In purely technological terms, the USSR trumped the USA. Sputnik and Gagarin were followed by a series of other firsts: the first woman in space, first lunar impact, first image of the dark side of the moon, first space rover and first space station were all claimed by the Soviets. But in the popular imagination, the Space Race was won when the USA put a man on the moon in 1969.
Three years later, tensions between the two superpowers briefly eased. And three years after that, in 1975, the world watched as an American Apollo module docket with a Soviet Soyuz last capsule. The two commanders shook hands in space. The Space Race was over.
Surviving propaganda posters are a potent reminder of the stratospheric ambitions of the Soviet regime during the Space Race.
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@Gloomy It’s not really an opinion. The technology to send a man to the moon and back is simply more complex than anything the Soviets did. More systems. More to go wrong. The multiple staged rockets. The capsule/docking portion. The landing then going back to the other ship. I know you love the Soviet Union and despise the US, but facts are facts.
@Human1000 The USSR just developed from a backwards agrarian country so the accomplishments are massive and hadn't Korolev passed away they would have made it to the moon before the US.
@Gloomy I was answering the question, but if you study Apollo it’s still a greater accomplishment. The Soviet Union turned into a slave state to build shitty tractors and factories. Big deal.
Apollo was a work of art bringing together hundreds of sophisticated vendors at the cutting edge of their respective technologies. All without modern computers.
I can have respect for an adversary's technology. The Soviet Union barely rates. They made crap. Great spies though.
@Human1000 I find it so funny how people like you accuse the Soviet Union of being a "slave state" yet you live under an atrocious exploitative economy. 😂
The Soviets were first in space and even if you refuse to see the scientific advancements they were far superior in womens equality and medicare.
@Gloomy The US economy is doing quite well and there is freedom of movement and labor. The US economy in the 50s and 60s was the best ever.
The Soviet Union had parity with the US in some areas for a little bit I concede. But in terms of the Space Race by the time of Gemini the US pulled ahead.
@Human1000 but are the people doing well? An economy should benefit all otherwise it is worthless and a society shall be judged by how it treats its worst off citicens.
@Gloomy Unemployment is less than 4% and inflation has slowed. I think you compare the US to some version of a Soviet propaganda poster. Because I'm not a utopian, I can cite flaws but give an overall assessment. I'm not a polemicist like you.
You also ask for comparisons, then just dig into the US, always moving the goal posts.
@Human1000 Well in economic terms especially in your vile capitalist mind any comparison between the US and the Soviet Union wouldn't be fruitful to show how immoral the US is.
By design the American economy is a system of naked plunder that fails to provide for the basic needs of millions while depriving the vast majority of people a share in the wealth their labor creates - instead transferring it upwards to a gilded class with its hands on the levers of political and economic power.
