Due to a special ceremony taking place in Emancipation Hall in the Capitol Visitor Center on Wednesday, December 10, the Capitol Visitor Center will be closed to public tours all day. There will be no public tours of the Capitol on that day.
In the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union began programs for manned and unmanned scientific missions into space. The Soviets’ successful launch of the unmanned Sputnik I satellite in 1957 made Congress determined to jolt the U.S. space program into action. Winning the race to space became a political, scientific, and security priority. The United States intensified its efforts to be the first nation to send a man to the moon.