Question

Explain the arms and space race

Answer 1

The Space Race seems almost silly today, when you consider that Sputnik was only capable of beeping a signal back to Earth and nothing more.  But in a nuclear context, America feared that the Soviets could drop nuclear warheads from satellites without warning, so we felt it was absolutely necessary to "catch up" to the Russians in techology.The arms race and the space race were related, but different.  The arms race was a competition to have the biggest and most dangerous weapons arsenal.  This was clearly important because each side was afraid of the other.  They each wanted to make sure the other could not overpower them.

The space race was a competition to get into space (first in space, first in orbit, first to the moon, etc).  This was related to the arms race because the rockets used for that could be used for nuclear missiles too.  It was also important because both countries wanted to look like they were stronger and more advanced technolgically (if they could be first in these various competitions in space).