How the media covered the Space Race...?

After World War II, the Cold War began as the United States and the Soviet Union competed for the power and control over space exploration. The rivalry between the two nations over space superiority lasted from 1957 starting with the Soviet Union launching an artificial satellite into orbit called Sputnik 1 through 1969 when the United States launched Apollo 11 into space which resulted in Neil Armstrong walking on the moon. A few years later in 1975, the United States and the Soviet Union officially ended the Space Race with a joint mission when Apollo 18 docked with the Soviet Union’s Soyuz spacecraft.

With limited media outlets and without the help of the Internet, news was only accessible through radio, television, and newspapers. The coverage of the Space Race was divided between limited media outlets that also included several magazines including Time and Life.

These media outlets provided the public with different views of the Space Race whether from a positive or negative angle. Depending on the public, the messages sent by the media where seen as a threat to the United States as the Soviet Union advanced with their technology. Some articles that were published by Life included articles that focused on the satellite “Sputnik.” With headlines that read “Why did U.S. lose the race?” focusing on the United States Department of Defense and Armed Forces, it created a mass hysteria that pressured the United States to advance and compete with the Soviet Union. 

With a number of media outlets reporting about unclear events that are happening in the United States, how much did the media affect the public’s opinion on the Space Race and how did they react to the United States involvement against the Soviet Union in the race for space exploration supremacy?

The media played a huge factor when affecting the feelings of the American public. The use of stories and articles written to cover the advancement of both United States and Soviet Union created a support for the government to compete with its rival. Even though the progress of the United States Space Program was not clearly covered by these media outlets, they still provided the public with current news on more significant events that can be found in Life, Time, and in the New York Times. At the end, it resulted in numerous attempts from both sides, with both nations succeeding in the Space Race ending with the Neil Armstrong setting foot as the first human being on the moon as well as a number of artificial satellites functioning in outer space from both the U.S. and Soviet Union.

My decision to make this blog involves the phenomenon that began in the late 1950s through the mid-1970s. I hope that my interest in this subject entertains your mind as well as your thoughts since this is a large portion of our history.


Launch of Sputnik, Oct. 4, 1957 <----Link

1969 Moon Landing, Apollo 11 <---- Link

New York Times Article, October 5, 1957

Soviet Fires Earth Satellite Into Space; It Is Circling the Globe at 18,000 M.P.H.; Sphere Tracked in 4 Crossings Over U.S.

By WILLIAM J. JORDEN

Special to The New York Times

MOSCOW, Saturday, Oct. 5 -- The Soviet Union announced this morning that it successfully launched a man-made earth satellite into space yesterday.

The Russians calculated the satellite's orbit at a maximum of 560 miles above the earth and its speed at 18,000 miles an hour.

The official Soviet news agency Tass said the artificial moon, with a diameter of twenty-two inches and a weight of 184 pounds, was circling the earth once every hour and thirty-five minutes. This means more than fifteen times a day.

Two radio transmitters, Tass said, are sending signals continuously on frequencies of 20.005 and 40.002 megacycles. These signals were said to be strong enough to be picked up by amateur radio operators. The trajectory of the satellite is being tracked by numerous scientific stations.

Tass said the satellite was moving at an angle of 65 degrees to the equatorial plane and would pass over the Moscow area twice today.

"Its flight," the announcement added, "will be observed in the rays of the rising and setting sun with the aid of the simplest optical instruments, such as binoculars and spyglasses."

The Soviet Union said the world's first satellite was "successfully launched" yesterday. Thus it asserted that it had put a scientific instrument into space before the United States. Washington has disclosed plans to launch a satellite next spring, Oct. 4.

The Moscow announcement said the Soviet Union planned to send up more and bigger and heavier artificial satellites during the current International Geophysical Year, an eighteen-month period of study of the earth, its crust and the space surrounding it.

The rocket that carried the satellite into space left the earth at a rate of five miles a second, the Tass announcement said. Nothing was revealed, however, concerning the material of which the man-made moon was constructed or the site in the Soviet Union where the sphere was launched.

