Contextualization: In this excerpt, President Kennedy says: "...No nation which expects to be the leader of other nations can expect to stay behind in the race for space." Considering that the U. S. Was engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union at this time, why might President Kennedy have chosen to include this line about leadership in his speech?

The correct answer to this open question is the following.

Considering that the U.S. was engaged in the Cold War with the Soviet Union at this time, the reason why might President Kennedy had chosen to include this line about leadership in his speech was that the Soviet Union had already launched the Sputnik spacecraft into space. This represented a notorious advantage for the USSR against the United States as the two rivals during the Cold War years. The US could not fall behind its worst enemy in those years, that is why President Kennedy decided to heavily invest in the space race program and shorten the distance with the USSR.

balearic sea - is a body of water in the mediterranean sea around the balearic islands. baltic sea - is a mediterranean sea of the atlantic which is enclosed by scandinavian and baltic countries. barents sea - is a marginal sea in the artic ocean located off the northern coast of norway and russia.

d. i assume the underlined word is "role." reformat if it isn't.

explanation:

role is closest to part because when replacing words, "playing a vital decision," "playing a vital activity," and "playing a vital dollar" don't make logical sense. the only meaningful choice is "playing a vital part."

this fits one of merriam-webster's definitions of role: "a function or part performed especially in a particular operation or process."