I believe the space race between the United States and Soviet Union started as a new way to outdo the opposing side and another possible battlefield to gain military leverage. As the space race was started with the Soviet's launch of Sputnik, they had the advantage and continued with that a long time. In response, the U.S. poured excessive amounts of funding into space programs because they were a major player in the Cold War. This was mainly for military and country superiority but resulted in the furthering of scientific knowledge regarding space and even engineering as vehicles that could travel to space were needed.
The space race was a competition but led to many milestone discoveries in a relatively short amount of time which shows just how much a government can accomplish when they have a goal they are determined to reach, whether that government is a Constitutional Republic or Communist based. So much was discovered about the universe this 'race' was the marker to a new era of understanding and continues to affect the space explorations made today.
The space race does have a disappointing side as well. As said above, the space race began as a competition to gain military and, above all, country superiority, basically which country was better. Many great things were accomplished in a span of less than 20 years but now that space exploration is not being carried out for political reasons, advancements have become much more few and far between. As soon as the space program became only a search for knowledge and understanding, the funding was cut and the government didn't have much use for it so they stopped using it. This shows man's want for power and superiority is greater than their want for knowledge and understanding, at least in government.
The space race was a competition but led to many milestone discoveries in a relatively short amount of time which shows just how much a government can accomplish when they have a goal they are determined to reach, whether that government is a Constitutional Republic or Communist based. So much was discovered about the universe this 'race' was the marker to a new era of understanding and continues to affect the space explorations made today.
The space race does have a disappointing side as well. As said above, the space race began as a competition to gain military and, above all, country superiority, basically which country was better. Many great things were accomplished in a span of less than 20 years but now that space exploration is not being carried out for political reasons, advancements have become much more few and far between. As soon as the space program became only a search for knowledge and understanding, the funding was cut and the government didn't have much use for it so they stopped using it. This shows man's want for power and superiority is greater than their want for knowledge and understanding, at least in government.