On April 12, 1961, 65 years ago, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space. The United States had already lost the first round of the space race when the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first satellite. Now the Americans were falling further behind and had to make a big bet. Just a few weeks after Gagarin's flight, President Kennedy promised that an American astronaut would be the first on the moon.
Tonight's talk explores new perspectives on a familiar story we never tire of – the space race between the Soviet Union and the United States during the Cold War. Between the extremes of Sputnik in 1957 and the emerging cooperation with the rendezvous in space between Apollo and Soyuz in 1974, we find technological and human feats and tragedies, and stories of friendship, rivalry and big politics.
Jenny Helene Syse recently published the book "Fordi det er svælke" (Because It's Hard) with her father, Henrik Syse. The title is taken from Kennedy's famous speech in September 1961. Here they retell the story and put it into new contexts, emphasizing the hopeful in a story about how people who work together can achieve the seemingly impossible.
Speaker, Jenny Helene Syse (b. 2001) is a student of human geography and local politician in Oslo. She has written the book "Fordi det er svælg" together with her father, Henrik Syse (b. 1966), who is a philosopher, researcher, speaker and author. He is affiliated as a professor at the Institute for Peace Research (PRIO) and Oslo Nye Høyskole, and will also contribute to the lecture through video clips.
