Yes, it’s true that the Soviets did pretty much everything first, that was kind of the goal. When the USSR launched Sputnik, the USA basically didn’t even have a space program. They knew the Soviets would beat them to the jump on pretty much everything. They knew they would lose. If they tried to directly compete, they would have definitively lost. So they aimed for the big goal, which was the moon. They won the space race in the sense that the thing they aimed to win was the one they won. The moon landing was such an exorbitant goal, and the USA spent 10 years chasing it, but in the end, they made it. They won the space race in the sense that they won the race to the one thing they decided to care about. So yes, they lost the major achievements, but they knew that would happen. They won the one achievement they cared about, so in their eyes, they won the space race. That is all.
Reddit_guest_a on
But not much people know about first USA satellite, first USA animal (chimpanzee) in space, first astronaut that flew to space from USA and so on… USSR still have more pioneering achievements.
nuck_forte_dame on
They did it first but often in a way they couldn’t reliably repeat.
If space was a frontier land the soviets sent an expedition of 5 dudes out there before anyone else.
The US however sent an army to establish a base and supply it.
just-an-astronomer on
“you only took the lead on the last lap so who really won the race?” 🤓
Eran-of-Arcadia on
The Soviets had the first spacewalk and the first 2-person spacewalk.
Of the first 40 spacewalks, the other 38 were American.
5 Comments
Yes, it’s true that the Soviets did pretty much everything first, that was kind of the goal. When the USSR launched Sputnik, the USA basically didn’t even have a space program. They knew the Soviets would beat them to the jump on pretty much everything. They knew they would lose. If they tried to directly compete, they would have definitively lost. So they aimed for the big goal, which was the moon. They won the space race in the sense that the thing they aimed to win was the one they won. The moon landing was such an exorbitant goal, and the USA spent 10 years chasing it, but in the end, they made it. They won the space race in the sense that they won the race to the one thing they decided to care about. So yes, they lost the major achievements, but they knew that would happen. They won the one achievement they cared about, so in their eyes, they won the space race. That is all.
But not much people know about first USA satellite, first USA animal (chimpanzee) in space, first astronaut that flew to space from USA and so on… USSR still have more pioneering achievements.
They did it first but often in a way they couldn’t reliably repeat.
If space was a frontier land the soviets sent an expedition of 5 dudes out there before anyone else.
The US however sent an army to establish a base and supply it.
“you only took the lead on the last lap so who really won the race?” 🤓
The Soviets had the first spacewalk and the first 2-person spacewalk.
Of the first 40 spacewalks, the other 38 were American.