Read this excerpt from the text Space Exploration. On the other hand, the Americans had a different focus. The American Mercury and Gemini programs studied technology and human endurance in space. Eventually, the Apollo program formed and set the goal to put humans on the moon. It was the Apollo 11 that achieved this goal in 1969. Here is a look at some of the major events in space exploration during that time. Date Event October 4, 1957 The Soviet Union Launched Sputnik 1. This satellite looked like a beach ball with four antennae. Each antenna had a transmitter that communicated information back to Earth. November 3, 1957 The Soviet Union launched Sputnik 2 with a passenger on board. Laiku, a Soviet dog, experienced orbiting Earth for a number of days. This feat provided encouragement for future journeys. If a dog could handle the intense body stress of being in space, so might a human. January 31, 1958 The United States launched Explorer 1. Explorer's task was to track cosmic rays. A crew at the Johnston Space Center in Houston, Texas, know as Mission Control, awaited the relayed data. January 2, 1959 The Soviet Union launched Luna 1, which became the first spacecraft ever to exit the Earth's orbit. January 31, 1966 The Soviet Union launched Luna 9, which was the first spacecraft to land on the moon. July 20, 1969 Apollo 11 landed on the moon. With 600 million people watching, American astronaut Neil Armstrong took the first human step onto the moon. How does the compare and contrast text structure help you understand how the U.S. goal for space exploration was different than the Soviet Union? The goal was to beat the Soviet Union. The goal was to launch Luna 9. The goal was to put a dog in space. The goal was to put a man on the moon.