The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals and the world’s great powers–the democratic, capitalist United States and the communist Soviet Union for proving the superiority of its technology and capability in spaceflight.
The space race started when the Soviet union launched Sputnik which was the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit in October 1957. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise. A month later, it was followed by Sputnik II, which carried the first space traveller, Laika the dog. Their launch caused a huge shock all around the world, but especially in the United States, where people had grown used to their countries technological superiority
The space race started when the Soviet union launched Sputnik which was the world’s first artificial satellite and the first man-made object to be placed into the Earth’s orbit in October 1957. Sputnik’s launch came as a surprise. A month later, it was followed by Sputnik II, which carried the first space traveller, Laika the dog. Their launch caused a huge shock all around the world, but especially in the United States, where people had grown used to their countries technological superiority