The Space Race, all together

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The Space race means competition between the Soviet Union and Unites States for the dominance in the space during the Cold war. The race began as a result of tension between the nations following the Second World War. We can say that the real Space race began on August 2, 1955, when the Soviet Union responded to US announcing about launching the satellite in the near future.

But to be really correct we have to go in history slightly back. During the Second World war Nazi Germans built operational ballistic missiles able of sub orbital flight. Von Braun was technical director of that ballistic missile program. They built Aggregate-4 (A4) rocket, which was the first craft reaching the outer space during the test flight in 1942. By 1942 they started to built the rocket as Vergeltungswaffe 2, commonly known as V2. After the war V2 became the model of the American and Soviet rockets.

 For short summary of Lunar programs see the article Short summary of lunar program. 

Sputnik 1

Soviets got first points by launching Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957,  Luna 1 launched in 1959, which was the first spacecraft to reach the vicinity of the Earth's Moon (article Luna 1), and later first human Y. Gagarin on April 12, 1961 (article Yuri Gagarin). 

Left: Luna 1, Right: replica Vostok 1

The race got very interesting after launching Apollo 8 (article Apollo 8), launched on December 21, 1968,  the first manned mission leaving the Earth's low orbit and reaching the lunar orbit. The race peaked on July 20, 1969, US landing of the first humans on the lunar surface by Apollo 11. Soviets gave up lunar manned mission and focused on the Earth orbital space stations and unmanned projects Soviet lunar program. The difference was also visible in form of study of the Moon: Lunar vehicles. US used rover helping the Apollo crew to move on the lunar surface to explore and bring a lunar samples back on Earth, and Soviets turned into robotic vehicle controlled from the ground. 

Apollo 11: N. Armstrong

Small brake in the race occurred in April 1972 in a cooperation Apollo - Soyuz test project (article Apollo - Soyuz test project), which was the first joined program of both countries.

The end of the Space race is really hard to define but it was over by the December 1991 by dissolution of the Soviet Union, after which started new chapter of real collaboration of both countries.

Let's start the journey Mercury, Gemini, Apollo programs vs. Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz programs

The Space Race 1957-1975

The most interesting time occurred during the Space Race between 1957 and 1975. The periods can be divided into approximately three US/Soviet pairs:
Vostok program was Soviet human space project to put humans into low Earth orbit. It took 6 missions to space in between 1961 and 1963. I will come back to the project separately.

Vostok 1 first man in space: Yuri Gagarin 12 April 1961
Vostok 2 first manned mission lasting full day: Gherman Titov 6 August 1961
Vostok 3 first simultaneous flights of two spacecraft: Andriyan  Nikolayev 11 August 1962
Vostok 4 first simultaneous flights of two spacecraft: Pavel Popovich 12 August 1962
Vostok 5 longest solo orbital flight almost 5 days: Valery Bykovsky 14 June 1963
Vostok 6 first woman in space: Valentyna Tereshkova 16 June 1963

US Mercury program was running in between 1958 and 1963.

Before Gagarin's flight president Kennedy rejected NASA budget request to land on the Moon before the year 1970 because it was simply too expensive project. However the Gagarin's flight changed that and president Kennedy directed the race toward the Moon.

Voskhod program was the second Soviet manned space project, which used recycled components from the cancelled program. The first launch was in 1964 and last in 1965 and has been as a result of political pressure. Soyuz was not ready after Vostok program for another 3 years.

Voskhod 1 was the first crew mission consisting of 3 cosmonauts.
Voskhod 2 consisted of 2 cosmonauts and they achieved the first spacewalk.
In 1966 two dogs were flying 22 days mission. 

 Voskhod program was replaced by the Soyuz program, which means union in translation and originally it was intended to be a Moon landing project. It was third human space flight after the Vostok and Voskhod programs. The program consists of the Soyuz spacecraft and Soyuz rockets.  

Soyuz FG rocket carrying Soyuz TMA spacecraft (2006)

Gemini program (article Gemini project) succeeded several interesting achievement, for example the first space rendezvous Gemini 6A (December 1965) with Gemini 7 in distance of 0.30 metres.

On Gemini 12 (November 1966) Buzz Aldrin spent over 5 hours working during 3 EVA sessions, showing that human could work outside the spacecraft.

