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{{Short description|US–USSR spaceflight capability rivalry}}
{{About|the Cold War rivalry between the United States and the Soviet Union|various space races|List of space races|other uses of the term|Space Race (disambiguation)}}
{{For timeline|Timeline of the Space Race}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2020}}
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| footer            = Clockwise, from top left: Model of the [[Sputnik 1]] satellite; [[Apollo 11]] astronaut [[Buzz Aldrin]] on the Moon; US [[Space Shuttle]] ''[[Space Shuttle Atlantis|Atlantis]]'' docked to the Soviet ''[[Mir]]'' Earth orbital space station; US and Soviet crews of [[Apollo-Soyuz]], first joint [[space rendezvous|rendezvous and docking]] mission
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The '''Space Race''' ({{langx|ru|link=yes|космическая гонка|kosmicheskaya gonka}}, {{IPA|ru|kɐsˈmʲitɕɪskəjə ˈɡonkə|IPA}}) was a 20th-century competition between the [[Cold War]] rivals, the [[United States]] and the [[Soviet Union]], to achieve superior [[spaceflight]] capability. It had its origins in the [[ballistic missile]]-based [[nuclear arms race]] between the two nations following [[World War II]] and the onset of the Cold War. The technological advantage demonstrated by spaceflight achievement was seen as necessary for national security, particularly in regard to [[intercontinental ballistic missile]] and [[Reconnaissance satellite|satellite reconnaissance]] capability, but also became part of the cultural symbolism and ideology of the time. The Space Race brought pioneering launches of [[artificial satellite]]s, robotic landers to the [[Moon]], [[Venus]], and [[Mars]], and [[human spaceflight]] in [[low Earth orbit]] and ultimately to the Moon.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/cold-war/space-race |publisher=History.com |title=The Space Race|date=February 21, 2020|access-date=January 8, 2023}}</ref><ref name=":8">{{Cite web |date=2023-03-06 |title=The Space Race |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/explore/stories/space-race |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=airandspace.si.edu |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=Mann |first1=Adam |last2=McKelvie |first2=Callum |date=2022-07-08 |title=What was the space race? |url=https://www.space.com/space-race.html |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Space Program {{!}} JFK Library |url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/learn/about-jfk/jfk-in-history/space-program |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.jfklibrary.org |date=November 21, 2024 |language=en}}</ref>

Public interest in space travel originated in the 1951 publication of a Soviet youth magazine and was promptly picked up by US magazines.<ref>{{cite web
	| url = https://www.gozerog.com/article/nasa-vomit-comet/
	| title = How Did NASA'S "Vomit Comet" Get Its Name? A Brief History
	| date = June 30, 2023
	| website = gozerog.com 
	| access-date = August 1, 2023
	| quote = A Soviet youth magazine in 1951 is often credited with sparking public interest in space travel. Quickly picked up by US magazines, the idea of extending the Cold War playing board to outer space soon energized the imaginations of politicians, military leaders, and the private sector.
}}</ref> The competition began on July 29, 1955, when the United States announced its intent to launch artificial [[satellite]]s for the [[International Geophysical Year]]. Five days later, the Soviet Union responded by declaring they would also launch a satellite "in the near future". The launching of satellites was enabled by developments in ballistic missile capabilities since the end of World War II.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=3–5}} The competition gained Western public attention with the "[[Sputnik crisis]]", when the USSR achieved the first successful satellite launch, [[Sputnik 1]], on October 4, 1957. It gained momentum when the USSR sent the first human, [[Yuri Gagarin]], into space with the orbital flight of [[Vostok 1]] on April 12, 1961. These were followed by a string of other firsts achieved by the Soviets over the next few years.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=460}}<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sputnik and the Origins of the Space Age |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/sputnik/sputorig.html |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-09-11 |title=The Space Race {{!}} Miller Center |url=https://millercenter.org/the-presidency/educational-resources/space-race |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=millercenter.org |language=en}}</ref>

Gagarin's flight led US president [[John F. Kennedy]] to raise the stakes on May 25, 1961, by asking the US Congress to commit to the goal of "landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth" before the end of the decade.<ref name="Special Message"/><ref name=":8" /> Both countries began developing [[super heavy-lift launch vehicle]]s, with the US successfully deploying the [[Saturn V]], which was large enough to send a three-person orbiter and two-person lander to the Moon. Kennedy's Moon landing goal was achieved in July 1969, with the flight of [[Apollo 11]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1969-059A|title=Apollo 11 Command and Service Module (CSM)|website=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1969-059C|title=Apollo 11 Lunar Module / EASEP|website=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive|access-date=November 20, 2019}}</ref><ref name="orbit">{{cite web |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/apollo/apollo-program/landing-missions/apollo11.cfm |title=Apollo 11 Mission Summary |website=Smithsonian Air and Space Museum}}</ref> The USSR continued to pursue [[Soviet crewed lunar programs|crewed lunar programs]] to launch and land on the Moon before the US with its [[N1 (rocket)|N1 rocket]] but did not succeed, and eventually canceled it to concentrate on [[Salyut program|Salyut]], the first [[space station]] program, and the first landings [[Venera 8|on Venus]] and [[Mars 3|on Mars]]. Meanwhile, the US landed five more Apollo crews on the Moon,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunar_sites.html |title=Apollo Landing Site Coordinates |publisher=NASA|work=NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive |first=David R. |last=Williams |date=December 11, 2003 |access-date=September 7, 2013}}</ref> and continued [[List of landings on extraterrestrial bodies|exploration of other extraterrestrial bodies]] robotically.

A period of [[détente]] followed with the April 1972 agreement on a cooperative [[Apollo–Soyuz Test Project]] (ASTP), resulting in the July 1975 rendezvous in Earth orbit of a US astronaut crew with a Soviet cosmonaut crew and joint development of an international docking standard [[APAS-75]]. Being considered as the final act of the Space Race by many observers,<ref name="NatSecEncyclopedia">Both the Apollo 11 Moon landing and the ASTP have been identified as the end of the Space Race,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=K751AwAAQBAJ&pg=PT747|title=Encyclopedia of United States National Security |isbn=978-0-7619-2927-7 |publisher=[[SAGE Publications]] |editor-first=Richard J. |editor-last=Samuels |editor-link=Richard J. Samuels |edition=1st |year=2005 |page=669 |quote=Most observers felt that the U.S. moon landing ended the space race with a decisive American victory. […] The formal end of the space race occurred with the 1975 joint Apollo–Soyuz mission, in which U.S. and Soviet spacecraft docked, or joined, in orbit while their crews visited one another's craft and performed joint scientific experiments.}}</ref> the competition was however only gradually replaced with cooperation.<ref name = technology>{{cite report|url= https://www.princeton.edu/~ota/disk2/1985/8533/8533.PDF |pages=80–81 |publisher=US Congress, Office of Technology Assessment|title=U.S.-Soviet Cooperation in Space |date=July 1985 |access-date=June 13, 2018}}</ref> The [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] eventually allowed the US and the newly reconstituted [[Russian Federation]] to end their Cold War competition also in space, by agreeing in 1993 on the [[Shuttle–Mir program|Shuttle–''Mir'']] and [[International Space Station program]]s.<ref name="Mir deorbited">
{{cite news
 |last1=Boyle
 |first1=Alan
 |title=Russia bids farewell to Mir
 |work=NBC News
 |date=March 23, 2001
 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna3077781
 |access-date=June 13, 2015
 |location=New York
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150615065153/http://www.nbcnews.com/id/3077781/ns/technology_and_science-space/t/russia-bids-farewell-mir/
 |archive-date=June 15, 2015
 |url-status=live
}}
</ref><ref name="ISS facts & figures">
{{cite web
 |last1=Garcia
 |first1=Mark
 |title=ISS Facts and Figures
 |publisher=NASA
 |work=International Space Station
 |date=April 30, 2015
 |url=http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/onthestation/facts_and_figures.html
 |access-date=June 13, 2015
 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150603040411/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/onthestation/facts_and_figures.html
 |archive-date=June 3, 2015
 |url-status=live
}}
</ref>

== Origins ==

[[File:Von Braun 1952 Space Station Concept 9132079 original.jpg|thumb|[[Wernher von Braun]]'s space station concept (1952)]]

Although Germans, [[Robert H. Goddard|Americans]] and Soviets experimented with small liquid-fuel rockets before World War&nbsp;II, launching satellites and humans into space required the development of larger [[ballistic missiles]] such as [[Wernher von Braun]]'s [[Aggregat (rocket family)|Aggregat-4 (A-4)]], which became known as the [[Vergeltungswaffe 2]] (V-2) developed by [[Nazi Germany]] to bomb the Allies in the war.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951|url-access=registration|last=Neufeld|first=Michael J|publisher=The Free Press|year=1995|location=New York|pages=[https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780029228951/page/158 158], 160–62, 190|isbn=978-0-02-922895-1}}</ref> After the war, both the US and USSR acquired custody of German rocket development assets which they used to leverage the development of their own missiles.

Public interest in space flight was first aroused in October 1951 when the Soviet rocketry engineer [[Mikhail Tikhonravov]] published "Flight to the Moon" in the newspaper ''Pionerskaya pravda'' for young readers. He described a two-person interplanetary spaceship of the future and the industrial and technological processes required to create it. He ended the short article with a clear forecast of the future: "We do not have long to wait. We can assume that the bold dream of [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]] will be realized within the next 10 to 15 years."{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=89}} From March 1952 to April 1954, the US [[Collier's|''Collier's'' magazine]] reacted with a series of seven articles [[Man Will Conquer Space Soon!]] detailing [[Wernher von Braun]]'s plans for crewed spaceflight. In March 1955, ''[[Disney anthology television series|Disneyland]]'''s animated episode "[[Man in Space]]" which was broadcast on US television with an audience of about 40 million people, eventually fired the public enthusiasm for space travel and raised government interest, both in the US and USSR.

=== Missile race ===
{{Main|Intercontinental ballistic missile}}

Soon after the end of World War II, the two former allies became engaged in a state of political conflict and military tension known as the [[Cold War]] (1947–1991), which polarized Europe between the Soviet Union's [[satellite state]]s (often referred to as the [[Eastern Bloc]]) and the states of the [[Western world]] allied with the U.S.{{sfn|Schmitz|1999|pp=149–54}}

In August 1949, the Soviet Union became the second nuclear power after the United States with the successful [[RDS-1]] nuclear weapon test. In October 1957, the Soviet Union conducted the world's first successful test of an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM), this was the [[R-7 Semyorka]] (also known as SS-6 by NATO) and was seen as capable of striking U.S. territory with a nuclear payload.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Timeline: U.S.-Russia Nuclear Arms Control |url=https://www.cfr.org/timeline/us-russia-nuclear-arms-control |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=www.cfr.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=R-7 - SS-6 SAPWOOD Russian / Soviet Nuclear Forces |url=https://nuke.fas.org/guide/russia/icbm/r-7.htm |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=nuke.fas.org}}</ref> Fears in the US due to this perceived threat became known as the '[[missile gap]]'. The first American ICBM, the [[Atlas missile]], was tested in late 1958.<ref name=":1" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Nuclear Weapons and the Escalation of the Cold War, 1945-1962 {{!}} Department of History |url=https://history.stanford.edu/publications/nuclear-weapons-and-escalation-cold-war-1945-1962 |access-date=2024-11-25 |website=history.stanford.edu |language=en}}</ref>

ICBMs presented the ability to strike targets on the other side of the globe in a very short amount of time and in a manner which was impervious to air interception such as bombers might have been. The value which ICBMs presented in a nuclear standoff were very substantial, and this fact greatly accelerated efforts to develop rocket and rocket interception technology.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Cold War Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles I |url=https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2020/01/10/cold-war-intercontinental-ballistic-missiles-i/ |website=weaponsandwarfare|date=January 10, 2020 }}</ref>

=== Soviet rocket development ===
{{Further|Soviet rocketry|Soviet space program}}

[[File:Roket Launcher R-7.svg|thumb|The Soviet stable of Sputnik, Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz [[launch vehicle]]s were all derivatives of the [[R-7 (rocket family)|R-7 Semyorka]] [[intercontinental ballistic missile|ICBM]].]]

