Extension of the arms race

Question 1

Gaither Report?

Answer 1

November 1957
-To investigate the state of US-Soviet nuclear capacity
-Presented the idea of a missile gap with USSR being ahead - 100vs30 ICBMs

Question 2

USA’s key developments in arms race 1945-1963?

Answer 2

-Successfully tested lithium-based H bomb 1954
-Created Strategic Air Command 1946 (primary defence system for US)
-Negotiated agreement with Britain at Bermuda Conference to station IRBMs in Britain 1957

Question 3

USSR’s key development in arms race 1945-1963?

Answer 3

-USSR has similar technology to USA by September 1954
-By 1955 they tested an airborne H-bomb
-From 1957 able to develop missile delivery systems for nuclear warheads

Question 4

Sputnik I?

Answer 4

4th October 1957
-USSR launched first satellite to orbit the earth

Question 5

Sputnik II?

Answer 5

November 1957
-USSR launched a dog into a ten-day orbit

Question 6

Vostok I?

Answer 6

12th April 1961
First spaceflight of Vostok programme and first human orbital spaceflight in history

Question 7

Yuri Gagarin?

Answer 7

First human to enter outer space

Question 8

NASA?

Answer 8

1958
-Eisenhower established National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Question 9

US government’s attitude towards the space race under Eisenhower?

Answer 9

Sputnik created an urgency for USA to develop its own space technology programme
-September 1958 government authorised $1b for technological development in this field

Question 10

US public’s attitude towards the space race?

Answer 10

Motivated by desire to beat USSR in space race
-After Neil Armstrong became first man to step on the moon, public quickly lost interest

Question 11

How was JFK’s election campaign influence by the space race?

Answer 11

Kennedy felt great pressure to catch up and overtake the Soviet Union in the space race