The American success gave the "entire free world a huge and badly needed boost."
President Kennedy used the space race to boost the idea of the "free world" over Communism, commenting that we would govern space "by a banner of freedom and peace."
Space technology was not the only form of competition taking place in the 20th century. The Wright brothers and Samuel Langley, the secretary for the Smithsonian Institution, were competing to put the first aircraft flown by a human into flight. They both were attempting to build a powered aircraft and on December 17, 1903, the Wright brothers sent their aircraft into flight for 12 seconds.
Thus with the invention of the powered aircraft, transportation was forever changed and would cause a tremendous impact on the events of the 20th century. The aerial age brought about the use of airplanes for both commercial and military use, creating "an entirely new world."
Both the Army and the Navy purchased Wright model airplanes and as years went on, the use of all types of aircraft in military maneuvers changed the way battles were fought. Aerial transportation changed the way the world works and created "broad cultural implications" with an "influence [that] went well beyond the aeronautical community."
Technological inventions were a defining factor in the 20th century. From the airplane to nuclear weaponry, innovation and invention ushered in a new world. In 1969, the Internet would be added to this list of incredible technological achievements. Starting as a Defense Department project, a "web' of datagram network" was to be built which would "use dynamic routing protocols to constantly adjust the flow of traffic."
Research continuously evolved the system and by the late 1980's, the development of the PC and LAN technology made "an internetwork of networks" possible.
The World Wide Web debuted in the early 1990's, and the emergence of web sites "drove the Internet into the public eye."
By the end of the 20th century, the Internet...
Like many other influences of the 20th century, it's true impact is still evolving and growing and is helping to shape the
21st century.
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http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/TimeLineDisplay.cfm?Era_id=16.
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/20th.html.
http://ehistory.osu.edu/world/TimeLineDisplay.cfm?Era_id=16.
http://www.scaruffi.com/politics/20th.html.
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Martin Collins, Space Race: The U.S.-U.S.S.R. Competition to Reach the Moon (Rohnert Park, CA: Pomegranate Publications, 1999) 57.
Collins, 82.
John F. Kennedy and the Space Race, the White House Historical Association, April 3, 2011, http://www.whitehousehistory.org/whha_classroom/classroom_9-12-visionary-kennedy.html.
The Wright Brothers and the Invention of the Aerial Age, Smithsonian, April 5, 2011, http://www.nasm.si.edu/wrightbrothers/index_full.cfm.
Kedem, C., the Social Impact of the Internet on Our Society, April 6, 2011, http://www-users.math.umd.edu/~bnk/CAR/project.htm.
