Space Race

The Space Race occurred during the Cold War and had its origins in the missile-based arms race between the two nations. It effectively began with the Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957, and ended in a period of detente with the co-operative Apollo-Soyuz Test Project flight in July 1975. In between, it became a focus of the cultural, technological, and ideological rivalry between the two nations. It showed the benifts of societal morale boosting.