The first Soviet development of artillery rockets was in 1921 when the Soviet military sanctioned the [[Gas Dynamics Laboratory]], a small research laboratory to explore solid-fuel rockets, led by [[Nikolai Tikhomirov (chemical engineer)|Nikolai Tikhomirov]], who had begun studying solid and liquid-fueled rockets in 1894, and obtained a patent in 1915 for "self-propelled aerial and water-surface mines.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=6}}{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=164-5 Vol 1}} The first test-firing of a solid fuel rocket was carried out in 1928.{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=165 Vol 1}}

Further development was carried out in the 1930s by the [[Group for the Study of Reactive Motion]] (GIRD), where Soviet rocket pioneers [[Sergey Korolev]], [[Friedrich Zander]], [[Mikhail Tikhonravov]] and [[Leonid Dushkin]]{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=4-5}} launched [[Group for the Study of Reactive Motion#GIRD-X rocket|GIRD-X]], the first Soviet liquid-fueled rocket in 1933.<ref>{{cite web |title=GIRD (Gruppa Isutcheniya Reaktivnovo Dvisheniya) |url=http://weebau.com/rock_rus/gird.htm |website=WEEBAU |access-date=26 July 2022}}</ref> In 1933 the two [[OKB|design bureaus]] were combined into the [[Reactive Scientific Research Institute]]<ref name="RSW_GDL">{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Anatoly |title=Gas Dynamics Laboratory |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/gdl.html |access-date=9 June 2022}}</ref> and produced the RP-318, the USSR's first [[Korolyov RP-318|rocket-powered aircraft]] and the [[RS-82 (rocket family)|RS-82 and RS-132 missiles]],{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=167 vol 1}} which became the basis for the [[Katyusha rocket launcher|Katyusha]] [[multiple rocket launcher]],<ref>{{cite web |title=Greatest World War II Weapons: The Fearsome Katyusha Rocket Launcher |url=https://defencyclopedia.com/2016/02/20/greatest-world-war-ii-weapons-the-fearsome-katyusha-rocket-launcher/ |website=Defencyclopidea |date=February 20, 2016 |access-date=20 May 2022}}</ref>{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=9}} During the 1930s Soviet rocket technology was comparable to Germany's,{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=167-8 Vol 1}} but [[Joseph Stalin]]'s [[Great Purge]] from 1936 to 1938 severely damaged its progress.

In 1945 the Soviets captured several key [[Nazi Germany|Nazi German]] A-4 ([[V-2]]) rocket production facilities, and also gained the services of some [[German influence on the Soviet space program|German scientists and engineers]] related to the project. A-4s were assembled and studied and the experience derived from assembling and launching A4 rockets was directly applied to the Soviet copy, called the [[R-1 (missile)|R-1]],{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=24-39}}{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=41 Vol 2}} with NII-88 chief designer [[Sergei Korolev]] overseeing the R-1's development.,{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=49}} The R-1 entered into service in the [[Soviet Army]] on 28 November 1950.<ref name="Zaloga20132">{{cite book|last=Zaloga|first=Steven J.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gS8VDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA41|title=V-2 Ballistic Missile 1942–52|date=20 March 2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-0299-6|page=41}}</ref><ref name="Zaloga2013">{{cite book|last=Zaloga|first=Steven J.|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8X-HCwAAQBAJ&pg=PT6|title=Scud Ballistic Missile and Launch Systems 1955–2005|date=20 March 2013|publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing|isbn=978-1-4728-0306-1|pages=6–15|chapter=R-11: the Scud A}}</ref> By the latter half of 1946, Korolev and rocket engineer [[Valentin Glushko]] had, with extensive input from German engineers, outlined a successor to the R-1, the [[R-2 (missile)|R-2]] with an extended frame and a new engine designed by Glushko,{{Sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=42}} which entered service in November, 1951, with a range of {{convert|600|km}}, twice that of the R-1.{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=48-49 Vol 2}} This was followed in 1951 with the development of the [[R-5 Pobeda]], the Soviet Union's first real strategic missile, with a range of {{cvt|1200|km}} and capable of carrying a 1 megaton (mt) [[Thermonuclear weapon|thermonuclear]] warhead. The R-5 entered service in 1955.{{sfn|Chertok|2005|p=242-285 Vol 2}} Scientific versions of the R-1, R-2 and R-5 undertook various experiments between 1949 and 1958, including flights with [[Russian space dogs|space dogs]].<ref name=rsp>{{cite book|title=Russian Space Probes: Scientific Discoveries and Future Missions|author1=Brian Harvey|author2=Olga Zakutnyaya|date=2011|publisher=Springer Praxis Books|location=Chichester, UK|oclc=1316077842}}</ref>{{rp|21–23}}

Design work began in 1953 on the [[R-7 Semyorka]] with the requirement for a missile with a launch mass of 170 to 200 tons, range of 8,500&nbsp;km and carrying a {{convert|3000|kg|abbr=on}} nuclear warhead, powerful enough to launch a nuclear warhead against the United States. In late 1953 the warhead's mass was increased to 5.5 to 6 tons to accommodate the then planned [[Thermonuclear weapon|theromonuclear bomb]].{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=128-132}}<ref name="NASM" /> The R-7 was designed in a two-stage configuration, with four boosters that would jettison when empty.<ref>{{Cite web |title=R-7 History |url=https://www.worldspaceflight.com/addendum/r7/r7_history.php |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.worldspaceflight.com}}</ref> On the 21 August 1957 the R-7 flew {{convert|6000|km|abbr=on}}, and became the worlds's first intercontinental ballistic missile.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|p=160-161}}<ref name="NASM">{{cite web |title=The Military Rockets that Launched the Space Age |url=https://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/military-rockets-launched-space-age |website=National Air and Space Museum |date=August 9, 2023 |access-date=24 December 2023}}</ref> Two months later the R-7 launched [[Sputnik 1]], the first artificial satellite, into orbit, and became the basis for the [[R-7 (rocket family)|R-7 family]] which includes [[Sputnik (rocket)|Sputnik]], [[Luna (rocket)|Luna]], [[Molniya (rocket)|Molniya]], [[Vostok (rocket family)|Vostok]], and [[Voskhod (rocket)|Voskhod]] [[Expendable launch system|space launchers]], as well as later [[Soyuz (rocket family)|Soyuz]] variants. Several versions are still in use and it has become the world's most reliable space launcher.<ref name="HSC">{{cite web |title=Russian Rockets and Space Launchers |url=https://historicspacecraft.com/Rockets_Russian.html |website=Historic Spacecraft |access-date=26 December 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Zak |first1=Anatoly |title=The R-7 intercontinental ballistic missile |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/r7.html |website=Russian Space Web |access-date=29 December 2023}}</ref>

=== American rocket development ===

[[File:Early US Rocket Launchers.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|The US stable of [[Explorer 1]], [[Project Mercury|Mercury]], [[Project Gemini|Gemini]], and [[Apollo program|Apollo]] launch vehicles were a varied group of ICBMs and the NASA-developed [[Saturn IB]] rocket.]]

Although American rocket pioneer [[Robert H. Goddard]] developed, patented, and flew small liquid-propellant rockets as early as 1914, the United States was the only one of the three major allied World War II powers to not have its own rocket program, until Von Braun and his engineers were expatriated from Nazi Germany in 1945. The US acquired a large number of V-2 rockets and recruited von Braun and most of his engineering team in [[Operation Paperclip]].{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=29}} The team was sent to the Army's [[White Sands Missile Range|White Sands Proving Ground]] in New Mexico, in 1945.{{sfn|Burrows|1998|p=123}} They set about assembling the captured V-2s and began a program of launching them and instructing American engineers in their operation.{{sfn|Burrows|1998|pp=129–34}} These tests led to the [[first photos of Earth from space]], and the first two-stage rocket, the [[WAC Corporal]]-[[V-2 sounding rocket|V-2]] combination, in 1949.{{sfn|Burrows|1998|pp=129–34}} The German rocket team was moved from [[Fort Bliss]] to the Army's new [[Redstone Arsenal]], located in [[Huntsville, Alabama]], in 1950.{{sfn|Burrows|1998|p=137}} From here, von Braun and his team developed the Army's first operational medium-range ballistic missile, the [[PGM-11 Redstone|Redstone rocket]], derivatives of which launched both America's first satellite, and the first piloted Mercury space missions.{{sfn|Burrows|1998|p=137}} It became the basis for both the [[Jupiter-C|Jupiter]] and [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn family of rockets]].{{sfn|Burrows|1998|p=137}}

Each of the United States armed services had its own ICBM development program. The Air Force began ICBM research in 1945 with the [[MX-774]].<ref name="Atlas">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.astronautix.com/a/index.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160710093606/http://www.astronautix.com/a/index.html |archive-date=July 10, 2016 |title= Atlas |encyclopedia= Encyclopedia Astronautix |last= Wade|first= Mark|access-date=September 28, 2020}}</ref> In 1950, von Braun began testing the Air Force [[PGM-11 Redstone]] rocket family at Cape Canaveral.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Man on the Moon: The U.S. Space Program as a Cold War Maneuver|jstor = 25162945|journal = OAH Magazine of History|date = January 1, 1994|pages = 42–50|volume = 8|issue = 2|first = Rita G.|last = Koman|doi = 10.1093/maghis/8.2.42}}</ref> By 1957, a descendant of the Air Force MX-774 received top-priority funding.<ref name="Atlas"/> and evolved into the [[SM-65 Atlas|Atlas-A]], the first successful American ICBM.<ref name="Atlas"/> The Atlas made use of a thin stainless steel fuel tank which relied on the internal pressure of the tank for structural integrity, this allowed an overall lighter weight design.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Atlas Missiles and Space Launchers {{!}} Historic Spacecraft |url=https://historicspacecraft.com/Rockets_Atlas.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=historicspacecraft.com}}</ref> [[WD-40]] was developed to prevent rust on the Atlas rockets so that rust protecting paint could be avoided, to further reduce weight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=How Much Do You Know About the History and Invention of WD-40? |url=https://www.thoughtco.com/wd-40-1992659 |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=ThoughtCo |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=WD-40 History {{!}} Learn the Stories Behind the WD-40 Brand {{!}} WD-40 |url=https://www.wd40.com/history/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.wd40.com}}</ref>

A later variant of the Atlas, the [[SM-65 Atlas|Atlas-D]], served as a nuclear ICBM and as the orbital launch vehicle for [[Project Mercury]] and the remote-controlled [[Agena Target Vehicle]] used in [[Project Gemini]].<ref name="Atlas" />

==ICBM capability, satellites, lunar probes (1955–1960)==
The period from 1955 to 1960 saw the first artificial satellites put into earth orbit by both the USSR and the US, the first animals sent into orbit, and the first robotic probes to impact and flyby the Moon by the Soviets.

===Artificial satellite development===
In 1955, with both the United States and the Soviet Union building ballistic missiles that could be used to launch objects into space, the stage was set for nationalistic competition.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=3–5}} On July 29, 1955, [[James C. Hagerty]], President [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]]'s press secretary, announced that the United States intended to launch "small Earth circling satellites" between July 1, 1957, and December 31, 1958, as part of the US contribution to the [[International Geophysical Year]] (IGY).{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=3–5}} On August 2, at the [[International Astronautical Federation|Sixth Congress of the International Astronautical Federation]] in Copenhagen, scientist [[Leonid I. Sedov]] told international reporters at the Soviet embassy of his country's intention to launch a satellite as well, in the "near future".{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=3–5}}

==== Soviet secrecy and obfuscation ====
{{Further|Soviet space program}}On August 30, 1955, [[Sergei Korolev]] succeeded in convincing the [[Soviet Academy of Sciences]] to establish a commission dedicated to achieving the goal of launching a satellite into Earth orbit before the United States,{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=3–5}} this can be viewed as the ''de facto'' start date of the space race. The [[Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union]] began a policy of treating development of its space program as top-secret. When the Sputnik project was first approved, one of the immediate courses of action the [[Politburo]] took was to consider what to announce to the world regarding their event. The [[Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union]] (TASS) established precedents for all official announcements on the Soviet space program. The information eventually released did not offer details on who built and launched the satellite or why it was launched.<ref name="books.google.com">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7oRuOZbb8IC|title=Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture|isbn=978-0-8229-7746-9|access-date=2016-01-19|last1=Andrews|first1=James T.|last2=Siddiqi|first2=Asif A.|year=2011|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Pre }}</ref>

The Soviet space program's use of secrecy served as both a tool to prevent the leaking of [[classified information]] between countries, and to avoid revealing specifics to the Soviet populace in regards to their short and long term goals; the program's nature embodied ambiguous messages concerning its goals, successes, and values. Launches were not announced until they took place, [[cosmonaut]] names were not released until they flew, and outside observers did not know the size or shape of their rockets or cabins of most of their spaceships, except for the first Sputniks, lunar probes, and Venus probe.<ref name="ebooks.ohiolink.edu">{{cite web|url=http://ebooks.ohiolink.edu/xtf-ebc/view?docId=tei/sv2/9781461430520/9781461430520.xml&query=&brand=default|title=OhioLINK Institution Selection |website=Ebooks.ohiolink.edu|access-date=2016-01-19}}</ref>

