Good observation. At some point Von Neumann became interested in modeling a self-replicating machine, and created what he called "cellular automata", and added features to the model that he assumed were necessary for self-replication. I don't know if his model assumed that raw materials were needed to reproduce, though. But in any case the biological metaphors were there from the beginning.

Von Neumann's model was complicated, and in the early 70's Conway created a simplified version, which is this "Game of Life" linked to on this page. I'm not sure where the space metaphors came from. Maybe due to the protean space games then being created. Maybe due to Star Trek or NASA's space program.