The Soviet Union said its sphere circling the earth had opened the way to interplanetary travel. It did not pass up the opportunity to use the launching for propaganda purposes. It said in its announcement that people now could see how "the new socialist society" had turned the boldest dreams of mankind into reality.

Moscow said the satellite was the result of years of study and research on the part of Soviet scientists. Tass said: "For several years the research and experimental designing work has been under way in the Soviet Union to create artificial satellites of the earth. It has already been reported in the press that the launching of the earth satellites in the U.S.S.R. had been planned in accordance with the program of International Geophysical Year research.

"As a result of intensive work by the research institutes and design bureaus, the first artificial earth satellite in the world has now been created. This first satellite was successfully launched in the U.S.S.R. October four."

The Soviet announcement said that as a result of the tremendous speed at which the satellite was moving it would burn up as soon as it reached the denser layers of the atmosphere. It gave no indication how soon that would be.

Military experts have said that the satellites would have no practicable military application in the foreseeable future. They said, however, that study of such satellites could provide valuable information that might be applied to flight studies for intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The satellites could not be used to drop atomic or hydrogen bombs or anything else on the earth, scientists have said. Nor could they be used in connection with the proposed plan for aerial inspection of military forces around the world.

Their real significance would be in providing scientists with important new information concerning the nature of the sun, cosmic radiation, solar radio interference and static-producing phenomena radiating from the north and south magnetic poles. All this information would be of inestimable value for those who are working on the problem of sending missiles and eventually men into the vast reaches of the solar system.

Publicly, Soviet scientists have approached the launching of the satellite with modesty and caution. On the advent of the International Geophysical Year last June they specifically disclaimed a desire to "race" the United States into the atmosphere with the little sphere.

The scientists spoke understandingly of "difficulties" they had heard described by their American counterparts. They refused several invitations to give any details about their own problems in designing the satellite and gave even less information than had been generally published about their work in the Soviet press.

Concerning the launching of their first satellite, they said only that it would come "before the end of the geophysical year" -- by the end of 1958. Several weeks earlier, however, in a guarded interview given only to the Soviet press, Alexander N. Nesmeyanov, head of the Soviet Academy of Science, dropped a hint that the first launching would occur "within the next few months."

But generally Soviet scientists consistently refused to boast about their project or to give the public or other scientists much information about their progress. Key essentials concerning the design of their satellites, their planned altitude, speed and instruments to be carried in the small sphere, were carefully guarded secrets.

"Sputnik." Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. <http://www.trumanlibrary.org/museum/sputnik1.htm>.

Time and Life Magazine Coverage of Space Race

LIFE MAGAZINE COVERAGE 1957-1969

Beginning... 

From the start of the Space Race, Life began their coverage of the Space Race with the first initial step of the United States development of an artificial satellite. However, the Soviet Union responded first by launching Sputnik 1 into orbit. They closely kept track of every event  including the successful satellite launch of the United States. Even though the Soviet Union was the first to succeed in sending a human into outer space, the United States took a huge leap when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon's surface.

End...

With over a decade competing for supremacy in space exploration, the United States was the first to succeed to have humans walk on the Moon. Six years late, the United States and Soviet Union ended their competition with a joint mission into space. 

Read Life Articles Here<<<

You can read the pdf form of each article exploring the Space Race by clicking on their website. Please choose the year and month of the issue you wish to read, also you can choose by the cover. 

During the late 1950s through the late 1960s, many magazines and newspapers covered the Space Race. They also documented the journey of Apollo 11 with astronauts Edwin Aldrin, Michael Collins, and of course Neil Armstrong on board. Unlike the New York Times, and other publications, Life and Time Magazine had a large focus on photojournalism to document the events that happened between 1957-1969 between the United States and Soviet Union.

My “inspiration” for this blog came from…

Boy Meets World "Teenage Spy"  <---- Link