ve swum there myself, and I find it a tempting and comforting story. Perhaps buying into narratives like this is foolish, or perhaps it is just human. But if it is foolish, is it any more so than indulging in fantasies about moon bases and salvation by silicon chip? What is the difference between those who project their needs onto the past, and those who project them onto the future? What is the difference between someone who sees perfection in the ice age, and someone who sees perfection in the space age? It may not always be realistic to look to the past for inspiration, but at least we know, more or less, what the past was like. We have no idea what the future will bring. Perhaps that is the attraction: space is empty, in every sense, and that makes it big enough to contain all of our dreams, however baroque.

Still, if we are going to use words like "Romantic," we should at least understand their provenance. The Romantic movement, which flourished during the first half of the 19th century, was a reaction to the utilitarianism of the 18th-century "Enlightenment." It responded to the dehumanizing impact of mass industry, the rationalization of nature and the increasing emphasis on human reason, with a defense of an emotional, intuitive reaction to the natural world and to human relationships. Though it is perhaps best known today through the poetry of Wordsworth or the art of the German landscape painters, it was at the time just as deeply entwined with radical politics and an assault on the dogmas of materialism and scientism. If it sometimes idealized the past, that was probably an inevitable reaction to the bombastic championing of the future which was going on all around.

Personally, I don’t think the word "Romantic" should be used as an insult at all; like its counterpart "Luddite," it is a misused historical term. But if it must be—and perhaps it is too late to turn things around—then at least let it be an equal opportunities insult. If it is to be used to condemn those who idealize particular time periods, let the time periods encompass those yet to come as well as those which have gone.

Looked at this way, the Mars-base future, like the future in which we rebuild passenger pigeons in laboratories, breed babies in machines and download our consciousness into silicon chips, is an exercise in Space Age Romanticism. The kind of people who are disgusted by an idealized past can often barely contain their enthusiasm for an idealized future. And when objections are raised, they can dress their visions up in moral language: we must save the planet, we must provide new space for humans to develop and meet their ever-increasing needs. Expect to hear more of this in years to come, as the situation here on Earth grows more desperate.

What is to be done about this? The answer to this question, as so often, seems to me to be personal rather than political. There is no way to prevent this society from Romanticizing progress and technology, and there is no way to prevent it coming down hard on visions of human-scale and ecological development. It will continue to do this until its own intellectual framework, and probably its physical framework, collapses under its own weight. These attitudes are in our Space Age DNA.

But what we can do, when presented with a vision which projects an ideal onto either the future or the past, is examine our own personal need to be deluded. Engage with any of the world’s great spiritual teachers, or many of its secular philosophers, and you will come across the claim that most of us, most of the time, are caught up in our own delusions. That is to say, we are creating our own mental maps of the world, by which we navigate its harsh tracts, and we are hugely reluctant to see these maps taken from us, or to see any of the directions printed upon them questioned. These maps may be religious, philosophical, political or any variation of these things. But they mean that when we look out at the world, we don’t see the world itself, we see our own perception of it, and that perception of it is colored by our own emotional needs.

So, if we need to believe in progress, we will believe in progress. If we need to believe in Apocalypse, we will believe in that. If we need to deny the existence of climate change, or believe we can go back to the Pleistocene or forward to the Martian future, we will believe those things, and as long as we want to believe them, nothing can tear those maps from our hands.

The purpose of delusions is to comfort us, and our Space Age delusions comfort us on a civilizational level. The best way around them is probably to examine our own mental maps—and thus our own minds—and try to deflect them as they come. This is the work of a lifetime, but perhaps in the end it is the only work.

"All that we are," explained the Buddha 2,500 years ago, "is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become." We can see what our civilization is becoming, and where it is going too. What delusions brought you here—and how do you begin to strip them away?

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What the Space Race Left Behind

How should the artifacts of the space race be preserved?

The space race of the Sixties now seems a distant memory: all those moonwalks, Cold War rivalries, and lunar preoccupations. But on the anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s 1969 “giant leap for mankind,” it’s worth looking for the material traces of that far-off push to intergalactic greatness. Roger D. Launius looks at the different fates of some of the Space Race’s many physical landmarks —some of which haven’t been cherished in the way you might expect.

The Apollo mission was not just a huge technological triumph, it was also a cultural touchstone for the United States. Developed in response to Cold War worries about the scientific dominance of the Soviet Union, Apollo consumed huge amounts of financial resources and cultural capital. Since the program was born of this particular geopolitical moment, however, it proved unsustainable once political circumstances shifted.

As a result, the physical structures of the Apollo program were viewed as disposable and were often modified for other uses. The Kennedy Space Center launch pads where astronauts underwent their pre-space ritual were sites of wonder and emotion, but the “NASA has sought to destroy and dispose of the [Launch Umbilical Tower] since the early 1980s.” Despite designation of one of the launch complexes on the National Register of Historic Places , the remains of the tower that hosted the launches of the Apollo program and some of the space shuttles was destroyed in 2004 . Other facilities are currently being reused, not preserved.

