The Right Stuff

In the movie "The Right Stuff", The U.S and U.S.S.R were competing in a technological race. The movie starts off with the 2 nations competing to break the sound barrier with an airplane. The United States broke the sound barrier first when they reached Mach 1. Then The Soviet Union beat us by going a lot faster. Then the Soviets put the first satellite in space which angered the Americans so the U.S started to build a space program and tried to send someone or something in space. The U.S managed to put a monkey into space. Then the Soviets managed to put an actual man into space beating us in the space race.