One part of the space race involved competition to be the first country to develop the world’s fastest railroad. turn unproductive farm lands into fertile fields. build the world’s most powerful weapons. achieve a lunar landing.

Achieve a lunar landing.

The Space Race is the name given to the competition between the USSR and the United States for dominance of space missions. This dominance depended on advanced technology, which would not only be beneficial in terms of defence, but would also cement their ideological influence over other countries.

The first accomplishments were by the USSR, which beat the US to the first successful launch of an artificial satellite (Sputnik 1), and was also able to have the first human on earth orbit, Yuri Gagarin. However, the US was able to land the first humans on the Moon with Apollo 11 on July 20, 1969.