![]() ![]() Since the JFK Library does not have additional information about Joan Grant, this lesson models how historians interpret primary sources by using historical context and close textual analysis. This letter is one of many letters sent to President Kennedy on this topic in the collections of the John F. Joan’s letter was written on May 2, 1961, weeks after Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight, although days before Alan Shepard’s suborbital flight. To illustrate how some Americans felt about the issue, this lesson features a letter written to President Kennedy by a young girl named Joan Grant. The "Space Race" captured the attention of many Americans. The Soviet Union never matched the feat, choosing instead to focus on creating technology that supported unmanned Moon exploration and developing a space station. On July 20, 1969, Americans Neil Armstrong and Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, as part of the Apollo 11 mission, became the first men to land a manned spacecraft on the Moon and walk on the Moon. The race was on and the question became who would get there first. The two nations continued to mark new achievements, moving closer to the Moon with each milestone. The President escalated the space program and set the goal to send an astronaut to the Moon by the decade’s end. ![]() Although publicly congratulating the Soviet Union on achieving such a milestone, President Kennedy quickly sought ways to demonstrate American superiority. Although the United States matched the feat with its own satellite a few months later, tensions grew when the Soviets reached another first by launching Yuri Gagarin into orbit on April 12, 1961. Space was another venue for the two nations to demonstrate technological superiority and leadership.Īmericans were shocked when the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite in 1957, intensifying fears that the United States was falling behind the Soviet Union in technology and arms. However, it may be useful to introduce the concepts of the Cold War and space exploration by showing students a map of the United States and the former Soviet Union and images of the moon and the first moonwalk.Įarly space exploration was fueled, in part, by the Cold War competition between the United States and the Soviet Union. This is a stand-alone lesson and does not require any specialized knowledge or skills. Identify and correct spelling and grammatical errors in a primary source document.Place historical events in temporal order.Use an historical narrative to interpret the historical context of a primary source.How does an historical narrative and timeline help us understand a primary source? Students will place a primary source within its historical context to examine how Cold War tensionsīetween the United States and the Soviet Union turned early space exploration into the “Space Race.” Kennedy Presidential Library and Museumĭownload this lesson plan, including handouts, as a pdf.Īccess an abbreviated version of this lesson, adapted for online learning. ![]()
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