Tho its roots lie in erly roket tecnolojy and in th intrnationl tensions foloing World War II, th Space Race efectivly began with th Soviet launch of Sputnik 1 on 4 October 1957. Th term orijnated as an analojy to th arms race. Th Space Race became an importnt part of th cultrl and tecnolojicl rivalry between th USSR and th US during th Cold War. Space tecnolojy became a particularly importnt arena in this conflict, both because of its militry applications and du to th sycolojicl benefit of rasing morale.