Early space exploration is very tightly coupled with politics. Given the USA capabilities, it can be argued that the first satellite being Soviet was a result o

Early space exploration is very tightly coupled with politics. Given the USA capabilities, it can be argued that the first satellite being Soviet was a result of political bureaucracy of USA. They explicitly denied von Braun's request to fly Jupiter rocket - which were in relatively good shape - to reach an orbit. On the other hand, subsequent first man in space and first man on the Moon both shown strengths of respective countries' technology. Even after 1975 Apollo-Soyuz flight healthy competition remained - it is colorfully demonstrated in the series "For All Mankind", which just had its 3rd season. Now, 65 years later, we're getting into commercial space space. Politics get a bit less important, but there's still a long way to go.