The Space Race was a competition between the U.S and the Soviet Union for advances in outer space exploration. The first goal of the space race was to get unmanned satellites into space. The Soviet Union was the first country to complete this goal, they sent up a satellite named Sputnik. In reaction to Sputnik the U.S felt they have not been investing in science and education so they pored money into funded them. On November 3rd, 1957 the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2, on Sputnik 2 a dog named Lapika the first animal to enter orbit. United States finally launched a successful satellite into space named Explorer 1. The National Aeronautics Space Administration more commonly known as NASA was established in 1958. NASA’s purpose was to conduct research and perfect various space programs. Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Union was the first human to enter into space on April 12, 1961. He launched into orbit on the Vostok 1 spacecraft. Alan Shepard was the first American man in space. Launched in May 5th, 1961 on the Freedom 7 spacecraft. Soviet Union's Valentina Tereshkova was the first woman to go into space. She was launched in 1963 on the Vostok 6 spacecraft. In May of 1961 President John F Kennedy of the United States would declared “the Unites States would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade.” And on the promise was kept because on July 16th, 1969 the Apollo 11 mission took off from the Kennedy Space Center. The mission was to land two men on the moon and return them back to Earth, those two men were Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin.