![]() Despite this advantage and the presence of German scientists in the United States, the Soviet Union quickly made great advances in rocketry. Recognizing this, the United States brought several V-2s back for research after the war, and launched "Operation Paperclip," an effort to recruit as many top German scientists as possible to the United States to continue their research.Īt the end of the war, it appeared that the United States was the clear technological giant in the world-they had detonated the first atomic bomb in 1945 and the first hydrogen bomb in 1952. But the Germans were by far the most advanced rocket designers: their V-2, a liquid-propellantfueled rocket, was the ancestor of the rockets that would eventually reach space. World War II had provided the motivation for rocket development in the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, France, and other countries. World War I and World War II resulted in the development of government scientific research facilities charged with designing military airplanes. Much of the technology that led to space exploration had military beginnings. Instead, they fought with propaganda and scientific and technological achievements. The United States and the Soviet Union emerged from World War II as adversaries in the Cold War-an open rivalry in which the two nations vied for political power and standing in the world without ever fighting an actual battle. From the 1950s to the 1970s the United States and the Soviet Union raced to conquer space, but when tensions eased between the two nations in the 1970s, the urgency of winning the race declined and the race ended with the superpowers cooperating on several projects. In the absence of any real fighting, space exploration provided a focus for the competition between the two superpowers. At the end of World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union began a decades-long battle for political, military, and technological superiority. ![]()
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