Why is latitude an important factor in determining climate

When it is latitude, the sun gets closer which makes it able to get hotter but at the bottom or top of earth, if doesn't get striked straight. It's why we have a line half and half to earth. The climate would be hotter in the middle.

The soviet union beat the us to the first successful launch, with the october 4, 1957, orbiting of sputnik 1, and later beat the us to have the first human in earth orbit, yuri gagarin, on april 12, 1961. the "race" peaked with the july 20, 1969, us landing of the first humans on the moon with apollo 11