Cold War #3

I had an opportunity to visit the Kansas Cosmosphere this weekend. The space race is an absolute reflection of the cold war. The scientists of the space program in both the United States and the Soviet Union are a large part of the exhibit. Whether they were Russian scientists, American scientists or German rocket scientists (the precursor to the space program) there was a lot of pride in what they were able to accomplish and some dismay at the same time. For example, when Werner Von Braun, German rocket scientist, successfully launched a V2 rocket against Great Britain during World War II he was quoted as saying "the rocket performed perfectly, it just hit the wrong planet" . If the scientists of the nuclear age are able to count a success of their technology it is certainly the success of the space program both in the United States and Russia. However, this idea leads to further questioning. If there had not been a weapons program, would there have been a Cold War? If there had not been a weapons program, would there have been a space race? And finally, was the development of nuclear technology inevitable?