How US Beat Russia in The Space Race

 

ask the americans and the only criteria  for winning the space race was getting  boots on the moon  and they did but how did they pip russia  at the post  when the soviets were the more  technologically  advanced nation welcome to fact nominal  and we're getting to the nitty-gritty of  how u.s beat russia in the space race  the tale of the tape just say there were  a list of 11 items you had to take off  to win the space race  naturally the nation with the most items  would be the winner right  well not exactly let's take a look at  russia the land of firsts  first artificial satellite first animal  in space first person in space  first woman in space first spacewalk  first space station  first photographs on the far side of the  moon  first spacecraft landing on the moon  first spacecraft landing on another  planet it was venus by the way  first spacecraft landing on mars now  you'd agree that this long and near  exhaustive list of accomplishments as a  result of  tireless efforts of the soviet space  program would make  russia the natural winners in the space  race  you'd be wrong now let's take a look at  the usa the land of victors  first person on the moon was that  sarcasm  no was that sarcasm yes  was that stop yep that's it the space  race was a very simple one  the end goal was to put a living  breathing human being  onto land that was not the earth the  closest target  just happened to be the moon  so what happened the conglomerate of  nations known as the union of soviet  socialist republics  were absolutely dominating the usa in  the space race  that is abundantly clear this was the  height of the cold war  between the two biggest superpowers in  the world anytime in the late 1950s  though open warfare never eventuated the  focus had shifted to  who could conquer the heavens and have  the ultimate bragging rights over the  other  comparing the first efforts of both  nations the usa rocket failed to launch  while the soviet union sputnik 1  successfully orbited the earth  this set the tone for the rest of the  race with the communists beating the  americans to the punch  again and again and again the 1967  apollo 1 mission is still one of the  greatest tragedies in american space  history  all three astronauts on board lost their  lives  thanks to a fire that broke out in the  control module  a fire that later reports claimed had  been preventable  russia looked to compound nasa's  embarrassment by fast-tracking their own  plans  to get a man on the moon the soyuz one  mission was launched just a few months  after the apollo disaster  pushed ahead of schedule well before it  was ready with vital systems tests  signed off without having been done  this corner cutting ended up exactly how  you think with cosmonaut vladimir  komarov  losing his life when the crash exploded  in a fiery inferno  his comrade and good friend yuri gagarin  had already achieved so much in the  field  that komarov agreed to pilot the mission  accepting the risks associated with  foregoing testing and rushing the  program  the soyuz 1 had over 200 flaws in its  mechanics reported by engineers  and verified by gagarin himself after  the failed launch  in its first minute of orbit one of its  two solar panels failed to deploy  which then affected the ship's altitude  sensors  a cascading series of subsequent errors  caused the craft to destabilize and  komarov decided to abort and bring the  ship back to earth  after 19 orbits and many failed attempts  he managed to successfully re-enter  earth's atmosphere but a failed  parachute  sent him falling towards earth like a  rock  the only thing left of the cosmonaut was  a single heel bone left in the wreckage  lessons learned following three  americans losing their lives in the  apollo crash the usa redoubled its space  efforts focusing on safety  and getting it right leaving nothing to  chance on launch day  this culminated in the successful apollo  11 mission led by neil armstrong  the opposite end of the spectrum was the  ussr  whose space program progress took a  serious hit  with extension year-long delays for its  subsequent soyuz 2 and soyuz 3 launches  although the communists reached orbit  and backed earth safely none were sent  to the moon  what do you think would happen if the  soviets reached the moon first  how would it have changed our history  let us know in the comments  if you enjoyed this article or learned  something new today  hit that like button and make sure you  subscribe with notifications enabled  so you never miss another amazing space  article