Answer:
The Space and Arms race was caused by the Cold War between the Soviet Union and the US. The US invented a nuclear weapon, which would have caused them to lead the war, but then the Soviet Union started to make nuclear weapons. Each time the Soviet Union made one weapon, the US made 2, and then the Soviet Union made 5.
The Space Race started when the Soviet Union sent Sputnik, which was the first artificial satellite. A few weeks later, the US sent the first American Rocket to space.