The space race started shortly after the Cold War started. The Cold War started because after World War II the US and USSR were the clear super powers of the world. The space race was a race between the US and USSR to see who can get to space first.
On October 4, 1957 Russia launched "Sputnik" (Russian for traveler). Sputnik was the worlds first satellite and first man-made object to be put into Earths orbit.
A year later, the US launched its own satellite, called Explorer 1. It doesn't look like the typical satellite but was equipped with everything it needed. As shown in the picture above. One of the main people behind Explorer 1 was rocket scientist Wernher Von Braun.
In that same year, President Dwight D. Eisenhower made a push for National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NASA is a federal agency that deals with space exploration. Eisenhower also created two national securities that were involved with space. The first was led by the US Air Force that was used to exploit the military potentials of space. The second was led by the CIA, the Air Force, and the National Reconnaissance Office. It was nicknamed "Corona" and used orbiting satellites to spy on the Soviet Union and its allies.