US and USSR were keen on developing advanced rockets, and their focus was on military applications. Several German engineers working on intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) project surrendered to the US and USSR at the end of the second world war, hoping to continue their research and to develop satellite technology. The US tested several types of rockets and missiles, but all these tests failed. In this scenario, the USSR launched Sputnik.

Khrushchev and Kennedy arm-wrestling over nuclear missiles