There is another approach: The wholesale preservation of facilities like the Johnson Space Center’s historic mission control room . But Launius finds that funding and political scuffles have long plagued attempts to preserve other locations that were critical to the Apollo mission. Though NASA maintains the Apollo I spacecraft that famously burned , killing three astronauts, it is not currently viewable by the public and its preservation status is unclear.

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Given the significance of the Apollo missions and America’s space race, writes Launius, that’s problematic. Even NASA’s artifacts on the moon are in question as lunar exploration becomes a possibility in other countries, and it remains unclear how the American artifacts, including lunar module ascent stages and a commemorative plaque, are to be preserved. In any case, these remnants are important for American identity and historical inquiry. All told, they help support “a master narrative” about their time, one that is connected to that of history’s great explorers and what Launius calls “America’s grand vision for the future.”

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• How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

How to Write a Thesis Statement | 4 Steps & Examples

Published on January 11, 2019 by Shona McCombes . Revised on August 15, 2023 by Eoghan Ryan.

A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . It usually comes near the end of your introduction .

Your thesis will look a bit different depending on the type of essay you’re writing. But the thesis statement should always clearly state the main idea you want to get across. Everything else in your essay should relate back to this idea.

You can write your thesis statement by following four simple steps:

• Start with a question
• Write your initial answer
• Develop your answer
• Refine your thesis statement

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Table of contents

What is a thesis statement, placement of the thesis statement, step 1: start with a question, step 2: write your initial answer, step 3: develop your answer, step 4: refine your thesis statement, types of thesis statements, other interesting articles, frequently asked questions about thesis statements.

A thesis statement summarizes the central points of your essay. It is a signpost telling the reader what the essay will argue and why.

The best thesis statements are:

• Concise: A good thesis statement is short and sweet—don’t use more words than necessary. State your point clearly and directly in one or two sentences.
• Contentious: Your thesis shouldn’t be a simple statement of fact that everyone already knows. A good thesis statement is a claim that requires further evidence or analysis to back it up.
• Coherent: Everything mentioned in your thesis statement must be supported and explained in the rest of your paper.

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The thesis statement generally appears at the end of your essay introduction or research paper introduction .

The spread of the internet has had a world-changing effect, not least on the world of education. The use of the internet in academic contexts and among young people more generally is hotly debated. For many who did not grow up with this technology, its effects seem alarming and potentially harmful. This concern, while understandable, is misguided. The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education: the internet facilitates easier access to information, exposure to different perspectives, and a flexible learning environment for both students and teachers.

You should come up with an initial thesis, sometimes called a working thesis , early in the writing process . As soon as you’ve decided on your essay topic , you need to work out what you want to say about it—a clear thesis will give your essay direction and structure.

You might already have a question in your assignment, but if not, try to come up with your own. What would you like to find out or decide about your topic?

For example, you might ask:

After some initial research, you can formulate a tentative answer to this question. At this stage it can be simple, and it should guide the research process and writing process .

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Now you need to consider why this is your answer and how you will convince your reader to agree with you. As you read more about your topic and begin writing, your answer should get more detailed.

In your essay about the internet and education, the thesis states your position and sketches out the key arguments you’ll use to support it.

The negatives of internet use are outweighed by its many benefits for education because it facilitates easier access to information.

In your essay about braille, the thesis statement summarizes the key historical development that you’ll explain.

The invention of braille in the 19th century transformed the lives of blind people, allowing them to participate more actively in public life.

A strong thesis statement should tell the reader:

• Why you hold this position
• What they’ll learn from your essay
• The key points of your argument or narrative

The final thesis statement doesn’t just state your position, but summarizes your overall argument or the entire topic you’re going to explain. To strengthen a weak thesis statement, it can help to consider the broader context of your topic.

These examples are more specific and show that you’ll explore your topic in depth.

Your thesis statement should match the goals of your essay, which vary depending on the type of essay you’re writing:

• In an argumentative essay , your thesis statement should take a strong position. Your aim in the essay is to convince your reader of this thesis based on evidence and logical reasoning.
• In an expository essay , you’ll aim to explain the facts of a topic or process. Your thesis statement doesn’t have to include a strong opinion in this case, but it should clearly state the central point you want to make, and mention the key elements you’ll explain.

If you want to know more about AI tools , college essays , or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

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A thesis statement is a sentence that sums up the central point of your paper or essay . Everything else you write should relate to this key idea.

The thesis statement is essential in any academic essay or research paper for two main reasons:

• It gives your writing direction and focus.
• It gives the reader a concise summary of your main point.

Without a clear thesis statement, an essay can end up rambling and unfocused, leaving your reader unsure of exactly what you want to say.

Follow these four steps to come up with a thesis statement :

• Ask a question about your topic .
• Write your initial answer.
• Develop your answer by including reasons.
• Refine your answer, adding more detail and nuance.

The thesis statement should be placed at the end of your essay introduction .

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