The Soviet military maintained control over the space program; Korolev's [[OKB-1]] design bureau was subordinated under the [[Ministry of General Machine Building]],<ref name="books.google.com"/> tasked with the development of intercontinental ballistic missiles, and continued to give its assets random identifiers into the 1960s.<ref name="books.google.com"/> Information about failures was systematically withheld, historian James Andrews notes that Soviet media coverage of the space program, particularly human space missions, rarely reported any failures or difficulties, creating the impression of a flawless operation:<blockquote>"With almost no exceptions, coverage of Soviet space exploits, especially in the case of human space missions, omitted reports of failure or trouble".<ref name="books.google.com" /></blockquote>Dominic Phelan noted in the book ''Cold War Space Sleuths'' (Springer-Praxis 2013): "The [[USSR]] was famously described by [[Winston Churchill]] as '''a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma''<nowiki/>' and nothing signified this more than the search for the truth behind its space program during the Cold War. Although the Space Race was literally played out above our heads, it was often obscured by a figurative 'space curtain' that took much effort to see through".<ref name="ebooks.ohiolink.edu" />

==== US concerns and strategy ====
{{Further|Space policy of the United States}}
[[File:1957-10-07 New Moon.ogv|thumb|One of the first reports of Sputnik 1 by Universal Newsreel on October 7, 1957]]
Initially, President Eisenhower was worried that a satellite passing above a nation at over {{convert|100|km|mi|sp=us}} might be seen as violating that nation's airspace.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=8}} He was concerned that the Soviet Union would accuse the Americans of an illegal overflight, thereby scoring a propaganda victory at his expense.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=6}} Eisenhower and his advisors were of the opinion that a nation's airspace sovereignty did not extend past the [[Kármán line]], and they used the 1957–58 International Geophysical Year launches to establish this principle in international law.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=8}} Eisenhower also feared that he might cause an international incident and be called a "warmonger" if he were to use military missiles as launchers. Therefore, he selected the untried [[Naval Research Laboratory]]'s [[Vanguard rocket]], which was a research-only rocket.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=15–18}} This meant that von Braun's team was not allowed to put a satellite into orbit with their Jupiter-C rocket, because of its intended use as a future military vehicle.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=15–18}} On September 20, 1956, von Braun and his team did launch a Jupiter-C that was capable of putting a satellite into orbit, but the launch was used only as a suborbital test of reentry vehicle technology.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=15–18}}

=== Sputnik ===
[[File:Sputnik-stamp-ussr.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Soviet stamp commemorating Sputnik 1, 1957]]
Korolev received word about von Braun's 1956 Jupiter-C test and, mistakenly thinking it was a satellite mission that failed, expedited plans to get his own satellite in orbit. Since the R-7 was substantially more powerful than any of the US [[launch vehicle]]s, he made sure to take full advantage of this capability by designing [[Sputnik 3|Object D]] as his primary satellite.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=154–57}} It was given the designation 'D', to distinguish it from other R-7 payload designations 'A', 'B', 'V', and 'G' which were nuclear weapon payloads.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=151}} Object D dwarfed the proposed US satellites, having a weight of {{convert|1400|kg|lb|sp=us}}, of which {{convert|300|kg|lb|sp=us}} would be composed of scientific instruments that would photograph the Earth, take readings on radiation levels, and check on the planet's magnetic field.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=151}} However, things were not going along well with the design and manufacturing of the satellite, so in February 1957, Korolev sought and received permission from the Council of Ministers to build a ''Prosteishy Sputnik'' (PS-1), or simple satellite.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=154–57}} The council also decreed that Object D be postponed until April 1958.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=155}} The new ''Sputnik'' was a metallic sphere that would be a much lighter craft, weighing {{convert|83.8|kg|lb|sp=us}} and having a {{convert|58|cm|in|adj=on|sp=us}} diameter.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/| title = Sputnik and The Dawn of the Space Age| first = Steve| last = Garber| date = October 10, 2007| work = Sputnik 50th Anniversary| publisher = [[National Aeronautic and Space Administration|NASA History Website]]| location = Washington
}}</ref> The satellite would not contain the complex instrumentation that Object D had, but had two radio transmitters operating on different [[short wave radio]] frequencies, the ability to detect if a meteoroid were to penetrate its pressure hull, and the ability to detect the density of the Earth's [[thermosphere]].{{sfn|Hardesty|Eisman|2007|pp=72–73}}

{{Listen
| filename     = Sputnik beep.ogg
| title        = ''Beep ... beep ... beep''
| alt          =
| description  = The signals of ''Sputnik 1'' continued for 22 days
}}

Korolev was buoyed by the first successful launches of the R-7 rocket in August and September, which paved the way for the launch of ''Sputnik''.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=163–68}} Word came that the US was planning to announce a major breakthrough at an International Geophysical Year conference at the [[United States National Academy of Sciences|National Academy of Sciences]] in Washington D.C., with a paper titled "Satellite Over the Planet", on October 6, 1957.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|p=163}} Korolev anticipated that von Braun might launch a Jupiter-C with a satellite payload on or around October 4 or 5, in conjunction with the paper.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|p=163}} He hastened the launch, moving it to October 4.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|p=163}} The launch vehicle for PS-1 was a modified R-7 – vehicle 8K71PS number M1-PS – without much of the test equipment and radio gear that was present in the previous launches.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=163–68}} It arrived at the Soviet missile base [[Baikonur Cosmodrome|Tyura-Tam]] in September and was prepared for its mission at [[Gagarin's Start|launch site number one]].{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=163–68}}

The first launch took place on Friday, October 4, 1957, at exactly 10:28:34&nbsp;pm Moscow time, with the R-7 and the now named Sputnik 1 satellite lifting off the launch pad and placing the artificial "moon" into an orbit a few minutes later.{{sfn|Hardesty|Eisman|2007|p=74}} This "fellow traveler", as the name is translated in English, was a small, beeping ball, less than two feet in diameter and weighing less than 200 pounds. But the celebrations were muted at the launch control center until the down-range far east tracking station at [[Yelizovo|Kamchatka]] received the first distinctive beep&nbsp;... beep&nbsp;... beep sounds from ''Sputnik 1''{{'}}s radio transmitters, indicating that it was on its way to completing its first orbit.{{sfn|Hardesty|Eisman|2007|p=74}} About 95 minutes after launch, the satellite flew over its launch site, and its radio signals were picked up by the engineers and military personnel at Tyura-Tam: that's when Korolev and his team celebrated the first successful artificial satellite placed into Earth-orbit.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=164–65}}

The next satellite sent by the Soviets after Sputnik 1 was [[Sputnik 2]], launched on November 3, 1957, just a month later. This would put the first animal into orbit.<ref name=":7">{{Cite web |title=Sputnik 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1957-002A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-11-06 |title=60 years ago: The First Animal in Orbit - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/60-years-ago-the-first-animal-in-orbit/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== US reaction to Sputnik ===
{{Main|Sputnik crisis}}

==== CIA assessment ====
At the latest, the successful start of [[Sputnik 2]] with the satellite weighing more than 500&nbsp;kg proved that the USSR had achieved a leading advantage in rocket technology. The CIA, initially astonished, estimated the launch weight of the rocket at 500 metric tons, requiring an initial thrust exceeding 1,000 tons, and assumed the use of a three-stage rocket. In a classified report, the agency described the event as a "stupendous scientific achievement" and concluded that the USSR had likely perfected an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) capable of accurately targeting any location.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs/DOC_0000124270.pdf |title=Analysis of Soviet Earth Satellite and Launching Device |access-date=2022-12-01 |date=1957-11-09 }}</ref> In reality, the launch weight of the Soviet rocket was 267 metric tons with an initial thrust of 410 tons with one and a half stages. The CIA's misjudgement was caused by extrapolating the parameters of the US [[SM-65 Atlas|Atlas]] rocket developed at the same time (launch weight 82 tons, initial thrust 135 tons, maximum payload of 70&nbsp;kg for [[low Earth orbit]]).<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Mark Wade |url=http://www.astronautix.com/a/atlasa.html |title=Atlas A |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Astronautica |access-date=2022-11-01}}</ref> In part, the favourable data of the Soviet launcher was based on concepts proposed by the German rocket scientists headed by [[Helmut Gröttrup]] on [[Gorodomlya Island]], such as, among other things, the rigorous weight saving, the control of the residual fuel quantities and a reduced thrust to weight relation of 1.4 instead of usual factor 2.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Gröttrup |first=Helmut |title=Aus den Arbeiten des deutschen Raketen-Kollektivs in der Sowjet-Union. |date=April 1958 |publisher=Deutsche Gesellschaft für Raketentechnik und Raumfahrt |series=Raketentechnik und Raumfahrtforschung |pages=58–62 |language=de |trans-title=About the work of the German rocketry collective in the Soviet Union |quote=Towards the end of the war the general opinion was that a starting acceleration of 2 g was optimal. We have carried out detailed studies on this point, taking into account the increase in engine weights and the weights of the components used to transmit thrust. It turned out that a starting acceleration of a considerably smaller value can be optimal. One of our projects was designed for a starting acceleration of 1.4 g.}}</ref> The CIA had heard about such details already in January 1954 when it interrogated Göttrup after his return from the USSR but did not take him seriously.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archive.org/details/CIA-RDP80-00810A003300530005-2 |title=Development of guided missiles at Bleicherode and Institut 88 |work=[[Central Intelligence Agency|CIA Historical Collections]] |date=1954-01-22 |access-date=2022-09-30 |quote=It was generally held up to now that the ratio thrust/take-off weights should be approximately two. [Gröttrup] discovered … that values as low as 1.2 for this ratio could give optimum results under certain conditions.}} Remark: The designations R-12 und R-14 are related to the internal project names (also known as G-2 und G-4), not to the rockets installed during the Cuban Missile Crisis</ref>

==== US reactions ====
The Soviet success raised a great deal of concern in the United States. For example, economist Bernard Baruch wrote in an open letter titled "The Lessons of Defeat" to the ''[[New York Herald Tribune]]'': "While we devote our industrial and technological power to producing new model automobiles and more gadgets, the Soviet Union is conquering space. ... It is Russia, not the United States, who has had the imagination to hitch its wagon to the stars and the skill to reach for the moon and all but grasp it. America is worried. It should be."<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crompton|first1=Samuel|title=Sputnik/Explorer I: The Race to Conquer Space|year= 2007|publisher=Chelsea House Publications|location=New York City|isbn=978-0-7910-9357-3|page=4}}</ref>

Eisenhower ordered project Vanguard to move up its timetable and launch its satellite much sooner than originally planned.{{sfn|Brzezinski|2007|pp=254–67}} The December 6, 1957 [[Vanguard TV3|Project Vanguard launch failure]] occurred at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]] in Florida. It was a monumental failure, exploding a few seconds after launch, and it became an international joke. The satellite appeared in newspapers under the names Flopnik, Stayputnik, Kaputnik,<ref name="O'Neill, Terry 2002">O'Neill, Terry. The Nuclear Age. San Diego: Greenhaven, Inc., 2002.(146)</ref> and Dudnik.<ref>Knapp, Brian. Journey into Space. Danbury: Grolier, 2004.(17)</ref> In the United Nations, the Soviet delegate offered the US representative aid "under the Soviet program of technical assistance to backwards nations."<ref name="O'Neill, Terry 2002"/> Only in the wake of this very public failure did von Braun's Redstone team get the go-ahead to launch their Jupiter-C rocket as soon as they could. In Britain, the US's Western Cold War ally, the reaction was mixed: some celebrated the fact that the Soviets had reached space first, while others feared the destructive potential that military uses of spacecraft might bring.<ref>Barnett, Nicholas. '"Russia Wins Space Race": The British Press and the Sputnik Moment', ''Media History'', (2013) 19:2, 182–95.</ref> The ''[[Daily Express]]'' predicted that the US would catch up to and pass the USSR in space; "never doubt for a moment that America would be successful".<ref name="time19571014">{{Cite web |date=1957-10-14 |title=THE NATION: Red Moon Over the U.S. |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862748,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506101411/http://www.time.com:80/time/magazine/article/0,9171,862748,00.html |archive-date=2009-05-06 |access-date=2016-02-24 |publisher=TIME}}</ref>

=== Explorer ===
[[File:Explorer1 people.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Hayward Pickering]], [[James Van Allen]], and von Braun display a model of ''Explorer 1'' at a news conference after confirmation the satellite was in orbit.]]

