In purely technological terms, the USSR trumped the USA. Sputnik and Gagarin were followed by a series of other firsts: the first woman in space, first lunar impact, first image of the dark side of the moon, first space rover and first space station were all claimed by the Soviets. But in the popular imagination, the Space Race was won when the USA put a man on the moon in 1969.
Three years later, tensions between the two superpowers briefly eased. And three years after that, in 1975, the world watched as an American Apollo module docket with a Soviet Soyuz last capsule. The two commanders shook hands in space. The Space Race was over.
Surviving propaganda posters are a potent reminder of the stratospheric ambitions of the Soviet regime during the Space Race.
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That's in purely political terms. In technological terms, each new development or discovery builds on the last. Science and technology are the result of pooled knowledge and repeated study and testing. No one country wins if they aren't sharing and borrowing what they know. Remanding knowledge and "firsts" to countries for purposes of accolades wins none one any part of the future. This is a lofty answer without benefit of human failings and earthly considerations. But if we strive toward the higher road, meybe it becomes more attainable as we go.
