The Cold War that followed World War II as the United States and the Soviet Union competed for global dominance changed the world forever, and the technology from the space race continues to influence everyday life. That race began in earnest in the 1950s as both nations feverishly developed nuclear weapons and intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) to carry them, according to Air Force Global Strike. The resulting advancements in rocket technology enabled the early exploration of space, leading up to the Soviet Union successfully orbiting the first artificial satellite in 1957 and putting the first human in orbit in 1961. The competition peaked when the United States successfully landed the first humans on the moon in 1969. The legacy of the Cold War and the early space race is not just about global tension and conflict: It also yielded the birth of the modern technological age.