On January 31, 1958, nearly four months after the launch of ''Sputnik 1'', von Braun and the United States successfully launched its first satellite on a four-stage [[Juno I]] rocket derived from the US Army's Redstone missile, at Cape Canaveral.<ref name = nicogossian1993>{{cite book|last=Nicogossian|first=Arnauld E.|title=Space Biology and Medicine: Space and Its Exploration |year=1993|publisher=American Institute of Aeronautics|location=Washington, DC.|page=285}}</ref> The satellite ''[[Explorer 1]]'' was {{convert|30.66|lb|kg}} in mass.<ref name = nicogossian1993/> The payload of Explorer 1 weighed {{convert|18.35|lb|kg}}. It carried a micrometeorite gauge and a [[Geiger-Müller tube]]. It passed in and out of the Earth-encompassing radiation belt with its {{convert|360|by|2534|km|nmi|adj=on|order=flip|sp=us}} orbit, therefore saturating the tube's capacity and proving what Dr. [[James Van Allen]], a space scientist at the [[University of Iowa]], had theorized.<ref name = nicogossian1993/> The belt, named the [[Van Allen radiation belt]], is a doughnut-shaped zone of high-level radiation intensity around the Earth above the magnetic equator.<ref name="Ref-1">{{cite book|last=Angelo|first=Joseph, A.|title=Encyclopedia of Space Astronomy|url=https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsp0000ange |url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher= Facts on Files, Inc.|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsp0000ange/page/634 634]|isbn=978-0-8160-5330-8}}</ref> Van Allen was also the man who designed and built the satellite instrumentation of ''Explorer 1''. The satellite measured three phenomena: cosmic ray and radiation levels, the temperature in the spacecraft, and the frequency of collisions with micrometeorites. The satellite had no [[computer memory|memory]] for data storage, therefore it had to transmit continuously.<ref>{{cite book|last=Angelo |first= Joseph, A.|title=Encyclopedia of Space Astronomy|url= https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsp0000ange |url-access=registration|year=2006|publisher=Facts on Files, Inc.|location=New York|page=[https://archive.org/details/encyclopediaofsp0000ange/page/225 225]|isbn= 978-0-8160-5330-8}}</ref> The next successful mission was [[Explorer 3]], launched later that month (March 26, 1958), which carried similar scientific instruments and successfully recorded cosmic ray data.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Explorer 2 - Earth Missions - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/explorer-2/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Explorer 3 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1958-003A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Explorer 3 - Earth Missions - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/explorer-3/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Creation of NASA ====
{{Main|Creation of NASA}}

On April 2, 1958, President Eisenhower reacted to the Soviet space lead in launching the first satellite by recommending to the US Congress that a civilian agency be established to direct nonmilitary space activities. Congress, led by [[Party Leaders of the United States Senate|Senate Majority Leader]] [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], responded by passing the [[National Aeronautics and Space Act]], which Eisenhower signed into law on July 29, 1958. This law turned the [[National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics]] into the [[NASA|National Aeronautics and Space Administration]] (NASA). It also created a Civilian-Military Liaison Committee, appointed by the President, responsible for coordinating the nation's civilian and military space programs.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/ch4-6.htm |title=Birth of NASA |website=history.nasa.gov |access-date=February 12, 2020}}</ref>

On October 21, 1959, Eisenhower approved the transfer of the Army's remaining space-related activities to NASA. On July 1, 1960, the Redstone Arsenal became NASA's [[Marshall Space Flight Center|George C. Marshall Space Flight Center]], with von Braun as its first director. Development of the [[Saturn (rocket family)|Saturn rocket family]], which when mature gave the US parity with the Soviets in terms of lifting capability, was thus transferred to NASA.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bilstein |first1=Roger E. |title=Stages to Saturn |publisher=NASA |location=Washington D.C. |page=39 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4206/ch2.htm |access-date=March 19, 2021 |chapter=2. Aerospace Alphabet: ABMA, ARPA, MSFC}}</ref>

=== First mammals in space ===

[[File:Posta Romana - 1959 - Laika 120 B.jpg|thumb|right|[[Laika]] on a Romanian post stamp]]

The US and the USSR sent animals into space to determine the safety of the environment before sending the first humans. The USSR used [[space dogs|dogs]] for this purpose, and the US used [[monkeys and apes in space|monkeys and apes]]. The first mammal in space was [[Albert II (monkey)|Albert II]], a rhesus monkey launched by the US on a sub-orbital flight on June 14, 1949, who died on landing due to a parachute malfunction.<ref name="albert2">{{cite web |title=The Beginnings of Research in Space Biology at the Air Force Missile Development Center, 1946-1952 |url=https://history.nasa.gov/afspbio/part1.htm |publisher=NASA |access-date=26 June 2021 |date=January 1958}}</ref>

The USSR sent the dog [[Laika]] into orbit on [[Sputnik 2]], the second satellite launched, on November 3, 1957, for an intended ten-day flight.<ref name=":7" /> They did not yet have the technology to return Laika safely to Earth, and the government reported Laika died when the oxygen ran out,<ref name="Beischer1962">{{cite journal |author=DE Beischer and AR Fregly|title=Animals and man in space. A chronology and annotated bibliography through the year 1960. |journal=US Naval School of Aviation Medicine |volume=ONR TR ACR-64 |issue=AD0272581 |year=1962 |url=http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20121204154830/http://archive.rubicon-foundation.org/9288 |url-status=usurped |archive-date=December 4, 2012 |access-date=14 June 2011}}</ref> but in October 2002 her true cause of death was reported as stress and overheating on the fourth orbit<ref>{{cite news| url = https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/2367681.stm | title = First dog in space died within hours | publisher = BBC | date=28 October 2002 | access-date=4 January 2010}}</ref> due to failure of the air conditioning system.<ref name="AT-20171103">{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Eric |title=The first creature in space was a dog. She died miserably 60 years ago |url=https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/sixty-years-ago-the-first-creature-went-into-space-a-stray-moscow-dog/ |date=3 November 2017 |work=[[Ars Technica]] |access-date=3 November 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171201182453/https://arstechnica.com/science/2017/11/sixty-years-ago-the-first-creature-went-into-space-a-stray-moscow-dog/ |archive-date=1 December 2017 }}</ref> At a Moscow press conference in 1998 [[Oleg Gazenko]], a senior Soviet scientist involved in the project, stated "The more time passes, the more I'm sorry about it. We did not learn enough from the mission to justify the death of the dog...".<ref>Dick Abadzis, afterword to ''Laika'', First Second, 2007, {{ISBN|1-59643-302-7}}</ref>

===Early lunar probes===
[[File:Luna_3_moon.jpg|thumb|The first photo of the far side of the Moon, taken by Luna 3]]
In 1958, Korolev upgraded the R-7 to be able to launch a {{convert|400|kg|lb|adj=on}} payload to the Moon. The [[Luna programme|Luna program]] began with three failed secret 1958 attempts to launch [[Luna E-1 No.1|Luna E-1]]-class [[Lander (spacecraft)#Impactors|impactor]] probes.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2018|p=xv}} The fourth attempt, [[Luna 1]], launched successfully on January 2, 1959, but missed the Moon. The fifth attempt on June 18 also failed at launch. The {{convert|390|kg|lb|adj=on}} [[Luna 2]] successfully impacted the Moon on September 14, 1959. The {{convert|278.5|kg|lb|adj=on}} [[Luna 3]] successfully flew by the Moon and sent back pictures of its far side on October 7, 1959.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2018|p=14}}

The US first embarked on the [[Pioneer program]] in 1958 by launching the [[Pioneer 0|first probe]], albeit ending in failure. A subsequent probe named [[Pioneer 1]] was launched with the intention of orbiting the Moon only to result in a partial mission success when it reached an apogee of 113,800&nbsp;km before falling back to Earth. The missions of [[Pioneer 2]] and [[Pioneer 3]] failed whereas [[Pioneer 4]] had one partially successful lunar flyby in March 1959.<ref>{{cite web |author1=NASA |title=Pioneer 0, 1, 2 |url=http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/QuickLooks/pioneer0QL.html |access-date=11 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090131181021/http://msl.jpl.nasa.gov/QuickLooks/pioneer0QL.html |archive-date=31 January 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = [[The Radiation Belt and Magnetosphere]] | last = Hess | first = Wilmot | author-link = Wilmot N. Hess | year = 1968| bibcode = 1968rbm..book.....H }}</ref>

== Human spaceflight, space treaties, interplanetary probes (1961–1968) ==
The period from 1961 to 1968 began with the first men sent to space, the first robotic explorations of other planets; with missions to Venus and Mars conducted by both the Soviet Union and the United States, robotic landings on the Moon, and the gestation of US ambition to land a man on the Moon. The 1960s saw significant advancements in crewed spaceflight by both Cold War adversaries, as well as the first nuclear detonation in space, research into anti-satellite technology, and the signing of historic international outer space treaties.

===First humans in space===
====Vostok====
{{Main|Vostok programme}}

[[File:Vostok spacecraft replica.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|Replica of the [[Zenit (satellite)|Zenit]] and [[Vostok (spacecraft)|Vostok]] spacecraft bus]]

The Soviets designed their first human [[space capsule]] using the same [[spacecraft bus]] as their [[Zenit spy satellite]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2844/1|title=Declassified documents offer a new perspective on Yuri Gagarin's flight|date=12 October 2015|author=[[Asif Siddiqi]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201213141408/https://www.thespacereview.com/article/2844/1|archive-date=13 December 2020|url-status=live}}</ref> forcing them to keep the details and true appearance secret until after the Vostok program was over. The craft consisted of a spherical descent module with a mass of {{convert|2.46|t|lb}} and a diameter of {{convert|2.3|m|ft|sp=us}}, with a cylindrical inner cabin housing the cosmonaut, instruments, and escape system; and a [[biconic]] instrument module with a mass of {{convert|2.27|t|lb}}, {{convert|2.25|m|ft|sp=us}} long and {{convert|2.43|m|ft|sp=us}} in diameter, containing the engine system and propellant. After reentry, the cosmonaut would eject at about {{convert|7000|m|ft|sp=us}} over the USSR and descend via parachute, while the capsule would land separately, because the descent module made an extremely rough landing that could have left a cosmonaut seriously injured.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=149–57}} The "Vostok spaceship" was first displayed at the July 1961 [[Soviet air show|Tushino air show]], mounted on its launch vehicle's third stage, with the nose cone in place concealing the spherical capsule. A tail section with eight fins was added in an apparent attempt to confuse western observers. This also appeared on official commemorative stamps and a documentary.{{sfn|Gatland|1976|p=254}} The Soviets finally revealed the true appearance of their Vostok capsule at the April 1965 Moscow Economic Exhibition.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Soviet Space Deceptions - not so many after all! |url=http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/histind/Fakes/Fakes.htm |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=www.svengrahn.pp.se}}</ref>

[[File:The Soviet Union 1964 CPA 3014 stamp (Space Exploration. Gagarin and Vostok 1) small resolution.jpg|thumb|left|A 1964 Stamp with [[Yuri Gagarin]], and an intentionally inaccurate Vostok]]

On April 12, 1961, the USSR surprised the world by launching [[Yuri Gagarin]] into a single, 108-minute orbit around the Earth in a craft called [[Vostok 1]].{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=149–57}} They dubbed Gagarin the first [[cosmonaut]], roughly translated from Russian and Greek as "sailor of the universe". Gagarin's capsule was flown in automatic mode, since doctors did not know what would happen to a human in the weightlessness of space; but Gagarin was given an envelope containing the code that would unlock manual control in an emergency.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=149–57}}

Gagarin became a national hero of the Soviet Union and the Eastern Bloc, and a worldwide celebrity. Moscow and other cities in the USSR held mass demonstrations, the scale of which was second only to the [[Moscow Victory Parade of 1945|World War II Victory Parade of 1945]].<ref>Pervushin (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=kMGlvz53P3cC&dq=%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%86%D0%B8%D0%B8+%D0%B2+%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%8C+%D0%BA%D0%BE%D1%81%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B0%D0%B2%D1%82%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8&pg=PT488 7.1 Гражданин мира]</ref> April 12 was declared [[Cosmonautics Day]] in the USSR, and is celebrated today in Russia as one of the official "Commemorative Dates of Russia."<ref name="32FZ">{{Cite Russian law
|ru_entity=Государственная Дума
|ru_type=Федеральный закон
|ru_number=32-ФЗ
|ru_date=13 марта 1995 г.
|ru_title=О днях воинской славы и памятных датах России
|ru_effective_date=со дня официального опубликования
|ru_published_in="Российская Газета", No. 52
|ru_published_date=15 марта 1995 г
|ru_url=http://ntc.duma.gov.ru/duma_na/asozd/asozd_text.php?code=22479
|ru_amendment_type=Федерального закона
|ru_amendment_number=59-ФЗ
|ru_amendment_date=10 апреля 2009 г
|ru_amendment_title=О внесении изменения в статью 1.1 федерального закона "О днях воинской славы и памятных датах России"
|en_entity=[[State Duma]]
|en_type=Federal Law
|en_number=32-FZ
|en_date=March 13, 1995
|en_title=On the Days of Military Glory and the Commemorative Dates in Russia
|en_effective_date=the day of the official publication
|en_url
|en_amendment_type=Federal Law
|en_amendment_number=59-FZ
|en_amendment_date=April 10, 2009
|en_amendment_title=On Amending Article&nbsp;1.1 of the Federal Law "On the Days of Military Glory and the Commemorative Dates in Russia"
}}</ref> In 2011, it was declared the International Day of Human Space Flight by the [[United Nations]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.un.org/en/events/humanspaceflightday/ |title= UN Resolution A/RES/65/271, The International Day of Human Space Flight (12 April) |date=April 7, 2011 |access-date=January 19, 2015}}</ref>

