What was the political meaning of the Americans landing on the moon first?

It stood to signify that America had the best and tops scientific and technologic advancements than the rest of the world. By being the first country to have its astronaut land on the moon in outer space, it stood as one of America's much utmost achievements that would give way to proving the it had the best minds and resources in the world.

The United States' Apollo 11 was the first manned mission to land on the Moon, on 20 July 1969. There have been six manned U. S. landings and numerous unmanned landings, with no soft landings happening from 22 August 1976 until 14 December 2013.