The Space Race was a result of the Cold War between the U.S. and the Soviet. This was another medium or arena that was used to hold this war. It began with the Soviet's launching of the Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. It was pretty much ended when the U.S. landed Apollo 8 on the moon. The attention of the American public was focus on this space race due to the developing televisions. The progress of the Space Race was heavily covered by the media. The media potrayed the American Astonauts as heroes and the American people lived through them. While the Soviets were potrayed as the losing villians.
http://www.history.com/topics/space-race