The USSR demonstrated 24-hour launch pad turnaround and launched two piloted spacecraft, [[Vostok 3]] and [[Vostok 4]], in essentially identical orbits, on August 11 and 12, 1962.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=183, 192}} The two spacecraft came within approximately {{convert|6.5|km|nmi|sp=us|abbr=off}} of one another, close enough for radio communication,{{sfn|Gatland|1976|pp=117–18}} but then drifted as far apart as {{convert|2850|km|nmi|sp=us|abbr=off}}. The Vostok had no maneuvering rockets to keep the two craft a controlled distance apart.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=185–91}} Vostok 4 also set a record of nearly four days in space. The first woman, [[Valentina Tereshkova]], was launched into space on [[Vostok 6]] on June 16, 1963,{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=194–218}} as (possibly) a medical experiment. She was the only one to fly of a small group of female parachutist factory workers (unlike the male cosmonauts who were military test pilots),<ref>{{cite web|title=Kamanin diaries, April 16, 1965|url=http://www.astronautix.com/k/kamanindiaries.html|publisher=Astronautix.com|access-date=January 8, 2023}}</ref> chosen by the head of cosmonaut training because he read a tabloid article about the "[[Mercury 13]]" group of women wanting to become astronauts, and got the mistaken idea that NASA was actually entertaining this.{{sfn|Burgess|Hall|2009|p=229}}{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2001|pp=194–218}} Five months after her flight, Tereshkova married [[Vostok 3]] cosmonaut [[Andriyan Nikolayev]],<ref>{{cite journal|first=Tamara|last=Eidelman|title=A Cosmic Wedding|journal=Russian Life|year=2013|volume=56|issue=6|pages=22–25}}</ref> and they had a daughter.<ref>{{cite book|title=The 'First Lady of Space': In Her Own Words|publisher=SpaceHistory101.com Press|year=2015|last1=Nikolaeva-Tereshkova|first1=Valentina Vladimirovna|isbn=978-1-887022-99-6|chapter=Preface|pages=4–7|location=Bethesda, MD|oclc=930799309|ref={{harvid|"Preface"|2003}}}}</ref>

====Mercury====
{{Main|Project Mercury}}

[[File:Mercury Spacecraft.png|thumb|left|Cutaway of the Mercury capsule]]

The US Air Force had been developing a program to launch the first man in space, named [[Man in Space Soonest]]. This program studied several different types of one-man space vehicles, settling on a [[space capsule|ballistic re-entry capsule]] launched on a derivative [[Atlas LV-3B|Atlas missile]], and selecting a group of nine candidate pilots. After NASA's creation, the program was transferred over to the civilian agency's [[Space Task Group]] and renamed Project Mercury on November 26, 1958. The Mercury spacecraft was designed by the STG's chief engineer [[Maxime Faget]]. NASA selected a new group of [[astronaut]] (from the Greek for "star sailor") candidates from [[United States Navy|Navy]], [[United States Air Force|Air Force]] and [[United States Marine Corps|Marine]] test pilots, and narrowed this down to [[Mercury Seven|a group of seven]] for the program. Capsule design and astronaut training began immediately, working toward preliminary suborbital flights on the [[Mercury-Redstone Launch Vehicle|Redstone missile]], followed by orbital flights on the Atlas. Each flight series would first start unpiloted, then carry a non-human primate, then finally humans.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2008-10-01 |title=In the Beginning: Project Mercury - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/project-mercury/in-the-beginning-project-mercury/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Mercury spacecraft's principal designer was [[Maxime Faget]], who started research for human spaceflight during the time of the NACA.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=150}} It consisted of a conical capsule with a cylindrical pack of three solid-fuel [[retro-rocket]]s strapped over a [[beryllium]] or [[fiberglass]] [[heat shield]] on the blunt end. Base diameter at the blunt end was {{convert|6.0|ft}} and length was {{convert|10.8|ft}}; with the launch escape system added, the overall length was {{convert|25.9|ft}}.{{sfn|Catchpole|2001|p=131}} With {{convert|100|ft3|m3}} of habitable volume, the capsule was just large enough for a single astronaut.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=47}} The first suborbital spacecraft weighed {{convert|3000|lb}}; the heaviest, Mercury-Atlas 9, weighed {{convert|3000|lb}} fully loaded.{{sfn|Swenson|Grimwood|Alexander|1966|p=490}} On reentry, the astronaut would stay in the craft through splashdown by parachute in the Atlantic Ocean.

[[File:Alan Shepard during Mercury-Redstone 3.jpg|thumb|right|[[Alan Shepard]], the first American in space, 1961]]

On May 5, 1961, [[Alan Shepard]] became the first American in space, launching in a [[sub-orbital spaceflight|ballistic trajectory]] on [[Mercury-Redstone 3]], in a spacecraft he named ''Freedom 7''.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=138–43}} Though he did not achieve orbit like Gagarin, he was the first person to exercise manual control over his spacecraft's [[Orientation (geometry)|attitude]] and [[retro-rocket]] firing.{{sfn|Gatland|1976|pp=153–54}} After his successful return, Shepard was celebrated as a national hero, honored with parades in Washington, New York and Los Angeles, and received the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] from [[President of the United States|President]] [[John F. Kennedy]].<ref>{{cite AV media |year=1961 |title=As World Watched. Spaceman Hailed After U.S. Triumph, 1961/05/08 (1961) |medium=Motion picture |url=https://archive.org/details/1961-05-08_As_World_Watched|access-date=February 20, 2012 |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel|Universal-International Newsreel]] |oclc=709678549}}</ref>

American [[Gus Grissom|Virgil "Gus" Grissom]] repeated Shepard's suborbital flight in ''[[Mercury-Redstone 4|Liberty Bell 7]]'' on July 21, 1961.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Neuman |first=Scott |date=2021-07-22 |title=A New Analysis May Have Just Solved A Decades-Old Mystery Of The Space Race |language=en |work=NPR |url=https://www.npr.org/2021/07/22/1019254674/gus-grissom-liberty-bell-mercury-the-right-stuff |access-date=2022-12-13}}</ref> Almost a year after the Soviet Union put a human into orbit, astronaut [[John Glenn]] became the first American to orbit the Earth, on February 20, 1962.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=156–164}} His [[Mercury-Atlas 6]] mission completed three orbits in the ''Friendship 7'' spacecraft, and splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean, after a tense reentry, due to what falsely appeared from the telemetry data to be a loose heat-shield.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=156–164}} On February 23, 1962, President Kennedy awarded Glenn with the [[NASA Distinguished Service Medal]] in a ceremony at [[Cape Canaveral Air Force Station]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/president-john-f-kennedy-pins-nasa-distinguished-service-medal-on-john-glenn|title=President John F. Kennedy Pins NASA Distinguished Service Medal on John Glenn|publisher=NASA|access-date=July 30, 2018 |date=May 13, 2015}}</ref> As the first American in orbit, Glenn became a national hero, and received a [[ticker-tape parade]] in New York City, reminiscent of that given for [[Charles Lindbergh]].

The United States launched three more Mercury flights after Glenn's: ''[[Aurora 7]]'' on May 24, 1962, duplicated Glenn's three orbits, ''[[Mercury-Atlas 8|Sigma 7]]'' on October 3, 1962, six orbits, and ''[[Faith 7]]'' on May 15, 1963, 22 orbits (32.4 hours), the maximum capability of the spacecraft. NASA at first intended to launch one more mission, extending the spacecraft's endurance to three days, but since this would not beat the Soviet record, it was decided instead to concentrate on developing Project Gemini.<ref>{{cite book|last=Catchpole|first=John|title=Project Mercury – NASA's First Manned Space Programme|date=2001|pages=385–386|publisher=Springer Praxis|location=Chichester, UK|isbn=1-85233-406-1|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/projectmercuryna0000catc}}</ref>

===Kennedy aims for a crewed Moon landing===
{{Main|Apollo program}}

{{see also|Moon landing}}

{{Quote box
| title = 
| quote = These are extraordinary times. And we face an extraordinary challenge. Our strength, as well as our convictions, have imposed upon this nation the role of leader in freedom's cause.

... if we are to win the battle that is now going on around the world between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space which occurred in recent weeks should have made clear to us all, as did the Sputnik in 1957, the impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere, who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take. ... Now it is time to take longer strides{{snd}}time for a great new American enterprise{{snd}}time for this nation to take a clearly leading role in space achievement, which in many ways may hold the key to our future on Earth.

... Recognizing the head start obtained by the Soviets with their large rocket engines, which gives them many months of lead-time, and recognizing the likelihood that they will exploit this lead for some time to come in still more impressive successes, we nevertheless are required to make new efforts on our own.

... I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.

... Let it be clear that I am asking the Congress and the country to accept a firm commitment to a new course of action—a course which will last for many years and carry very heavy costs: 531 million dollars in fiscal '62—an estimated seven to nine billion dollars additional over the next five years. If we are to go only half way, or reduce our sights in the face of difficulty, in my judgment it would be better not to go at all.
| source = John F. Kennedy,<br />Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs, May 25, 1961<ref name="Special Message">{{cite AV media |people=Kennedy, John F. |date=May 25, 1961 |title=Special Message to Congress on Urgent National Needs |medium=Motion picture (excerpt) |url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/xzw1gaeeTES6khED14P1Iw.aspx |access-date=August 1, 2013 |publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum |location=Boston, MA |id=Accession Number: TNC:200; Digital Identifier: TNC-200-2}}</ref>
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Before Gagarin's flight, US President [[John F. Kennedy#Space policy|John F. Kennedy]]'s support for America's piloted space program was lukewarm. [[Jerome Wiesner]] of MIT, who served as a science advisor to presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, and himself an opponent of sending humans into space, remarked, "If Kennedy could have opted out of a big space program without hurting the country in his judgment, he would have."<ref>Quoted in John M. Logsdon, ''The Decision to Go to the Moon: Project Apollo and the National Interest'' (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970) p. 111.</ref> As late as March 1961, when NASA administrator James E. Webb submitted a budget request to fund a Moon landing before 1970, Kennedy rejected it because it was simply too expensive.<ref>[[David E. Bell]], Memorandum for the President, "National Aeronautics and Space Administration Budget Problem", March 22, 1961, NASA Historical Reference Collection; U.S. Congress, House, Committee of Science and Astronautics, ''NASA Fiscal 1962 Authorization'', ''Hearings'', 87th Cong., 1st. sess., 1962, pp. 203, 620; Logsdon, Decision to go to the Moon, pp. 94–100.</ref> Some were surprised by Kennedy's eventual support of NASA and the space program because of how often he had attacked the Eisenhower administration's inefficiency during the election.<ref>Wolfe, Tom. The Right Stuff. New York: Picador, 1979.(179)</ref>

Gagarin's flight changed this; now Kennedy sensed the humiliation and fear on the part of the American public over the Soviet lead. Additionally, the [[Bay of Pigs invasion]], planned before his term began but executed during it, was an embarrassment to his administration due to the colossal failure of the US forces.<ref>Roger D. Launius and Howard E. McCurdy, eds, Spaceflight and the Myth of Presidential Leadership (Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press, 1997), 56.</ref> Looking for something to save political face, he sent a memo dated April 20, 1961, to Vice President [[Lyndon B. Johnson]], asking him to look into the state of America's space program, and into programs that could offer [[NASA]] the opportunity to catch up.<ref>Kennedy to Johnson,[http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf "Memorandum for Vice President,"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170131222858/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo1.pdf |date=January 31, 2017 }} April 20, 1961.</ref> The two major options at the time were either the establishment of an Earth orbital space station or a crewed landing on the Moon. Johnson, in turn, consulted with von Braun, who answered Kennedy's questions based on his estimates of US and Soviet rocket lifting capability.<ref>{{cite web|title=Memo, Wernher von Braun to the Vice President of the United States|last1=von Braun|first1=Wernher|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo3.pdf|date=April 29, 1961|publisher=NASA|access-date=January 8, 2023|archive-date=May 13, 2005|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050513043040/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo3.pdf}}</ref> Based on this, Johnson responded to Kennedy, concluding that much more was needed to reach a position of leadership, and recommending that the crewed Moon landing was far enough in the future that the US had a fighting chance to achieve it first.<ref name="lbjmemo">{{cite web|title=Memo, Johnson to Kennedy, Evaluation of Space Program |last1=Johnson|first1=Lyndon B.|url=https://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo2.pdf|date= April 28, 1961|access-date=January 8, 2023}}</ref>

