SALT Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT) were negotiations between the Soviet Union and the United States to limit the number of newly created nuclear weapons. The first negotiations extended from 1969 to 1972 and resulted in SALT I (the first Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) in which each side agreed to keep their strategic ballistic missile launchers at their current numbers and provided for the increase in submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM) in proportion to the decrease in number of intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).

The second round of negotiations extended from 1972 to 1979 and resulted in SALT II (the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty) which provided a broad range of limitations on offensive nuclear weapons.

space race A competition between the Soviet Union and the United States to prove their superiority in technology through increasingly impressive accomplishments in space. The race to space began in 1957 when the Soviet Union successfully launched the first satellite, Sputnik.

Star Wars Nickname (based on the Star Wars movie trilogy) of U.S. President Ronald Reagan's plan to research, develop, and build a space-based system that could destroy incoming nuclear missiles. Introduced March 23, 1983 and officially called the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).

superpower A country that dominates in political and military power. During the Cold War, there were two superpowers: the Soviet Union and the United States.

U.S.S.R. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (U.S.S.R.), also commonly called the Soviet Union, was a country that consisted of what is now Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.