Note to recorder:
slowly please
The space race
The USA and the Soviet Union competed in exploring space from 1957 to 1969, a period called the Cold War. They aimed at sending humans into space and landing on the Moon. Yuri Gagarin, a Soviet cosmonaut, was the first human to see the Earth from space in April 1961. But the Moon landing race was won by the Americans on July 20th, 1969 when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the Moon while Michael Collins stayed in the Apollo 11 spacecraft. Space exploration led to technological progress resulting in many practical inventions.
