Here is a possible journal entry response: While rocket technology was initially developed during World War II as weapons, its lasting legacy has been to enable the exploration of outer space. Rockets provided the means for both the US and USSR to engage in the Space Race and achieve many firsts, such as Sputnik, the first satellite, and the Apollo moon landings. Rockets allowed humans to break free of Earth's atmosphere and glimpse the wonders of the cosmos. Though ICBMs maintained rocketry's military uses during the Cold War, nations also harnessed rockets' power to launch satellites, space stations, and probes to distant planets. Rockets lifted the veil on the unknown, capturing humanity's imagination and inspiring future scientists and expl

1. Technology in the Cold War
Rockets to Space/Rockets for M.A.D.

2. Objectives
Students describe events that highlight the Cold War
Students compare goals of technological innovation
and application by Cold War superpowers.
Students investigate origins of modern technology.

3. Vocabulary
ICBM: Inter-Continental Ballistic Missile - rocket capable of launching
from one nation and detonating its nuclear payload across the planet
in another nation.
U-2: high altitude aircraft used by US to take photo reconnaissance.
Cuban Missile Crisis: confrontation between US and USSR as Soviets
attempt to install ballistic missiles in Cuba. Space Race: Race
between USSR and US to be first or most represented in space travel.
NASA: National Aeronautic and Space Administration - established in
1958; US effort to explore space
Sputnik: Soviet satellite; first satellite launched into Earth’s
atmosphere on October 4, 1957.
Space Race: race between US and USSR to develop technology to
allow ‘firsts’ in exploration of space

4. Technology in the Cold
Following 1945 -
technology innovation
increases at rapid pace
‘exponential
advancement’; Moore’s
Law; technological
singularity
Innovation becomes
global affair

5. 1940s

6. 1950s

7. 1960s

8. 1970s

9. 1980s

10. 1990s

11. Case Study:
Rocket Technology
V-2 Rockets: Nazi Germany -
motivate research in
Manhattan Project
Germans have and use
rockets during war
After war: US & USSR ‘recruit’
scientists to help develop own
rocket program; US - Wernher
von Braun

12. Wernher von Braun
Rocket engineer: V-2 design;
develop rockets for US
von Braun’s design would be
eventual blueprint for
development of Inter-
Continental Ballistic Missile
technology.
First: Inter-Range Ballistic
Missile - threat only in Europe
in 1950s

13. Bombers / Reconnaissance
B-52 Stratofortress: upgrade
from WWII B-29 Superfortress
Gave US ability to strike
targets in USSR and across
the globe
USSR had similar bombers:
M-4 (Bison)
Need for knowledge of
opponent positions
1960 - Gary Powers; U-2
incident

14. Brink of War
Cuban Missile Crisis: 1959 -
Fidel Castro leads Communist
revolution in Cuba - less than
100 miles from Florida
USSR allies - attempts to
place IRBMs in Cuba
IRBM can reach US soil
JFK: Blockade; international
pressure; end peaceably
COLD solution - not HOT

15. Wernher von Braun II
US Army until 1957
Went to new government
agency: NASA
ICBM rockets being used to
launch items into space
World’s first successful
satellite: Sputnik by Soviets
in 1957
From that time - the space
race had begun

16. Space Race
USSR US
1957 - First Satellite 1961 - First American
in space (Alan
1961 - First human
Shepard) and orbit
orbits earth (Yuri
(John Glen)
Gagarin)
1971 - First manned 1969 - First manned
space station lunar landing
1975 - First joint 1981 - First re-usable
space mission with spacecraft -
US Columbia

17. Rocket Technology:
Weapon or Exploration
On a piece of paper, write a short journal entry:
In your opinion, what was the lasting
legacy of rocket technology? To
make better and greater weapons or
to allow for the exploration of outer
space? Why do you think so? (10
points)