In this photograph, nearly four thousand people filled Grand Central Station to watch John Glenn become the first American astronaut to orbit the earth. CBS had installed a twelve-by-sixteen-foot television screen for the event. This excitement and pride that Americans had for John Glenn's flight, as well as for the flights of the other first astronauts, helped sustain the competition felt during the space race, despite Kennedy and Khrushchev's work to establish joint space programs between the two nations.

In this photograph, Yuri Gagarin of the USSR, the first man to orbit the Earth, walks a red carpet at Moscow airport to ceremonies honoring his flight. This honor demonstrates the great admiration that the people of the USSR felt toward him.

This cover of a 1959 LIFE magazine features the seven astronauts of the Mercury program, the United States' first manned spaceflight program. The extensive media coverage of the astronauts, who had now become celebrities, was part of the source of competition between the US and the USSR regarding the space race.