Is a chemical reaction taking place in a pot of boiling water

No because you are only boiling a pot of water the only ingredient is water

No, chemically it remains the same. physically it is changing as the molecules are cause to move due to the heat, but the chemicals remain the same, water is the same as boiling water as water is to water vapor. they are all water

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