Technological Innovation and the Space Race: Strategic Rivalry and Civilian Spillovers

The Cold War functioned as a permanent laboratory of technological innovation, where the strategic rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union was expressed not only in military arsenals but also in an accelerated process of scientific and industrial research. The technological dimension became an integral part of the logic of deterrence, as the ability to develop and deploy advanced systems was perceived as tangible proof of political and military superiority. Ballistic missiles, artificial satellites, and computerized command-and-control systems constituted the material framework of this rivalry, which extended far beyond the battlefield to shape global perceptions of power. The space race, inaugurated by the launch of Sputnik in 1957, transformed technological competition into a spectacle visible to the entire world, fueling not only the superpower rivalry but also the collective imagination of modernity. Technology became at once a tool of security and a vehicle of ideological legitimation, revealing how military power and scientific innovation were inseparably intertwined.