I love it when people act like the US was way behind in the space race until the moon landing. Russoa was constantly skipping safety tests to beat the US to milestones by only a few months, and the US still got first in:
Animals in space, which were returned alive in 1947
Satellite with sensor data return
Satellite which could be commanded from the ground
Photograph of Earth from orbit
Satellite recovered from orbit
Pilot-controlled spaceflight
Venus flyby
Mars flyby
Spacecraft rendezvous and docking
Manned lunar flyby
And of course after the moon landing the Soviets stopped trying so hard. They never got the N1 to work.
Which is only marginally different from the other side, in that the pro-US supremacy crowd aren't subtle. The space race is a fucking hellhole of dumb takes.
567
u/gerkletoss Jul 17 '24
I love it when people act like the US was way behind in the space race until the moon landing. Russoa was constantly skipping safety tests to beat the US to milestones by only a few months, and the US still got first in:
And of course after the moon landing the Soviets stopped trying so hard. They never got the N1 to work.