During the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the U.S.A had a lot of tension. They fought over everything, sometimes it was due to communism, trust, and other times, one of them just wanted to be better than the other. Then rockets came along, and the Space Race began. Whoever made a rocket reach outer space and land a man on the moon was bound to be the best out there. The United States and the Soviet Union took this as a chance to prove that they're better than each other. Although Russia (the Soviet Union) had the lead, the U.S knew they couldn't give up, so they continued to work extremely hard and took the lead, got a rocket in outer space, and landed a man on the moon. This was extremely important because the U.S was then known for having the strongest military, the best scientists, the best research, and overall, the strongest country.