The space race was not just a metaphor for political philosophies, but an indicator of which superpower would have the advantage in attempts to destroy the other. Paranoia around potential nuclear war during the sixties, coupled with the Vietnam War, fed into the opinion that space domination was not a new frontier for science, but the foundation for a new way to engage in combat. While the missions had always been promoted as scientific discovery, there was always underlying suspicion of military objectives and weaponization. The cost of the moon project was not the only thing questioned during the space race. Stafford, 1930-) achieved the first rendezvous flight. Lovell, Jr., 1928-, after Gemini 6 had failed to launch) and Gemini 7 (piloted by Walter M. The Gemini project finished the year with another first: Gemini 6A (piloted by Frank F.

(1930-1999) made the longest space flight to date, orbiting Earth for seven days in Gemini 5.

In August, America overtook the Soviets for the first time: Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) and Charles 'Pete' Conrad Jr. These successes went a long way to restoring public perception, and “…space fever, heady and incurable, has now hit Americans on the ground…. White II (1930-1967) made the first American space flight to last five days in Gemini 4. Young (1930-2018) made the first successful crewed flight in Gemini 3, which was quickly followed in June when James A. A pivotal moment was approaching with the flight that linked the work of Project Mercury to Project Apollo, transitioning from orbital flight to a potential moon flight. Despite these achievements, the second half of 1965 saw America begin to catch up. In March 1965, Voskhod 2 saw the first successful Extravehicular Activity (EVA, the technical name for a spacewalk), piloted by Pavel Belyayev (1925-1970) and Alexei Leonov (1934-). Politicians were actively trying to block budget increases for NASA, even though the space project still had its defenders. The rate that the Soviet Union made these achievements continued to have an effect on America’s reputation and self-image, with ever increasing criticism. Previous flights had been done with individuals on board, but Vladimir Komarov (1927-1967), Konstantin Feoktistov (1926-2009), and Boris Yegorov (1937-1994) became the first crew to successfully orbit the Earth, and it was the first flight that did not use spacesuits. On October 12, Voskhod 1 launched, and became the first crewed space flight.

The end of Project Mercury came in a year that saw two more milestones, one technical and one cultural: Vostock 5 (piloted by Valery Bykovsky, 1934-2019) orbited the Earth for five days, making it the longest manned space flight to date and less than two days later Vostock 6 launched, making its pilot Valentina Tereshkova (1937-) the first woman to go into space.ġ964 saw another milestone. America was still unsure how advanced the Soviets were, but reports from a Congressional subcommittee suggested that it was believed they had been experimenting with manned flight, based on information from tracking stations. By the end of May 1963, four Americans had flown in orbit for a total of fifty-three hours, compared to the Soviet Union’s orbit time of nearly eight days. Project Mercury came to an end in early 1963 to focus on Project Gemini, with America still behind in the space race.

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