Let's get directed to the Moon, Disaster meets both sides :-(


Soviet crewed program to the Moon was early design of Korolev's Soyuz. The circumlunar space flight was planned to occur in 1967 and landing was supposed to occur in 1968 onward. The circumlunar flight (Zond) was supposed to fly 2 cosmonauts. They were supposed to use N1/L3, where N1 was super heavy lift launch vehicle intended to deliver payloads beyond the low Earth orbit. The work started in 1959.  N1/L3 was designed to compete with US Apollo/Saturn V to land on the Moon. The N1 had three stages which was to carry the L3 lunar payload into low Earth orbit with two cosmonauts, compare that to Apollo program carrying 3 astronauts.  

Saturn V vs. N1 rocket

However N1/L3 was underfunded and rushed program, which started in October 1965, almost 4 years after the Saturn V. The program was delayed due to the death of the chief designed Sergei Korolev in 1966. All 4 attempts to launch N1 failed. During the second launch, the N1 rocket crashed back causing one of the worse non-nuclear explosions in the history (July 3, 1969). The N1 program was suspended in 1974 and two years later the program was canceled.  

Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz

 The Soviet manned lunar program, including N1 rocket (first published in 1989), was kept secret until the end of the Soviet Union in December 1991.

As the Outer Space Treaty was signed by US and Soviet Union in January 27, 1967, the crew of Apollo 1, Virgil Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee were killed in a fire during the ground test one month before the planned launch on February 21, 1967.

Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (Outer Space Treaty)

 The US and Soviet Union discussed on the peaceful uses of the space by 1958. The committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space was created by the United Nations in 1959. 

 US and Soviet Unions supported the resolution on the Peaceful Uses of Space. President Kennedy proposed cooperative American Soviet space program. The United Nations created a Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, which was signed by the Unites States, Soviet Union and the United Kingdom on January 27, 1967 and went into the force the following October 10. 


Green 105 Parties, Yellow Signatories, Red Non-parties 
The treaty remains in force. 


On April 24, 1967 Vladimir Komarov in Soyuz 1 became the first in-flight spaceflight fatality. It was planned to make docking with unpiloted Soyuz 2, but the mission had experienced huge problems. One of the solar panels didn't deployed, so the spacecraft didn't have enough electrical power. Later attitude control system began to fail, resulting in spinning. Komarov tried to stop it, which was partly successful. The mission was needed to be aborted and during the emergency re-entry, the landing parachute system failed. Komarov was killed by the impact. It caused delay in the next launch to fix the problems. The next piloted mission Soyuz 3 was launched on October 26, 1968.

The first crewed spacecraft docking and crew transfer was realized in January 1969 by Soyuz 4 and Soyuz 5. Zond 4 was launched on March 2, 1968 and made successful circumlunar flight, but experienced problems with Earth reentry.

Zond 5

The mission Apollo 8 was motivated by the rumors that Soviets could be ready with piloted Zond flight during late 1968. Automatic flight Zond 5 made a circumlunar flight and returned safely to Earth. That scarred NASA planners. Zond 6 repeated similar mission however experience again troubles with reentry, exhibiting that Zonds were too unreliable.

On December 21, 1968, crew of Apollo 8, became the first to ride Saturn V and to leave the low Earth orbit and they reached the lunar orbit on December 24, 1968. The US lunar module was ready for a test flight in low Earth orbit on Apollo 9 in March 1969. Apollo 10 made a test flight for a lunar landing into 14.4 km above the lunar surface including lunar module descent, see also article Apollo program amazing years of space.

