Operation Sunshine was a scientific expedition conducted by the United States Navy in the summer of 1958. A crew of just over 100 sailors piloted under the North Pole. Nautilus was chosen for the mission because its nuclear reactor allowed it to remain submerged longer than a conventional submarine. The mission was completed successfully on August 3, 1958, when Nautilus and crew crossed under the North Pole. Vanguard One of the "fronts" of the Cold War was a technology race between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union. There was tension between the two governments over nuclear weapons, and a "space race" developed during the late 1950s, in which each government aimed to demonstrate its superiority through demonstrations of scientific and technological advances. Russia celebrated the successful launch of their satellite into orbit in October 1957. Shortly after, the United States attempted to launch their Vanguard I satellite, which exploded before lifting off. Soviet researchers were ahead of their U.S. counterparts in rocket technology, and the American public was aware of this technology gap. There was concern that the Soviet government would be able to use the same rockets that had propelled Sputnik to launch nuclear-armed missiles at targets within the United States. President Eisenhower's aim was to speed the development of U.S. rocketry to keep pace with the Soviets, but also to minimize American fears related to this technological disparity. Eisenhower needed something to show Americans, and the rest of the world, that there were technological areas in which the U.S. government was ahead of the Soviets. The chosen solution was to combine submarine technology and nuclear reactor technology – two areas where U.S. science was ahead of the Soviets – in order to create a technological showpiece to reinforce American public perception. Nautilus USS Nautilus was the first nuclear submarine built for the U.S. armed forces. She was designed by Admiral Hyman G. Rickover. Rickover ordered the hull of the boat built at Electric Boat Company in Groton, Connecticut, while the reactor was built and tested in Idaho. Nautilus departed from prior submarine design in that it was not designed to be a warship, but rather as a symbol for peaceful nuclear energy. Mission It was not enough that the United States had just built a nuclear submarine, Nautilus had to be tested to show how much more advanced the technology was. Ideas were bounced