The correct answer is: The competition between the Soviet Union and the United States in the Cold War moved into space to show who would arrive first. In 1957, the Soviets were the first to send an artificial satellite into space, the Sputnik I, something that in the United States could not be believed. A short time later the Soviets sent Yuri Gagarin. Finally, in 1969 the United States launches the Apollo 11 with the human being that reached the surface of the moon and it was it was Neil Armstrong, who put the first foot on the lunar surface.
This space race needed too many resources and several astronauts lost their lives.