Browse Exhibits (2 total)
New Opportunities: Europe America Space Flight 500
In 1991, the collapse of the Soviet Union signaled the end of the Cold War and changed the landscape of international relations, especially between former adversaries. Shortly after the dissolution, private individuals from the United States and Russia collaborated on a historic step to repair relations damaged by nearly fifty years of tension.
The result was a commercial spacecraft mission named Europe-America Space Flight 500, a pivot point between two influential periods of history. A peace rocket utilizing former Soviet military technology, filled with souvenirs advocating for peace, and promoting business connections, Space Flight 500 was a remarkable symbol of cooperation between both nations in the new post-Cold War era.
Life Over Trident: The Bangor Submarine Protests
During the 1970s and 1980s the arrival of submarines armed with nuclear Trident missiles at the naval base in Bangor, Washington was depicted as a strategic neccessity by the US Government and the Navy to keep pace with the military developments of the Soviet Union.
However, despite the official stance of these missiles as an effective deterrent against Cold War adversaries, the close proximity of these devastating weapons to the city of Seattle amid reemerging Cold War tensions became a cause of great concern for anti-nuclear activists as well as local residents.
As a result protest groups soon formed, not only out of concerns for personal danger, but also to challenge the morality of these weapons and address possible repercussions of their use. These groups included the Pacific Life Community and the Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action.