Who Took the Victory in the "Space Match"?

Tijekom Drugoga svjetskoga rata započet je razvoj raketne tehnologije, a isti je u godinama nakon rata ubrzano rastao. Ubrzo je, zahvaljujući stručnjacima kao što su Sergej Pavlovič Koroljov i Wernher von Braun, bilo omogućeno stvaranje snažnih raketa za izbacivanje umjetnih satelita i svemirskih letjelica, što je rezultiralo time da je svemir postao novim poprištem nadmetanja velikih sila, SAD-a i SSSR-a. Dakako, u pozadini nadmetanja nalazila se politika, prestiž i ideologija, dok je znanost pala u drugi plan. Također je bitno istaknuti kako je svemir, zbog straha od nuklearnoga rata, bio jedina prikladna arena. Što se tiče samoga rada on polazi od teze kako ni SAD ni SSSR nisu odnijeli pobjedu u svemirskoj utakmici. Rad započinje uvodom u kojem se ukratko objašnjava njegova tematika, odnosno okolnosti vezane uz početak Hladnoga rata, a time i borbu „za svemir“. Zatim slijedi poglavlje nazvano Prvo poluvrijeme u kojem se detaljnije obrađuju prvi američki i sovjetski svemirski pothvati, počevši od sovjetskog Sputnika 1 do američkog Vanguarda. Nadalje, opisat će se američko „uzvraćanje udarca“ sovjetskim uspjesima „osvajanjem“ Zemljinog satelita, Mjeseca, te će se nastojati prikazati koliku je ulogu u svemirskoj utakmici imala propaganda. Na samom kraju rad bit će iznesen zaključak. Prilikom pisanja rada korišteno je više literaturnih jedinica različitih autora. Kao dvije najzastupljenije ističu se ona s potpisom britanskoga autora Johna Higgsa, „Apsolutno nezamislivo: Pokušaj shvaćanja 20. stoljeća“, te rad Lovre Grgića pod nazivom „Slučajna utrka“.During the Second World War, the development of missile technology began, and it grew rapidly in the years after the war. Soon, thanks to experts such as Sergei Pavlovich Korolev and Wernher von Braun, it was possible to create powerful rockets to launch artificial satellites and spacecraft, which resulted in space becoming a new arena for competition between the great powers, the United States and the Soviet Union. Of course, politics, prestige and ideology were behind the competition, while science fell into the background. Likewise, it is important to point out that space, for fear of nuclear war, was the only suitable arena. As for the work itself, it starts from the thesis that neither the USA nor the USSR took the victory in the space race. The work begins with an introduction in which his topic is briefly explained, ie the circumstances related to the beginning of the Cold War, and with it the struggle “for space”. This is followed by a chapter, called The First Half, in which he deals in more detail with the first American and Soviet space ventures, starting with Soviet Sputnik 1 to American Vanguard. Furthermore, the American “retaliation” against Soviet successes by “conquering” the Earth’s satellite, the Moon, will be described, and an attempt will be made to show the role of propaganda in the space race. At the very end of the paper, a conclusion will be drawn. When writing the paper, several literary units of different authors were used. The two most represented are those signed by the British author John Higgs, “Absolutely Unthinkable: An Attempt to Understand the 20th Century”, and the work of Lovro Grgić entitled “Random Race”