The beginning of the “Space Race” starts with the launch of Sputnik by the USSR in 1957. NASA’s Mercury , Gemini and Apollo space programs show that American astronauts have the right stuff and Neil Armstrong takes a giant leap when Apollo 11 lands on the moon in July 1969 fulfilling President Kennedy’s challenge he set forth in a speech to a special joint session of Congress in March of 1961 to land a man on the moon before then end of the decade.