<P> The Space Race refers to the 20th - century competition between two Cold War rivals , the Soviet Union ( USSR ) and the United States ( US ) , for dominance in spaceflight capability . It had its origins in the missile - based nuclear arms race between the two nations that occurred following World War II , aided by captured German missile technology and personnel from the Aggregat program . The technological superiority required for such dominance was seen as necessary for national security , and symbolic of ideological superiority . The Space Race spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites , uncrewed space probes of the Moon , Venus , and Mars , and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon . </P>
<P> The Space Race refers to the 20th - century competition between two Cold War rivals , the Soviet Union ( USSR ) and the United States ( US ) , for dominance in spaceflight capability . It had its origins in the missile - based nuclear arms race between the two nations that occurred following World War II , aided by captured German missile technology and personnel from the Aggregat program . The technological superiority required for such dominance was seen as necessary for national security , and symbolic of ideological superiority . The Space Race spawned pioneering efforts to launch artificial satellites , uncrewed space probes of the Moon , Venus , and Mars , and human spaceflight in low Earth orbit and to the Moon . </P>
who were the two superpowers during the cold war space race
who were the two superpowers during the cold war space race
the Soviet Union ( USSR ) the United States
the Soviet Union ( USSR ) the United States