The space race affected the Cold War because both the USA and the Soviet Union wanted to prove to each other that they were superior to the other, through technology and innovation. It was, simply put, a literal space race. Each country was trying to make more breakthroughs in outer space, just to show each other (along with other countries) that there way of life was better than the other. This was important because it pushed our technology and exploration to a whole new level very quickly.