VIDEO: The Race To The Moon, USA Vs. USSR
(CBS) - During the Cold War, one battlefront between the USA and USSR was in the sky, as the nations fought to be first to space. It's a race the USSR won for years. They put the first man-made satellite into space, and then the first man into space in April 1961. The U.S. was just three weeks behind, but second wasn't good enough.
In his famous Moon Shot Speech, President John F. Kennedy challenged America to be the first to put a human on the moon. That launched aggressive space program spending that culminated in the ultimate first. In the video above, we mark all of these remarkable firsts.