Kennedy ultimately decided to pursue what became the Apollo program, and on May 25 took the opportunity to ask for Congressional support in a Cold War speech titled "Special Message on Urgent National Needs". {{Cws |title=Full text |link=Special Message to the Congress on Urgent National Needs|nobullet=yes}}
He justified the program in terms of its importance to national security, and its focus of the nation's energies on other scientific and social fields.<ref name="wechoose">{{cite web
|last=Kennedy
|first=John F.
|url=http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical+Resources/Archives/Reference+Desk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm
|title=Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort
|work=Historical Resources
|publisher=John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum
|date=September 12, 1962
|access-date=August 16, 2010
|archive-date=May 6, 2010
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506113709/http://www.jfklibrary.org/Historical%2BResources/Archives/Reference%2BDesk/Speeches/JFK/003POF03SpaceEffort09121962.htm

}}</ref> He rallied popular support for the program in his "[[We choose to go to the Moon]]" speech, on September 12, 1962, before a large crowd at [[Rice University]] Stadium, in Houston, Texas, near the construction site of the new [[Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center]] facility.<ref name="wechoose" /> {{Cws |title=Full text |link=We choose to go to the moon|nobullet=yes}}

Khrushchev responded to Kennedy's challenge with silence, refusing to publicly confirm or deny the Soviets were pursuing a "Moon race".<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Magazine |first1=Smithsonian |last2=French |first2=Francis |title=Imagining a World Where Soviets and Americans Joined Hands on the Moon |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/imagining-world-where-soviets-and-americans-joined-hands-moon-180972692/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Smithsonian Magazine |language=en}}</ref> As later disclosed, the Soviet Union secretly pursued [[Soviet crewed lunar programs|two competing crewed lunar programs]]. Soviet Decree 655–268, ''On Work on the Exploration of the Moon and Mastery of Space'', issued in August 1964, directed [[Vladimir Chelomei]] to develop a Moon flyby program with a projected first flight by the end of 1966, and directed Korolev to develop the Moon landing program with a first flight by the end of 1967.<ref name="Stabell2012">{{cite book|first1=Oddbjørn |last1=Engvold |first2=Bozena |last2=Czerny|first3=John|last3=Lattanzio |first4=Rolf |last4=Stabell|title=Astronomy and Astrophysics – Volume I|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DXgvCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA228|date=30 November 2012|publisher=Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS)|isbn=978-1-78021-000-1|pages=228–}}</ref> In September 1965, Chelomei's flyby program was assigned to Korolev, who redesigned the cislunar mission to use his own [[Soyuz 7K-L1]] spacecraft and Chelomei's [[Proton (rocket)|Proton rocket]]. After Korolev's death in January 1966, another government decree of February 1967 moved the first crewed flyby to mid-1967, and the first crewed landing to the end of 1968.<ref name=":9">{{Cite web |title=THE SOVIET MANNED LUNAR PROGRAM |url=https://spp.fas.org/eprint/lindroos_moon1.htm |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=spp.fas.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Yes, There Was a Moon Race |url=https://www.airandspaceforces.com/article/0490moon/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=Air & Space Forces Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

====Proposed joint US-USSR program====
After a first US-USSR [[Hugh Dryden|Dryden]]-[[Anatoly Blagonravov|Blagonravov]] agreement and cooperation on the [[Project Echo|Echo II balloon satellite]] in 1962,<ref name="technology" /> President Kennedy proposed on September 20, 1963, in a speech before the [[United Nations General Assembly]], that the United States and the Soviet Union join forces in an effort to reach the Moon.<ref name="JFK Library 1963">{{cite web | title=Address before the 18th General Assembly of the United Nations, September 20, 1963 | website=JFK Library | date=1963-09-20 | url=https://www.jfklibrary.org/archives/other-resources/john-f-kennedy-speeches/united-nations-19630920 | access-date=2021-11-16 |quote="''Finally, in a field where the United States and the Soviet Union have a special capacity—in the field of space—there is room for new cooperation, for further joint efforts in the regulation and exploration of space. I include among these possibilities a joint expedition to the moon. Space offers no problems of sovereignty; by resolution of this Assembly, the members of the United Nations have foresworn any claim to territorial rights in outer space or on celestial bodies, and declared that international law and the United Nations Charter will apply. Why, therefore, should man's first flight to the moon be a matter of national competition? Why should the United States and the Soviet Union, in preparing for such expeditions, become involved in immense duplications of research, construction, and expenditure? Surely we should explore whether the scientists and astronauts of our two countries—indeed of all the world—cannot work together in the conquest of space, sending someday in this decade to the moon not the representatives of a single nation, but the representatives of all of our countries.''"}}</ref> Kennedy thus changed his mind regarding the desirability of the space race, preferring instead to ease tensions with the Soviet Union by cooperating on projects such as a joint lunar landing.<ref>Stone, Oliver and Peter Kuznick, "The Untold History of the United States" (Gallery Books, 2012), p. 320</ref> Soviet Premier [[Nikita Khrushchev]] initially rejected Kennedy's proposal.<ref name="spacedaily">{{cite web|last=Sietzen|first=Frank|title=Soviets Planned to Accept JFK's Joint Lunar Mission Offer|url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/russia-97h.html|work="SpaceCast News Service" Washington DC|date=October 2, 1997 |access-date=February 1, 2011}}</ref> However, on October 2, 1997, it was reported that Khrushchev's son [[Sergei Khrushchev|Sergei]] claimed Khrushchev was poised to accept Kennedy's proposal at the time of [[assassination of John F. Kennedy|Kennedy's assassination]] on November 22, 1963. During the next few weeks he reportedly concluded that both nations might realize cost benefits and technological gains from a joint venture, and decided to accept Kennedy's offer based on a measure of rapport during their years as leaders of the world's two superpowers, but changed his mind and dropped the idea since he lacked the same trust for Kennedy's successor, Lyndon Johnson.<ref name="spacedaily" />

Some cooperation in robotic space exploration nevertheless did take place,<ref>{{cite web |author=Sagdeev, Roald |author2=Eisenhower, Susan |date=28 May 2008 |title=United States-Soviet Space Cooperation during the Cold War |url=http://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/coldWarCoOp.html |access-date=19 July 2009 |archive-date=December 25, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181225032051/https://www.nasa.gov/50th/50th_magazine/coldWarCoOp.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> such as a combined ''[[Venera 4]]''–''[[Mariner 5]]'' data analysis under a joint Soviet–American working group of [[COSPAR]] in 1969, allowing a more complete drawing of the profile of the [[atmosphere of Venus]].<ref>{{cite journal|doi=10.1016/0019-1035(69)90052-9|author=[[Carl Sagan]]|date=September 1969|title=The COSPAR Meetings in Prague|journal=[[Icarus (journal)|Icarus]]|volume=11|issue=2|pages=268–272|bibcode=1969Icar...11..268S}}</ref><ref>{{cite conference |title=Report on the Activities of the COSPAR Working Group VII |page=94 |date=11–24 May 1969 |location=Prague, Czechoslovakia |book-title=Preliminary Report, COSPAR Twelfth Plenary Meeting and Tenth International Space Science Symposium |publisher=[[National Academy of Sciences]]}}</ref> Eventually the [[Apollo–Soyuz mission]] was realized afterall, which furthermore laid the foundations for the [[Shuttle-Mir program]] and the [[ISS]].

As President, Johnson steadfastly pursued the Gemini and Apollo programs, promoting them as Kennedy's legacy to the American public. One week after Kennedy's death, he issued [[s:Executive Order 11129|Executive Order 11129]] renaming the Cape Canaveral and [[Kennedy Space Center|Apollo launch]] facilities after Kennedy.

=== Lunar probes and robotic landers ===

[[File:First Photo from the Surface of the Moon.jpg|thumb|First photo of the surface of the Moon, taken by Luna 9]]

The [[Ranger program]], started in 1959 by NASA's [[Jet Propulsion Laboratory]], aimed to conduct hard impacts on the Moon and had its first success in 1962, after three failures due to launch aborts ([[Ranger 1]] and [[Ranger 2]]) and a failure to reach the Moon ([[Ranger 3]]), when the {{convert|730|lb|kg|adj=on}} [[Ranger 4]] became the first US spacecraft to reach the Moon, but its [[photovoltaic module|solar panel]]s and navigational system failed near the Moon and it impacted the far side without returning any scientific data. [[Ranger 5]] ran out of power and missed the Moon by {{convert|725|km|nmi|sp=us}} on October 21, 1962. The first successful Ranger mission was the {{convert|806|lb|kg|adj=on}} Block III [[Ranger 7]] which impacted on July 31, 1964.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2018|p=41}} Ranger had three successful impacts out of nine attempts.<ref>{{cite web |title=National Space Science Data Center – Ranger 6 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-007A |access-date=June 19, 2012 |publisher=National Air and Space Administration |ref=nssdc1964-007A}}</ref>

In 1963, the Soviet Union's "2nd Generation" Luna programme was less successful than the earlier Luna probes; [[Luna 4]], [[Luna 5]], [[Luna 6]], [[Luna 7]], and [[Luna 8]] were all met with mission failures. However, in 1966 the [[Luna 9]] achieved the first soft-landing on the Moon, and successfully transmitted photography from the surface.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna 9 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-006A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> [[Luna 10]] marked the first man-made object to establish an orbit around the Moon,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna 10 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-027A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> followed by [[Luna 11]], [[Luna 12]], and [[Luna 14]] which also successfully established orbits. [[Luna 12]] was able to transmit detailed photography of the surface from orbit.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna 12 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-094A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> Luna 10, 12, and [[Luna 14]] conducted [[Gamma ray spectrometry]] of the Moon, among other tests.

The [[Zond program]]me was orchestrated alongside the ''Luna'' programme with [[Zond 1]] and [[Zond 2]] launching in 1964, intended as flyby missions, however both failed.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zond 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-016D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Zond 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1964-078C |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> [[Zond 3]] however was successful, and transmitted high quality photography from the far side of the moon.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Zond 3 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-056A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Zond 3 photography |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/experiment/display.action?id=1965-056A-01 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

[[File:Moon landing map.jpg|thumb|left|The near side of the Moon, showing Luna probe landing locations with red triangles, Surveyor in yellow, and the later Apollo landings in Green]]

Partly to aid the Apollo missions, the [[Surveyor program]] was conducted by NASA, with five successful soft landings out of seven attempts from 1966 to 1968. The [[Lunar Orbiter program]] had five successes out of five attempts in 1966–1967.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Lunar Orbiter to the Moon (1966 - 1967) |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/lunar/lunarorb.html |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Lunar Orbiter Program - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/lunar-orbiters-program/ |access-date=2024-11-23 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=September 11, 2023 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In late 1966, [[Luna 13]] became the third spacecraft to make a soft-landing on the Moon, with the American [[Surveyor 1]] having now taken second. Luna 13 made use of inflatable air-bags to soften it's landing.<ref name="Luna 13">{{Cite web |title=Luna 13 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1966-116A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-12-24 |title=The Mission of Luna 13: Christmas 1966 on the Moon |url=https://www.drewexmachina.com/2016/12/24/the-mission-of-luna-13-christmas-1966-on-the-moon/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Drew Ex Machina |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=USSR - Luna 13 |url=https://www.orbitalfocus.uk/Diaries/Luna/Luna13.php |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.orbitalfocus.uk}}</ref> Surveyor 1 was a 995&nbsp;kg lander, notably larger than the 112&nbsp;kg Luna 13 E-6M lander.<ref name="Luna 13"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna E-6M |url=http://www.astronautix.com/l/lunae-6m.html |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=www.astronautix.com}}</ref> Surveyor 1 was equipped with a [[Doppler velocity sensor|Doppler velocity sensing system]] that fed information into the spacecraft computer to implement a controllable descent to the surface. Each of the three landing pads also carried aircraft-type shock absorbers and strain gauges to provide data on landing characteristics, important for future Apollo missions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surveyor 1 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/surveyor-1/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 27, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surveyor 1 - Moon Missions - NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/surveyor-1/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[Surveyor 3]], which successfully touched down on the Moon April 20, 1967, carried a 'surface sampler' which facilitated tests of the Lunar soil. Based on these experiments, scientists concluded that lunar soil had a consistency similar to wet sand, with a bearing strength of about 10 pounds per square inch (0.7 kilograms per square centimeter, or 98 kilopascals), which was concluded to be solid enough to support an Apollo Lunar Module.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surveyor 3 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/surveyor-3/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 27, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> The Surveyor 3 lander would be later visited by [[Apollo 12]] astronauts.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Astronauts Pay a Visit to Surveyor 3 - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/astronauts-pay-visit-surveyor-3/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |language=en-US}}</ref>

On Nov. 17, 1967, before mission termination, [[Surveyor 6]] fired its thrusters for 2.5 seconds, becoming the first spacecraft launched from the lunar surface. It rose about 10 feet (3 meters) before landing 8 feet (2.5 meters) west of its original spot. Cameras then examined the original landing site to assess the soil's properties.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Surveyor 6 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/surveyor-6/ |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 27, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surveyor 6 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-112A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

=== First interplanetary probes ===
From the early 1960s both Cold War adversaries almost simultaneously initiated their own programmes which sought to reach other planets in the [[Solar System]] for the first time; namely Venus and Mars.

