On September 2, 1945, the world's two most powerful nations engaged in a war of pride and power, known as the Cold War. The Soviet Union and the United States fought hard to gain a reputation that would be revered for centuries. Aggressively, these two nations strove to become the greatest in the world through politics, weapons and science. These actions and attitudes greatly reinforced the need for space exploration and quickly fueled a quest that changed history forever. The space race had many motivations and many elements that allowed the competition to continue. One of the main motivations was military security. To have power in the world, these countries needed missiles and rockets that could go higher, faster and further than their countries. These rivals had to position themselves in space to dominate each other. They could potentially have orbital weapons systems, be able to intercept and inspect their enemies' communications, and possibly use the Moon for military purposes. These things motivated the military part of the space race. The next incentive for the space race was peace. Some wanted to partner with other space programs so they could use space as a tool for peace rather than war. They emphasized peace significantly so that they could use space and the moon for scientific purposes. Another source of inspiration is the progress of science and technology. Those who aspired to space had a desire to know this vast unknown space. Scientists wanted man to be sent into space for the purposes of discovery and science. Some scientists were angry and criticized the space program whenever it strayed from this motivation. These extraterrestrial discoveries could eventually bring new technologies and benefit middle of paper......r. America now had to catch up with the Soviets, they were getting too far ahead and outpacing them in many successes. NASA then launched Apollo 8 on December 21, 1968. Apollo 8 was the first human spaceflight mission to leave Earth's orbit, the first to be captured and escape the gravity field of something else than Earth, and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth. Earth from the Moon. The Apollo 8 crew consisted of Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders. They became the first humans to personally view the far side of the Moon as well as the first humans to view Earth from a higher orbit. Since the success of Apollo 8, NASA felt confident enough to send 3 men to the Moon aboard the Apollo 11 multi-pilot spacecraft. Works Cited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page