The lunar module in lunar orbit, Apollo 10, May 22-23, 1969


We get there and how the paths split and meet gain
Apollo 11: Earthrise

Apollo 11 was launched by a Saturn V rocket on July 16, 1969. The commander of the mission was Neil Armstrong, with lunar module Eagle pilot Buzz Aldrin, and command module Columbia pilot Michael Collins. The trip to the Moon took about 3 days to achieve the lunar orbit. Armstrong and Aldrin moved to the Lunar Module Eagle and Collins remained back in the Command Module. The have landed in the Sea of Tranquility and took the rest for a 6 hours before Armstrong set his famous first step on the Moon on July 21, 1969. Aldrin joined him after about 20 minutes. They have spent about two hours on the surface and launched and performed rendezvoused back with Columbia. The have returned safely to Earth and splashed down on July 24, 1969.
Apollo 11 foot 
Apollo program: Planned landings followed by Apollo 12 (November 1969), except in flight failure by Apollo 13 (April 1970, Apollo 13), but continued with following missions: Apollo 14 (February 1971), Apollo 15 (July 1971), Apollo 16 (April 1972), and Apollo 17 (December 1972). All together 6 successful human landings on the lunar surface.      

Soviet N1 rocket project was finally cancelled in 1976. Soviet decided to focus on the orbital space stations. They launched 6 more Soyuz flights after Soyuz 3 during 1969 and 1970. After that they launched first space station Salyut 1 on April 19, 1970. Soyuz 10 crew tried to dock with it but failed. Soyuz 11 crew successfully docked on June 7 and they spent 22 day stay record on the station. However the crew became the second in flight fatality during their reentry. Shortly after their undocking the spacecraft's cabin lost pressure and the crew were asphyxiated. The disaster occurred due to cabin pressure valve that allowed the air to vent out from the cabin. The crew didn't have pressure suits, so they didn't have any chance to survive. Other flights were delayed to solve the safety problem.

But also US didn't stay behind and they launched the orbital station Skylab 1 on May 14, 1973 (Skylab). The Skylab was damaged during the ascent to orbit, losing one of its solar panels. Skylab stayed in orbit for 6 years until July 11, 1979. 

In May 1972 US president R.M. Nixon and Soviet Premier L. Brezhnev negotiated improvement in the relationships and rather than the competition the cooperation would take the place. 
Apollo - soyuz test project (ASTP) was joint mission to dock the US Apollo craft with Soviet Soyuz. US designed a docking module for the Apollo that was able to dock with any other crafts. The mission started with launching Soyuz 19 on July 15, 1975 and Apollo was launched with the docking module 6 hours after them. The two craft docked on July 17 at 16:19 UTC. 
The famous handshake


Apollo Soyuz test project

Human beings put the step into the lunar surface. Despite the cold war was both sides achieved to carry out the joint project and shake the hands above all the Earthy problems. Humans are staying in the orbital space station. Since the first rocket attempts people started to send spacecraft far away. History of solar wind, Pioneer program, Juno mission, InSight Mars Lander etc.

What happens after the amazing years of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Luna, Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz programs? That almost feels like space bubble. 

Already in 1970s US started to develop Space Shuttle, which would be more reusable. Soviet focused on developing of orbital space stations Salyut program and MIR space station, which means Peace in translation. This stations were supported by Soyuz program. They developed also their own space shuttle program Buran (also started in 1970s). After the dissolution of the Soviet Union on December 26, 1991 practically all programs continued under Russia. Note that Baikonur Cosmodrome is located in Kazakhstan. It is currently leased by the Kazakh Government to Russia until 2050.

The US and Russia worked together with the Space Shuttle/MIR program and again with the International Space Station (ISS).  The Soviet/Russian R7 rocket family, which also launched Sputnik at the beginning of the Space Race is still in use and it supports ISS. The US Space Shuttle was retired on July 21, 2011 and since that Russian Soyuz transports  both Russian and American crew to and from the ISS.



Why to come back to the Moon?

 I have read an answer on it from US president Bush in 2004: 

Why should we send humans back to the Moon? After all, we have already done it, sit times, in the 20th century.

 Well, that could be enough. But why to stay on the same place, why not to move forward, to develop. May be it is not only to reach the top of the mountain, it is about the whole civilization. I think that natural need for all humans is to explore. We explore since we are small babies, and we should follow it. If we stop where we go next, what message we will send to our kids. The Moon is our nearest target where we can practise new technology and to get the best knowledge about our outer environment. How can we survive in other worlds. What we will do, if any huge disaster occur on the Earth? Could we build there a station? Can we survive in such environment for longer period? What is going to happed to people?

 The next stop is also Mars (Mars, magnetic field,  Soviet Mars probe program). How do we continue? Do we stay or do we follow our dreams?



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