SPACE RACE Definition & Meaning

space race

[ speys reys ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a Cold War rivalry in which the United States and the Soviet Union competed for primacy in space exploration, beginning with the Soviet launch of the artificial satellite Sputnik I on October 4, 1957, and effectively ending with the moon landing of the U.S. manned module Eagle on July 20, 1969.

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of space race¹

First recorded in 1955–60

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

And now, as the new space race heats up, spawning tens of thousands of satellites in orbit around the Earth, it only stands to make the visible night sky less so.

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In the summer of 1579, the seas were like a space race, explorers and privateers from several seafaring nations sailing hither and yon, and, like a little kid surveying the presents under the Christmas tree, making landfall and claiming, “That’s mine! And that’s mine!”

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Founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000, Blue Origin has been a key player in the private space race, but it is seen as lagging behind rivals such as Elon Musk's SpaceX.

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"Musk has very much re-ignited the space race".

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"DeepSeek-R1 is AI's Sputnik moment," he posted to X on Sunday, referring to the satellite which kicked off the space race.

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