Ducksters
Ducksters: The Cold War for Kids: Space Race
Kids learn the history of the Space Race during the Cold War. A race between the United States and the Soviet Union to put a man on the Moon.
NASA
Nasa: Tests Versus Time in the Race for Space
This NASA site offers a good description of the ongoing space race during the Kennedy administration, discussing the "nip and tuck" of the Soviet-U.S. race. Also includes a description of Kennedy's new special assistant for science and...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: The Start of the Space Race
Looks at the USSR's launch of Sputnik and the galvanizing effect it had on America's motivation to fund aerospace research. NASA was soon formed and more funding was put in place for public education in the sciences and math.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1945 1980: The Start of the Space Race
Learn about the launch of Sputnik and the establishment of NASA.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Johnson's Task, Unify Space Program
Russia was ahead in the "space race" in 1961. In this article, the Library of Congress discusses how President Kennedy assigned Lyndon Johnson the task of uniting the different parts of the U.S. space program into NASA.
Other
Historic Wings: "One Small Step" Race to the Moon
"One Small Step, The Race To The Moon" is a clear presentation of the story of the Moon landing program that the United States conducted during the 1960's and early 1970's. After launching the presentation click on the phases of the Moon...
Flow of History
Flow of History: Nuclear Arms Race
The events and countries involved in the nuclear arms race are profiled. Text plus a colored graphic flowchart make the topic visually appealing and of interest to both students and educators.
Smithsonian Institution
National Air and Space Museum: Apollo to the Moon
This resource offers an in-depth exploration of the U.S. space program and the role President John F. Kennedy took in setting the agenda for manned space flight to the moon.
Curated OER
National Park Service: America's Space Program Exploring a New Frontier
This site includes a lesson for teachers to use when teaching about America's space program. Also included is the history of the space program, maps, readings, images of the space program, and benefits that resulted from space research.
Other
Iki: Russian Space Research Institute
The official site for the "leading organization of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the field of investigations of Outer Space, Solar System planets and other objects of the Universe"
NASA
Nasa, Human Space Flight: Apollo 11 Mission
The story of the Apollo 11 lunar landing is told with dramatic details, pictures, and mission highlights.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian Education: Walk on the Moon
This online lesson helps students explore primary sources, including photographs and audio and video recordings, in order to learn about the Apollo crew and spacecraft, the history of the space race, and the incredible technological...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Contemporary Nonfiction: Jfk Speech
This lesson focuses on John F. Kennedy's speech, "We Choose to go to the Moon," delivered at Rice University on September 12, 1962. It features links to JFK's biography and Wikipedia entry, the National Geographic: "Moon 101" video, the...
NASA
Nasa: Aeronautical/astronautical Events of January March 1961
This NASA site offers a timeline of significant events in the space race during this brief frame of time, with some discussion of the prestige involved.
A&E Television
History.com: The Space Race: Interactive Universe
A virtual journey through space offers photos and facts about Earth and its neighboring planets, comets, other celestial bodies of the Solar System, and the Milky Way and Andromeda galaxies.
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library & Museum
John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum: Space Program
In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik and had an astronaut orbit the moon a few years later. The U.S. was shocked and vowed to not be left behind. Examine how JFK rallied the country and Congress to get behind the race...
Other
Yuri Gagarin: Comrade Kosmonaut
Highly detailed biography of the first man in space. Includes the pamphlet published to celebrate his return to Russia.
A&E Television
History.com: The Soviet Response to the Moon Landing? Denial There Was a Moon Race at All
Until 1989, Russians claimed they were not trying to reach the Moon first and that the U.S. was in "a one-nation race." Until 1989, a group of American aerospace engineers went to Moscow and finally saw the Soviets' failed lunar-landing...
NASA
Nasa: Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age
NASA provides a paper providing a background to the Sputnik launch and the U.S. response.
NASA
Nasa Space Science Data Archive: Russian Lunar Missions
Details the Russian lunar missions from Luna 1 to Zond 8.
PBS
Pbs: Red Files: Secret Soviet Moon Mission
PBS offers biographies and stories from the early days of the Soviet Space program, which prompted the Space Race and nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the former Soviet Union.