Began April 1957
Ended December 14, 1972

The Soviet Union’s successful launching on October 4, 1957, of the first Sputnik (see entry) artificial space satellite gave the United States incentive to revitalize its own dormant space program. The consequent competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasting for a decade, became known as the “space race.” In fact, during that time the two countries together launched a total of 50 unmanned space probes in their efforts to be the first to explore the surface of the Moon.

The idea for a lunar landing program called Apollo has been credited to Abe Silverstein, director of Space Flight Development at the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Silverstein also proposed using the name of the Greek god of the sun as the title of the space exploration program in July 1960. President John F. Kennedy provided the necessary political...