3.4 The nucleur and space race

Social sciences

History

Grade 9

The nuclear age and the cold war

Module 13

The nucleur and space race

Activity 1:

To historically research the cold war by the use of cause and effect, continuity and change, comparisons and conclusions: the nuclear and space race

[lo 1.1, 1.2, 1.3, 2.4, 3.2, 3.3]

SOURCE A:

Interview with Harold Agnew, circa 1949, American nuclear physicist

After the destruction of the Second World War, nobody expected the Soviet Union to have the infrastructure to produce a nuclear bomb. They certainly did.They had to possess information on the Manhattan Project.

SOURCE B:

Commentary of Robert Oppenheimer, American Nuclear expert

If another world war breaks out, mankind will be destroyed. We should ask ourselves whether mankind is doing enough to prevent it.

SOURCE C:

Interview with the Soviet military strategist, Valentin Laryonov, 1950

Malkenkov warned the whole nation and world population that an atomic war would destroy the entire world and that such a war should be avoided at all costs.

SOURCE D:

Comment of Galina Mishina, baker in Moscow, circa 1989

In the fifties we did not realise that the Americans were afraid of a Russian attack. We were under the impression that they knew that we pursued peace and that we wanted to live in peace. We wanted to develop our country, it is written nowhere that we wanted to invade any country.

SOURCE E:

Comment of Jean Asam, American student during the fifties

We wanted to protect ourselves against bombs and run no risks. Therefore we built bunkers and shelters in our backyards. It happened quite commonly in American suburbs.

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SOURCE F:

An eyewitness account by Harold Agnew, American Nuclear physicist on the experimental nuclear explosion in the Pacific Ocean in 1954

We were not prepared for such a powerful explosion and large fall-out area. A Japanese fishing vessel, “ The Happy Dragon” was contaminated through the nuclear fall out. The vessel was quite a distance from the test site. Before we realised what had happened, the fishermen were radio-actively contaminated. The fishermen were 120 km away from the explosion. One out of 24 crewmen survived. A mistake was made. The wind carried the radio-active fall-out farther than expected. It is regrettable that people were contaminated…

SOURCE G:

Comment by Oleg Troyanovski, Kruschev’s adviser on satellites

In Kruschev’s opinion, warships and bombers have become obsolete and that in future missiles will take their place. For that reason technicians from all over the Soviet Union got together in the desert at Baikonur in Kazakstan to work on satellite development. On 4 October 1957 we launched the first space satellite, Sputnik (means travelling companion of the Earth). The Americans always pretended that they were the richest and technologically the most advanced country in the world. With Sputnik that travels around the earth, this perception changed.

SOURCE H:

The Spacecraft

Russian Soyuz TM-34 capsule.

Length: 7,5 metres.

Weight: Just over 7 tonnes.

Reaches space in approximately 8 minutes powered by a Soyuz rocket.