The American attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki marks the beginning of the Cold War, which is expected to last for decades and bring scientific advances with it. In secret laboratories, American and Soviet experts are working on new methods of warfare

The superpowers USA and Soviet Union engaged in an arms race during the Cold War and at the same time drove the technological progress of an entire society. Areas of natural science that have so far received little attention, such as seismology and meteorology, are now being declared research goals.

In the race between the two superpowers, the USA and the Soviet Union, for supremacy during the Cold War, the development of new technologies was massively promoted. Especially in space and aviation. Rockets could be equipped with nuclear weapons and transported satellites into space. The development of computers also took a rapid course and the information age began.

The Soviet Union sent the first satellite into orbit around the earth in 1957. This came as a shock to the western world. When Yuri Gagarin became the first human to fly through space on April 12, 1961, the race for supremacy in space seemed decided. But then, in 1969, the Americans became the first nation to set foot on the moon. The race to conquer space continued.