Who won the space race? - Jeff Steers

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik and, with it, an international space race. The United States and the Soviet Union rushed to declare dominance of space for 18 years, until the two countries agreed to a more collaborative model. The real winner? Science. Jeff Steers describes the history -- and the benefits -- of the space race.

Lesson by Jeff Steers, animation by The Moving Company Animation Studio.

[milesjolly]

I like the little touches in the animation, like Kennedy having a picture of Marilyn Monroe on his desk.

[Cookieslayer]

Gagarin was the first man in space but he was not the first man conducting EVA as you showed it in the video. It was Alexey Leonov

[rustyshackleford]

Soviet Astronauts are called Cosmonauts

[nukeurhouse]

1957 - USSR launches Sputnik, first artificial satellite in space
1957 - USSR launches Laika a first living animal to orbit Earth.
1961 - USSR launches Yuri Gagarin as the first man in space
1963 - USSR launches Valentina Tereshkova as the first lady in space
1965 - USSR Alexey Leonov is the first man to perform a space walk
1969 - USA Neil Armstrong & Buzz Aldrin as first people on the moon
1971 - USSR launches world's 1st operational space station, Salyut 1
1979 - USA launches 1st space telescope, the Heao
1981 - USA launches first space shuttle

[WIACZO]

You forgot to mention, that USSR build first space station - MIR

[samovarmaker]

People here saying that the space race was won not by the US or USSR, but by humanity.
While that is a nice thing to say, we must not forget that the space race between the US and USSR was focused on national pride more than anything else. Nobody would care to spend so much money on science if it were not for their nation's glory against a rival in a competition.
Nowadays, space exploration is definitely more about humanity's achievement that different nations', but it was the race for national pride that let us achieve so many scientific feats and discoveries in such as relatively short period of time.

[austinpowers]

Lol at 2:41 you can see a picture of Marilyn Monroe on JFK's desk. Very clever, TED-Ed... very clever.

[bilalmahmood]

If you think about it "space race" basically means who got to space first and by that logic the soviets won

[idk]

I like the Marilyn Monroe picture on JFK's desk. Nice touch, nice touch.

[theodorheinrich]

1st object in space (V2 rocket) - 1942, Germany
1st artificial Earth satellite (Sputnik 1) - 1957, Soviet Union
1st spacecraft in heliocentric orbit (Luna 1) - 1959, Soviet Union
1st contact with the Moon surface (Luna 2) - 1959, Soviet Union
1st photograph of the far side of the Moon (Luna 3) - 1959, Soviet Union
1st human in Earth orbit (Gagarin) - 1961, Soviet Union
1st docking between two spacecraft (Gemini 8) - 1966, United States of America
1st unmanned landing on the Moon (Luna 9) - 1966, Soviet Union
1st earth animals outside LEO, around the Moon (Zond 5) - 1968, Soviet Union
1st manned landing on the Moon (Apollo 11) - 1969, United States of America
1st unmanned landing on Venus (Venera 7) - 1970, Soviet Union
1st unmanned landing on Mars (Mars 3) - 1971, Soviet Union
1st space station (Salyut 1) - 1971, Soviet Union
1st docking between different nations, end of space race (Apollo-Soyuz) - 1975, USA&USSR

Speaking as a neutral Swiss here, I wouldn't even claim that the Soviets won the space race: the biggest winner was the human species. But I often see citizens of the USA claiming their country somehow "won" the space race, which is silly at best.

[TheMultiShura]

Отличное видео! Было интересно узнать, что думают американцы об окончании «космической гонки». Мне нравится посыл видео, абсолютно не важно, кто первый, а кто последний. Важно, что мы добились этого только благодаря друг другу. Спасибо автору за старания:)

[RasenganXSpirit]

USSR
-First man, woman, dog, satellite in space and first man In open space.

USA
-First man on the Moon

I also believe the USSR launched the first Moon rover though I could be wrong.
Either way USSR won.

[itskelvinn]

Whoever did the animation at 1:52 needs to be promoted

[WIACZO]

Who won the space race? *HUMANITY*, who benefitted from it :)

[nickazar]

The soviets obviously won, they got their stuff into space first. It was called the space race, not the put a person on the moon race

[nikhiltyagi]

you should have mentioned one of the greatest minds of 20th century and the father of the Soviet space programme...the legendary Sergei korolev

[benjaminwinnie]

Welcome to the comment section, we have:
The American apologist, "The U.S. won the space race."
The Contrarians, "The Soviets one the space race."
The People trying to be inspirational, "Humanity one the space race."
The Borings, "Marilyn Monroe picture."

[armyam]

Nope it's not Germans that designed the R-7 it's Soviet's own Chief Designer Sergei Kolorev

[danny]

We need another space race. The goal: land a man on Mars. Go!

[diavoloprime]

It wasn't the army who launch the first American satellite, it was a Von Braun(ex-nazi scientist) who developed it while USSR used their own rocket scientist(Sergei Korolev)