"Scout launch vehicle". Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Scout_launch_vehicle.jpg#/media/File:Scout_launch_vehicle.jpg
- Important Information (You may link to primary source documents from creditable original source (not repostings), images from Britannica ImageQuest (LibGuides), and/or videos of historic relevance from reliable sources. If you are not sure, check with Ms. Lange, Ms. Walsh or Mr. Shaver.
A small dog, Laika, was launched into space on Nov. 3, 1957 on the Sputnik 2 satellite. This first space vehicle with a living creature suggested the possibility of manned space flight--a first for the Soviet Union and a symbolic showing of technological superiority over the US.
Nikita Khrushchev symbolically met with the Soviet cosmonaut Gherman Titov at Lenin's tomb to show that the Space Race advances the goals of Communism as it leads the Soviet Union to new glory and strength as a world power.
Kennedy astutely chose the location and audience for his "space race" speech: the technical institution of Rice University. Kennedy gave a rousing call "to be the first in space." He promised that Houston, in the next 5 years, would make this space dream a possibility.
Students of Rice University gathered in their stadium, listening to Kennedy as he challenged them to enter into the spirit of exploration to be the first in space. "Hopes for peace and security" rely on US being the leader (suggesting that the Soviet Union may be a "force for ill" if they win the Space Race).
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