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After world war II, the U.S and the Soviet Union entered into the Cold War game of Spy-versus-Spy that ultimately led to the Space race
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Eisenhower's Science Advisory Comittee urged him to consider launching non-military satellites, which, unlike planes, could travel over enemy terrain without risk of being shot down.
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Just a month after propelling the first satellite into space, the Soviet Union had made headlines again with Sputnik 2, which sent the first animal, a dog, into orbit.
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By 1959, both countries had set their sights on a new symbolic goal-- first to reach the moon.
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As scientists in both nations worked to improve rocket and satellite technology, plans for spy missions were well under way.
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Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin flew into orbit with the Vostok 1 and became the first man in space.
