<sod>The U.S. often opposed [[Third World]] movements that it viewed as Soviet-sponsored. American troops fought communist [[People's Liberation Army|Chinese]] and [[North Korea]]n forces in the [[Korean War]] of 1950–53.<ref name="Proxy" /> The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the [[Sputnik 1|first artificial satellite]] and its 1961 launch of the [[Vostok 1|first manned spaceflight]] initiated a "[[Space Race]]" in which the United States became the first nation to [[Apollo 11|land a man on the moon]] in 1969.<ref name="Proxy">{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Collins (astronaut) |title=Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space |location=New York |publisher=Grove Press |year=1988}}</ref> A proxy war in Southeast Asia eventually evolved into full American participation, as the [[Vietnam War]].{{refn|group=fn|Beginning between 1945, 1954, 1962 (depending on different sources) and ending in the mid-1970s. Several start dates of the war are given by different sources: 1945,<ref>{{cite book|author=Gary Donaldson|title=America at War Since 1945: Politics and Diplomacy in Korea, Vietnam, and the Gulf War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jOHR0neab58C&pg=PA208|date=January 1, 1996|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|isbn=978-0-275-95660-8|page=208}}</ref> 1954,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.pbs.org/battlefieldvietnam/timeline/ |title=Battlefield: Timeline |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Battlefield Vietnam Web Site |publisher=Public Broadcasting Service |accessdate=October 31, 2014}}</ref> 1959,<ref>{{cite book|author=R. J. Rummel|title=Death by Government|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aYBrAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA255|date=January 1, 1997|publisher=Transaction Publishers|isbn=978-1-56000-927-6|page=255}}</ref> and 1962;<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.awm.gov.au/atwar/vietnam/ |title=Vietnam War 1962–75 |author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |website=Australian War Memorial |publisher=Government of Australia |accessdate=October 31, 2014}}</ref> the end date is also debated. Major U.S. involvement stopped in 1973,<ref>{{cite news |last=Ip |first=Michael |date=March 29, 2013 |title=Looking Back: The End of the Vietnam War |url=http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2013/03/looking-back-the-end-of-the-vietnam-war/ |newspaper=ABC News |accessdate=October 31, 2014 }}</ref> yet most recognize the end of the Second Indochina War as when the Republic of Vietnam was toppled in 1975.<ref>{{cite book|author=Allan Todd|title=History for the IB Diploma: The Cold War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yoapyhfmsHkC&pg=PT172|date=May 19, 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-18932-3|page=172}}</ref>}}<eod>
<sod>The U.S. often opposed [[Third World]] movements that it viewed as Soviet-sponsored. American troops fought communist [[People's Liberation Army|Chinese]] and [[North Korea]]n forces in the [[Korean War]] of 1950–53.<ref name="Proxy" /> The Soviet Union's 1957 launch of the [[Sputnik 1|first artificial satellite]] and its 1961 launch of the [[Vostok 1|first manned spaceflight]] initiated a "[[Space Race]]" in which the United States became the first nation to [[Apollo 11|land a man on the moon]] in 1969.<ref name="Proxy">{{cite book |last=Collins |first=Michael |authorlink=Michael Collins (astronaut) |title=Liftoff: The Story of America's Adventure in Space |location=New York |publisher=Grove Press |year=1988}}</ref> A proxy war in Southeast Asia eventually evolved into full American participation, as the [[Vietnam War]].<eod>