"The Space Race: The Last Frontier"

Raphael Ettinger-Finley and Yash Deshpande

Junior Division
Group Website
490 Words

We chose our topic of the Space Race because it covered many fields of study
that interested us greatly. It covered the field of astronomy, which both of us are
fascinated about. It also covered the field of space exploration and two different styles
of running a country: Capitalism and Communism, which interested both of us greatly.
The topic was chosen by giving many possible ideas of a topic for History Day, and then
narrowing the topics down to one topic: The Space Race. We chose this topic over our
other topics because it seemed the most riveting topic out of all of them, and when
researched, this topic yielded the most useful resources, both online and offline, primary
or secondary, than any other topic.
This project required much information on the subject of the space race. Most of
the sources that were used were print materials. Some were obtained from the Parkland
Community Library, others from the Cedar Crest College library, and some from other
college libraries through the inter-library loan program. We had access to these college
libraries because we have connections with Cedar Crest College faculty. We also used
web sources, most of which were databases that we had gained access to through our
school.
We selected the presentation category of group website, because both of us
enjoy technology and have experience creating websites, as we chose this category last
year as well. Another plus side to using a website is that we would be able to work on
the final project individually, which helps us have a more flexible schedule. Much of the
added elements on our website we found in our informational sources, as well as some
from the internet. We started work on our website in a way that each of us could
continue developing it whenever we had the time. To do this, we made an outline of the
website and started our basic layout, while leaving room for each of us to fill in
information. We also made a plan on what parts of the website each of us would work
on in case we did not have time to meet.
Our topic of the space race fits the theme of exploration, encounter, and
exchange very well. The space race was a turning point in space exploration, as
humankind had never before sent objects or beings into space. Much data was also
gathered on the nature of space. The space race was also an encounter between two of

the most powerful countries at the time, the US and the USSR. These countries
competed with each other to be the first to achieve important space firsts (e.g. first
person in space, first to reach the moon). These two countries also had an exchange of
political ideas. Both nations introduced the others to these forms of government, though
only some parts of the USSR became mostly capitalistic, while the US did not become
communistic.