Why was the space race more than just about getting astronauts into space?

Basically The space race was a show of who had more power.

Explanation:

Middle school

The space race was a series of competitive technology demonstrations between the United States and the Soviet Union, aiming to show superiority in spaceflight. It was an outgrowth of the mid-20th-century Cold War, a tense global conflict that pitted the ideologies of capitalism and communism against one another, according to an online exhibit from the National Air and Space Museum. that is why the space race was more than just about getting astronauts into space