• The Americans had hired German rocketry experts who worked for Hitler for their space program intended to launch satellites and land on the Moon. They were passionate about using their expertise for space exploration and looking at Germany loosing the World War were exploring which country to work for.
  • Soviets were way ahead of the Americans in terms of lots of firsts in the space race, including launching the first satellite to orbit the Earth – Sputnik. Americans could have very well launched a satellite almost an year before it if it weren’t for the govt’s desire for launching a civilian satellite and not a military one (which they eventually anyways had to use).