==== Venus ====
[[File:Mariner 2.jpg|thumb|Artist's impression of Mariner 2, the first successful interplanetary spacecraft]]

Venus was of great interest in the field of [[planetary science]] due to its thick and opaque atmosphere, the atmospheres of other planets being a novel area of research at the time.

In 1961 the [[Venera|Venera Programme]] was initiated by the Soviet Union, with the launch of [[Venera 1]]. The programme would go on to mark many firsts in the exploration of another planet. Despite the later successes however, [[Venera 1]] and [[Venera 2]], intended to flyby Venus, resulted in failure due to losses of contact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venus: Exploration - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/venus/exploration/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=November 9, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1961-003A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

NASA would then initiate the [[Mariner program]] with the launch of [[Mariner 1]] and [[Mariner 2]]. Mariner 1 failed shortly after launch,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mariner 1 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-1/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 8, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref> however Mariner 2 would become the first man-made object to flyby another planet in December 1962 when the probe passed by Venus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mariner 2 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-2/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 20, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Mariner 2 |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/mariner-2/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref>

Later in 1965/66, [[Venera 3]], marked the first time a man-made object made contact with another planet after it impacted Venus on March 1, 1966, despite operational difficulties resulting in loss of contact with the craft.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 3 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1965-092A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In 1967, [[Mariner 5]] flew by Venus and conducted atmospheric analysis.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mariner 5 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/mariner-5/ |access-date=2024-12-10 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 20, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== Mars ====
In 1964, NASA's [[Mariner 4]] became the first successful Mars flyby, transmitting 21 pictures of the planets surface. This was followed by [[Mariner 6 and 7]] in 1969.

===First crewed spacecraft===
Focused by the commitment to a Moon landing, in January 1962 the US announced Project Gemini, a two-person spacecraft that would support the later three-person Apollo by developing the key spaceflight technologies of [[space rendezvous]] and [[docking and berthing of spacecraft|docking of two craft]], flight durations of sufficient length to go to the Moon and back, and [[extra-vehicular activity]] to perform work outside the spacecraft.<ref>{{cite web
 |last1       = Loff
 |first1      = Sarah
 |title       = Gemini: Stepping Stone to the Moon
 |url         = http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/gemini/#.VKi1GsaWt78
 |website     = Gemini: Bridge to the Moon
 |publisher   = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
 |access-date  = 2015-01-04
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20141221151510/http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/gemini/
 |archive-date = 2014-12-21
 |location    = Washington, DC
 |date        = 2013-10-21
 
}}</ref>{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=383}}

Meanwhile, Korolev had planned further long-term missions for the Vostok spacecraft, and had four Vostoks in various stages of fabrication in late 1963 at his [[S.P. Korolev Rocket and Space Corporation Energia|OKB-1]] facilities.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=384–86}} The Americans' announced plans for Gemini represented major advances over the Mercury and Vostok capsules, and Korolev felt the need to try to beat the Americans to many of these innovations.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=384–86}} He had already begun designing the Vostok's replacement, the next-generation [[Soyuz (spacecraft)|Soyuz]], a multi-cosmonaut spacecraft that had at least the same capabilities as the Gemini spacecraft.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=149}} Soyuz would not be available for at least three years, and it could not be called upon to deal with this new American challenge in 1964 or 1965.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=198}} Political pressure in early 1964{{snd}}which some sources claim was from Khrushchev while other sources claim was from other Communist Party officials{{snd}}pushed him to modify his four remaining Vostoks to beat the Americans to new space firsts in the size of flight crews, and the duration of missions.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=384–86}}

====Voskhod====
{{Main|Voskhod programme}}

[[File:Vostok and Voskhod crew seating.png|thumb|Korolev modified the one-person Vostok capsule into carrying three people, or two plus an airlock for spacewalk capability.]]

Korolev's conversion of his surplus Vostok capsules to the [[Voskhod spacecraft]] allowed the Soviet space program to beat the Gemini program in achieving the first spaceflight with a multi-person crew, and the first "spacewalk". Gemini took a year longer than planned to make its first flight, so [[Voskhod 1]] became the first spaceflight with a three-person crew on October 12, 1964.<ref>{{cite news
| title = Space Troika on Target
| author = Special
| agency = UPI
| newspaper = [[The Toronto Star]]
| publisher = [[Torstar]]
| location = Toronto
| date = October 13, 1964
| page = 1}}</ref> The USSR touted another "technological achievement" during this mission: it was the first space flight during which cosmonauts performed in a [[Shirt-sleeve environment|shirt-sleeve-environment.]]{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=199–200}} However, flying without spacesuits was not due to safety improvements in the Soviet spacecraft's environmental systems; rather this was because the craft's limited cabin space did not allow for spacesuits. Flying without spacesuits exposed the cosmonauts to significant risk in the event of potentially fatal cabin depressurization.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|pp=199–200}} This was not repeated until the US [[Apollo Command Module]] flew in 1968; the command module cabin was designed to transport three astronauts in a low pressure, pure oxygen [[shirt-sleeve environment]] while in space.

On March 18, 1965, about a week before the first piloted Project Gemini space flight, the USSR launched the two-cosmonaut [[Voskhod 2]] mission with [[Pavel Belyayev]] and [[Alexei Leonov]].<ref name="NYT650319">{{cite news
| title = Russian Floats in Space for 10 Minutes; Leaves Orbiting Craft With a Lifeline; Moscow Says Moon Trip Is 'Target Now'
| first = Henry
| last = Tanner
| url = https://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/big/0318.html?scp=2&sq=Voskhod%202&st=cse
| newspaper = [[The New York Times]]
| location = New York
| date = March 19, 1965
| page = 1}}</ref> Voskhod 2's design modifications included the addition of an inflatable airlock to allow for [[extravehicular activity]] (EVA), also known as a spacewalk, while keeping the cabin pressurized so that the capsule's electronics would not overheat.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=448}} Leonov performed the first-ever EVA as part of the mission.<ref name="NYT650319" /> A fatality was narrowly avoided when Leonov's spacesuit expanded in the vacuum of space, preventing him from re-entering the airlock.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=205}} To overcome this, he had to partially depressurize his spacesuit to a potentially dangerous level.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=205}} He succeeded in safely re-entering the spacecraft, but he and Belyayev faced further challenges when the spacecraft's atmospheric controls flooded the cabin with 45% pure oxygen, which had to be lowered to acceptable levels before re-entry.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=454-460}} The reentry involved two more challenges: an improperly timed retrorocket firing caused the Voskhod 2 to land {{convert|386|km|mi|sp=us}} off its designated target area, the city of [[Perm, Russia|Perm]]; and the instrument compartment's failure to detach from the descent apparatus caused the spacecraft to become unstable during reentry.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=454-460}}

By October 16, 1964, [[Leonid Brezhnev]] and a small cadre of high-ranking Communist Party officials deposed Khrushchev as Soviet government leader a day after Voskhod 1 landed, in what was called the "Wednesday conspiracy".<ref>{{cite news
| title = Kremlin summit probably greased skids for Mr. K
| last = Gayn
| first = Mark
| newspaper = [[The Toronto Star]]
| publisher = [[Torstar]]
| location = Toronto
| date = October 16, 1964
| page = 11}}</ref>
The new political leaders, along with Korolev, ended the technologically troublesome Voskhod program, canceling Voskhod 3 and 4, which were in the planning stages, and started concentrating on reaching the Moon.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|pp=510–11}} Voskhod 2 ended up being Korolev's final achievement before his death on January 14, 1966, as it became the last of the space firsts that the USSR achieved during the early 1960s. According to historian Asif Siddiqi, Korolev's accomplishments marked "the absolute zenith of the Soviet space program, one never, ever attained since."{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003a|p=460}} There was a two-year pause in Soviet piloted space flights while Voskhod's replacement, the Soyuz spacecraft, was designed and developed.{{Sfn|Schefter|1999|p=207}}

==== Gemini ====
{{Main|Project Gemini}}

[[File:Gemini 7 in orbit - GPN-2006-000035.jpg|thumb|Rendezvous of Gemini 6 and 7, December 1965]]

Though delayed a year to reach its first flight, Gemini was able to take advantage of the USSR's two-year hiatus after Voskhod, which enabled the US to catch up and surpass the previous Soviet superiority in piloted spaceflight. Gemini had ten crewed missions between March 1965 and November 1966: [[Gemini 3]], [[Gemini 4]], [[Gemini 5]], [[Gemini 6A]], [[Gemini 7]], [[Gemini 8]], [[Gemini 9A]], [[Gemini 10]], [[Gemini 11]], and [[Gemini 12]]; and accomplished the following:

* Every mission demonstrated the ability to adjust the crafts' inclination and apsis without issue.
* Gemini 5 demonstrated eight-day endurance, long enough for a round trip to the Moon. Gemini 7 demonstrated a fourteen-day endurance flight.
* Gemini 6A demonstrated rendezvous and [[orbital station-keeping|station-keeping]] with Gemini 7 for three consecutive orbits at distances as close as {{convert|1|ft|m|sp=us}}.<ref>{{cite web
 |title       = The World's First Space Rendezvous
 |work        = Apollo to the Moon; To Reach the Moon – Early Human Spaceflight
 |publisher   = Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum
 |url         = http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/attm/rm.ey.g7.3.html
 |access-date  = September 17, 2006
 
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20071116112847/http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/attm/rm.ey.g7.3.html
 |archive-date = November 16, 2007
 }}</ref> Gemini 9A also achieved rendezvous with an [[Agena Target Vehicle]] (ATV).
* Rendezvous and [[docking and berthing of spacecraft|docking]] with the ATV was achieved on Gemini 8, 10, 11, and 12. Gemini 11 achieved the first direct-ascent rendezvous with its Agena target on the first orbit.
*[[Extravehicular activity]] (EVA) was perfected through increasing practice on Gemini 4, 9A, 10, 11, and 12. On Gemini 12, [[Edwin Aldrin|Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin]] spent over five hours working comfortably during three (EVA) sessions, finally proving that humans could perform productive tasks outside their spacecraft.
* Gemini 10, 11, and 12 used the ATV's engine to make large changes in its orbit while docked. Gemini 11 used the Agena's rocket to achieve a crewed Earth orbit record [[apogee]] of {{convert|742|nmi|km|sp=us}}.

