Hello. You did not show the text to which this question refers, which makes it impossible for her to receive an accurate answer. However, I will try to help you in the best possible way.
It is only possible to show the exact quote by reading the text. However, the space race was one of the great elements of the cold war, with that, we can say that for the author to show that it was a competition between nations he must show how Russia and the USA promoted a large amount of research, with high investment, to appear more technological, modern and scientific in relation to each other.