What was the event that started the space race?

It is 1957 and the U.S. and the Soviet Union are locked into the Cold War. The Soviet Union has just launched the world's first satellite, Sputnik. Fearful of Soviet military control of space, the Americans quickly ready a rocket. With the world watching, it blows up. Making fun of then-President Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower, one newspaper proclaims, "Stayputnik. Ike's Sputnik Is a Flopnik."
The space race is on, and the Soviets are winning.

The answer is option a. boundary line drawn by pope alexander iv in 1493.

The fact that farmers were paid for destroying crops.