Did the Soviets win the SPACE RACE?

Lunatik

Lunatik

Active member
By popular demand, seems like the "race" ended when the Americans stepped on the Moon, which I think is a bit odd. Why not end the race at the time when Gagarin became the first man in space? No one should underestimate the American achievement of landing a man on the moon, but to claim Americans won the space race seems very much unfounded, thus neither country won or lost anything. Let's have a look at the stats...

1st satellite - Sputnik
1st mamal in space - Layka
1st soft/hard landing on an outer body - Luna
1st man in space - Y. Gagarin
1st docking - Soyuz
1st lunar rover - Lunohod
1st space station - Salyut

Number of satellites launched
US-1815
USSR/Russia-3228

Total human spaceflight time
US-10000 days
USSR/Russia-17000 days

Hmm... :CG: What do you people think?

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Well,.. the way I perceived it, the race was to get a man on the moon. That having been accepted as the winning post, I feel that it was won by the USA.

I don't think that the hours spent in space count, as it is theorised and to a large degree supported, that the USSR lost at least one cosmonaut into deep space. Recordings of radio traffic seemingly supporting this were heard and recorded by the Italian amateur station Torre Bert.
 
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Who's on the moon? Who's successful on Mars? The Americans.

I will note that the ISS still has a Soyuz hooked up to it for emergency exits...
 
Any competition to go further in space is a good thing, it seems like a lot of people don't care about it these days but I think it's critical to the future of the human race.
 
I think its one of those amusing school yard competitions where as soon as the trailing team passes the leading team the competition is suddenly called off.

I recall reading a Russian commentary on the "race" to the moon where an official described it as a technical victory for the Americans but an economic victory to the Russians as they had learnt everything that the Americans learnt from the moon landings without ever having go there themselves.

The Other Guy said:
Who's on the moon? Who's successful on Mars? The Americans.

I will note that the ISS still has a Soyuz hooked up to it for emergency exits...
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Not to mention that while the shuttle was out of action it was Russian equipment that kept the ISS supplied.
It has been widely accepted that the Russian launch platforms are far more robust and reliable than the corresponding American ones, it is unfortunate that the two programs are not combined as American technology in Russian vehicles would be an awesome combination.
 
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the_13th_redneck said:
I think both had their moments.
The man on the moon however, was possibly the greatest space achievement.
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I don't think I would rate it any higher than being the first man to return from space. I would rate the most significant achievement after realising we can survive space travel as the recent Mars excursions and the gathering of data from there.

To me the moon was just a symbolic step in a process.
 
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I think it's a draw, as both Americans and Soviets had their spectacular firsts in space. The rest of the world is quite envious and there's probably no need to pick a winner among the two.

Next big goal; man on Mars. Only this time he might be Chinese. :)

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I think the fact that people went to a celestial body other than Earth and returned from it is the biggest mile stone. If only because people had been dreaming about that for longer than people knew the concept of space. It was a fantasy thousands of years old that was fulfilled.
However, sending the first man into space and bringing him back is, in my book, a very very close second.

MontyB said:
I don't think I would rate it any higher than being the first man to return from space. I would rate the most significant achievement after realising we can survive space travel as the recent Mars excursions and the gathering of data from there.

To me the moon was just a symbolic step in a process.
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the_13th_redneck said:
I think the fact that people went to a celestial body other than Earth and returned from it is the biggest mile stone. If only because people had been dreaming about that for longer than people knew the concept of space. It was a fantasy thousands of years old that was fulfilled.
However, sending the first man into space and bringing him back is, in my book, a very very close second.
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As I said it was a symbolic milestone but I don't rate it higher (or lower) than Gagarin's first manned flight into space and back, the moon landing was culmination of 9 years of manned space flight and I really don't think that it can be singled out as anything more than that.
 
AussieNick said:
Who cares who's first. Somebody has to be, so why is it a race. Just get on with it.
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As long as everyone stays in the race and keeps pushing each other harder... it's a win-win regardless of who technically "wins," because in the end we all benefit from the new technology and knowledge.
 
The winner of the Space Race......drum rolls, please........goes to the United States of America!

Just in my opinion. The NASA put the men on the moon dozen times and the Soviets didn't make that happens.
 
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Yes, the Soviets have logged more man hours in space, but I think it's because they focused more on space stations, where we focused on sending probes further and faster than ever before. Hence why it's an American space probe that was the first man made object to leave our solar system, or to go beyond the orbit of Pluto, which will always be a planet in my heart, but the Russians are the ones whom we turned to for help first when planning the ISS. Keep in mind though that the ISS isn't Russian or American, it's an international space station, I think 30 different countries are supplying parts, funding and crew for that project.

I think of the Space Race as the race to the moon, in that context yes, the United States did win, but the Soviets had some very impressive achievements of their own and our two space programs were working together decades before the fall of Communism in the USSR. When you're working in the most dangerous profession in the world, petty things like nationalism tend to fall behind issues such as survival.

To think, we probably have the technology right now to terraform Mars and make it habitable for humans, we certainly have the technology to build a base on the moon. We are on the verge of making space flight not just safe, but almost affordable for average citizens. We could accomplish so much if we would stop wasting a majority of our planet's resources of new ways to kill each other and put just 1/10th of that effort into making human colonization of other worlds a reality. More than anything, the Space Race proved what we can accomplish by putting aside our differences than who lives under a better system.
 
To think, we probably have the technology right now to terraform Mars and make it habitable for humans, we certainly have the technology to build a base on the moon. We are on the verge of making space flight not just safe, but almost affordable for average citizens. We could accomplish so much if we would stop wasting a majority of our planet's resources of new ways to kill each other and put just 1/10th of that effort into making human colonization of other worlds a reality. More than anything, the Space Race proved what we can accomplish by putting aside our differences than who lives under a better system.
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I agree with you here 100% Damien... Terraforming Mars isn't an easy task though. Even if we started tomorrow, it'd take centuries if not millenia to make it habitable without life support. Melting all that underground ice, introducing stabilizing/UV absorbant gasses, increasing atmospheric pressure and heating it up, creating a natural water cycle, introducing oxygen generating microorganisms, vegetation... HUGE task.

But one day I think we'll get started. One day resources here on Earth will near depletion and we'll have no other choice.

Yes, I'm a big Roger MacBride Allen fan and sci-fi geek. :D
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^ It's a must-read trilogy. :pray:
 
Lunatik, you claim to be a Sci-Fi fan, but now it's time for a test of honor. Have you ever read Ender's Game? I'm convinced that's like the bible of the Science Fiction universe. Asimov may have founded the genre, but Ender's Game took it to a whole new level.
 
Hmm, I think I should be excused from that one as I was only 2 when that book was published and I've never been a staunch "insectoid alien race" believer. The plot sounds interesting though, I might take a look at it if I ever find it at clearance in Half Price Books. :)

Ender%27s_game_cover_ISBN_0312932081.jpg


Cute cover. :)
 
Lunatik said:
Hmm, I think I should be excused from that one as I was only 2 when that book was published and I've never been a staunch "insectoid alien race" believer. The plot sounds interesting though, I might take a look at it if I ever find it at clearance in Half Price Books. :)



Cute cover. :)
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WHAT?? It is a fantastic book! I think while it may instigate dreams of prodiginous genius among younger readers, it touches on so many different psychological and philisophical themes that it is almost shameful to not read.

Maybe thats just me though. I think I am going to read it again now...

the_13th_redneck said:
Read it, didn't like the book.
Starship Troopers, however, is an excellent read.
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The first statement makes me sad. The second make me want to read that book too. SO many books to read and so little time!!!
 
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