Gemini 8 experienced the first in-space mission abort on March 17, 1966, just after achieving the world's first docking, when a stuck or shorted thruster sent the craft into an uncontrolled spin. Command pilot [[Neil Armstrong]] was able to shut off the stuck thruster and stop the spin by using the re-entry control system.{{sfn|Gatland|1976|p=176}} He and his crewmate [[David Scott]] landed and were recovered safely.<ref name="Gemini 8 Crew and PJs">{{cite web |url=http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~7~7~32671~136538:Gemini-8-crew-stands-on-deck-of-rec |title=Gemini8 Crew and PJs |access-date=2010-06-15 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727151042/http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/detail/nasaNAS~7~7~32671~136538%3AGemini-8-crew-stands-on-deck-of-rec |archive-date=2011-07-27 }}</ref>

Most of the novice pilots on the early missions would command the later missions. In this way, Project Gemini built up spaceflight experience for the pool of astronauts for the Apollo lunar missions. With the completion of Gemini, the US had demonstrated many of the key technologies necessary to make Kennedy's goal of landing a man on the Moon, namely crewed spacecraft docking, with the exception of developing a large enough launch vehicle.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2023-03-27 |title=Gemini Pioneered the Technology Driving Today's Exploration - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/missions/gemini/gemini-pioneered-the-technology-driving-todays-exploration/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |language=en-US}}</ref>

[[File:Space Race 1957-1975 black text.png|center|thumb|upright=2.0|Progress in the Space Race, showing the US passing the Soviets in 1965]]

===Soviet crewed Moon programs===
{{Main|Soviet crewed lunar programs}}

[[File:Manned Moon landers LK vs LM - to scale drawing.png|thumb|Soviet LK (Lunniy Korabl) and American [[Apollo Lunar Module]] lunar landers]]

Korolev's design bureau produced two prospectuses for circumlunar spaceflight (March 1962 and May 1963), the main spacecraft for which were early versions of his Soyuz design. At the same time, another bureau, [[OKB-52]], headed by [[Vladimir Chelomey]], was developing the [[LK-1]] lunar flyby spacecraft, which would be launched by Chelomey's [[Proton (rocket)|Proton UR-500]] rocket. The Soviet government rejected Korolev's proposals, opting to support Chelomey's project, who gained favor with Khrushchev by employing his son.<ref name="FAS 1997">{{cite web |last1=Lindroos |first1=Marcus |title=The Soviet Manned Lunar Program |url=https://fas.org/spp/eprint/lindroos_moon1.htm |date=1997 |website=FAS |publisher=Federation of American Scientists (FAS) |access-date=24 May 2024}}</ref>

Officially, the Soviet lunar program was established on August 3, 1964, with the adoption of Soviet Communist Party Central Committee Command 655-268 (''On Work on the Exploration of the Moon and Mastery of Space'').<ref name=":9" /> The circumlunar flights were planned to occur in 1967, and the landings to start in 1968, intending to land a person on the Moon before the Apollo flights.{{sfn|Portree|1995|p=3-5}} Both of the bureaus submitted their projects for a crewed lunar landing.<ref name=":9" />

Korolev's lunar landing program was designated N1/L3, for its [[N1 (rocket)|N1 super rocket]] and a more advanced [[Soyuz 7K-LOK|Soyuz 7K-L3]] spacecraft, also known as the lunar orbital module ("''Lunniy Orbitalny Korabl''", LOK), with a crew of two. A separate lunar lander ("''Lunniy Korabl''", [[LK (spacecraft)|LK]]), would carry a single cosmonaut to the lunar surface.{{sfn|Portree|1995|p=3-5}}

The N1/L3 launch vehicle had three stages to Earth orbit, a fourth stage for Earth departure, and a fifth stage for lunar landing assist. The combined space vehicle was roughly the same height and takeoff mass as the three-stage US [[Apollo spacecraft|Apollo]]-Saturn V and exceeded its takeoff thrust by 28% (45,400&nbsp;kN vs. 33,000&nbsp;kN.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Harford|first1=James|title=Korolev: how one man masterminded the Soviet drive to beat America to the moon |date=1997 |publisher=Wiley |location=New York; Chichester |isbn=978-0-471-32721-9|page=271}}</ref> The N1/3L was never successfully tested, the first flight suffered a fire in the first-stage Block A due to a loose bolt, leading to a catastrophic explosion 70 seconds into the flight. Further variations of the N1 had similar catastrophic results in testing.<ref name=":10"/> If successful, the N1 would have been capable of carrying a 95 metric tons payload into low earth orbit.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web |last=Avilla |first=Aeryn |date=2020-02-21 |title=N1: The Rise and Fall of the USSR's Moon Rocket |url=https://www.spaceflighthistories.com/post/n1-rocket |access-date=2024-12-11 |website=SpaceflightHistories |language=en}}</ref> The Saturn V comparatively used [[liquid rocket propellant#Hydrogen|liquid hydrogen fuel]] in its two upper stages, and carried a 140.6 metric tons payload to orbit,<ref name="svgiw">{{cite web|title=Ground Ignition Weights|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4029/Apollo_18-19_Ground_Ignition_Weights.htm|website=NASA.gov|access-date=November 8, 2014}}</ref><ref name=":10" /> enough for a three-person [[Apollo Command and Service Module|orbiter]] and two-person [[Apollo Lunar Module|lander]].

Chelomey's program assumed using a [[direct ascent]] lander based on the LK-1, [[LK-700]], which would be launched using his proposed [[Universal Rocket#UR-700|UR-700]] rocket. Following Khrushchev's ouster from power, Chelomey lost his support in the Soviet government, and his proposal didn't receive any funding. Additionally, in August 1965, due to Korolev's opposition, work on the LK-1 was suspended, and later stopped completely. As a replacement, the circumlunar mission would use a stripped-down [[Soyuz 7K-L1]] "Zond", while still retaining the Proton UR-500 booster. To fit two crewmembers, the Zond had to omit the Soyuz orbital module, sacrificing equipment for habitable cabin volume.<ref name="FAS 1997" />{{sfn|Portree|1995|p=12-13}}

=== Outer space treaties ===

[[File:Starfish5.JPG|thumb|The debris fireball of [[Starfish Prime]] in space seen from [[Honolulu]]]]

The US and USSR began discussions on the peaceful uses of space as early as 1958, presenting issues for debate to the United Nations,<ref name="inesap">{{cite web|url=http://www.inesap.org/bulletin17/bul17art22.htm |publisher=International Network of Engineers and Scientists Against Proliferation |date=March 5, 1999|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080318143550/http://www.inesap.org/bulletin17/bul17art22.htm |archive-date=March 18, 2008| title=Peaceful Uses of Outer Space and International Law|first1=Hans-Joachim |last1=Heintze}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=r2IfMEpPUIsC&dq=un+resolution+1148&pg=PA289 Google books] ''Nuclear Weapons and Contemporary International Law'' N. Singh, E. WcWhinney (p. 289)</ref><ref>[http://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/747/92/IMG/NR074792.pdf?OpenElement UN website] UN Resolution 1348 (XIII). {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117022148/http://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/747/92/IMG/NR074792.pdf?OpenElement |date=November 17, 2015 }}</ref> which created a [[United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space|Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space]] in 1959.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.unoosa.org/oosa/COPUOS/copuos.html | title = United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space | publisher = United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs}}</ref>

On May 10, 1962, Vice President Johnson addressed the Second National Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Space revealing that the United States and the USSR both supported a resolution passed by the Political Committee of the UN General Assembly in December 1962, which not only urged member nations to "extend the rules of international law to outer space," but to also cooperate in its exploration. Following the passing of this resolution, Kennedy commenced his communications proposing a cooperative American and Soviet space program.<ref>[http://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKNSF-308-006.aspx Papers of John F. Kennedy. Presidential Papers. National Security Files. Subjects. Space activities: US/USSR cooperation, 1961–96]</ref>

In 1963, the [[Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty]] was signed by more than 100 signatories, including both the United States and the Soviet Union. This treaty followed the US test of a nuclear bomb detonated in outer space the year earlier called [[Starfish Prime]].

The UN ultimately created a ''[[Outer Space Treaty|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 United States, the USSR, and the [[United Kingdom]] on January 27, 1967, and came into force the following October 10.<ref>[http://disarmament.un.org/treaties/t/outer_space/signature/asc Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies: Status of the Treaty] (UNODA)</ref>

{{Wikisource|Outer Space Treaty of 1967}}
This treaty:
* bars party States from placing [[weapons of mass destruction]] in Earth orbit, on the Moon, or any other celestial body;
* exclusively limits the use of the Moon and other celestial bodies to peaceful purposes, and expressly prohibits their use for testing weapons of any kind, conducting military maneuvers, or establishing military bases, installations, and fortifications;
* declares that the exploration of outer space shall be done to benefit all countries and shall be free for exploration and use by all the States;
* explicitly forbids any government from claiming a celestial resource such as the Moon or a planet, claiming that they are the [[common heritage of mankind]], "not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means". However, the State that launches a space object retains jurisdiction and control over that object;
* holds any State liable for damages caused by their space object;
* declares that "the activities of non-governmental entities in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, shall require authorization and continuing supervision by the appropriate State Party to the Treaty", and "States Parties shall bear international responsibility for national space activities whether carried out by governmental or non-governmental entities"; and
* "A State Party to the Treaty which has reason to believe that an activity or experiment planned by another State Party in outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, would cause potentially harmful interference with activities in the peaceful exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, may request consultation concerning the activity or experiment."

The treaty remains in force, signed by 107 member states. – {{As of|July 2017}}

=== Anti-Satellite research ===

==== Istrebitel-sputnikov ====
[[File:IS anti satellite weapon.jpg|thumb|Artist's illustration of an Istrebitel Sputnikov [[Anti-satellite weapon|anti-satellite]] system]]
In November 1968, dismay gripped the United States Central Intelligence Agency when a successful satellite destruction simulation was successfully orchestrated by the Soviet Union.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=THE HISTORY OF US ANTI-SATELLITE WEAPONS |url=https://man.fas.org/eprint/leitenberg/asat.pdf |website=man.fas.org}}</ref> As a part of the [[Istrebitel Sputnikov]] [[anti-satellite weapon]]s research programme, the Kosmos 248 Soviet satellite was successfully destroyed by Kosmos 252 which was able to intercept within the 5&nbsp;km 'kill radius' and destroyed Kosmos 248 by detonating its onboard warhead. This wasn't the beginning of the programme, years earlier intercept attempts had begun with maneuvering test of the [[Polyot (satellite)|Polyot]] satellites in 1964.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Historic Beginnings Of The Space Arms Race |url=https://www.spacewar.com/reports/The_Historic_Beginnings_Of_The_Space_Arms_Race_999.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.spacewar.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last1=RBTH |last2=Novosti |first2=Yury Zaitsev, RIA |date=2008-11-01 |title=The historic beginnings of the space arms race |url=https://www.rbth.com/articles/2008/11/01/311008_space.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Russia Beyond |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=MilsatMagazine |url=http://www.milsatmagazine.com/story.php?number=701833149 |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=www.milsatmagazine.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-11-01 |title=The Hidden History of the Soviet Satellite-Killer |url=https://www.popularmechanics.com/space/satellites/a9620/the-hidden-history-of-the-soviet-satellite-killer-16108970/ |access-date=2024-11-21 |website=Popular Mechanics |language=en-US}}</ref>

==== SAINT ====
Possibly as a response to the Soviet programme, the United States began [[Project SAINT]], which was intended to provide anti-satellite capability to be used in the case of war with the Soviet Union.<ref>{{Cite web |title=istrebitel-sputnikov-is |url=https://weaponsandwarfare.com/2021/08/10/istrebitel-sputnikov-is/ |website=weaponsandwarfare.com|date=August 10, 2021 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref name="SAINT">{{Cite web |date=2016-08-20 |title=SAINT |url=http://www.astronautix.com/s/saint.html |access-date=2024-11-21 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820134922/http://www.astronautix.com/s/saint.html |archive-date=August 20, 2016 }}</ref> However, less is known about the mission profiles of this project compared to the Soviet programme, and the project was cancelled due to budget constraints.<ref name="SAINT"/>

===Disaster strikes both sides===
In 1967, both nations' space programs faced serious challenges that brought them to temporary halts.

====Apollo 1====
{{Main|Apollo 1}}

[[File:Apollo 1 fire.jpg|thumb|Charred interior of the Apollo 1 spacecraft after the fire that killed the crew]]
On January 27, 1967, the same day the US and USSR signed the Outer Space Treaty, the crew of the first crewed Apollo mission, Command Pilot [[Gus Grissom|Virgil "Gus" Grissom]], Senior Pilot [[Ed White (astronaut)|Ed White]], and Pilot [[Roger Chaffee]], were killed in a fire that swept through their spacecraft cabin during a ground test, less than a month before the planned February 21 launch. An investigative board determined the fire was probably caused by an electrical spark and quickly grew out of control, fed by the spacecraft's atmosphere of pure oxygen at greater than one standard atmosphere. Crew escape was made impossible by inability to open the [[plug door]] hatch cover against the internal pressure.<ref name="sea5" /> The board also found design and construction flaws in the spacecraft, and procedural failings, including failure to appreciate the hazard of the pure-oxygen atmosphere, as well as inadequate safety procedures.<ref name="sea5" /> All these flaws had to be corrected over the next twenty-two months until the first piloted flight could be made.<ref name="sea5">{{cite book|first=Robert C. Jr.|last=Seamans|publisher=NASA History Office|title=Report of Apollo 204 Review Board|chapter=Findings, Determinations And Recommendations|chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/Apollo204/find.html|date=April 5, 1967|access-date=October 7, 2007|archive-date=November 5, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151105102355/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/pao/History/Apollo204/find.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Mercury and Gemini veteran Grissom had been a favored choice of [[Deke Slayton]], NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations, to make the first piloted landing.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Slayton|first1=Donald K.|title=Deke!: U.S. Manned Space from Mercury to the Shuttle|author-link1=Deke Slayton|last2=Cassutt|first2=Michael|author-link2=Michael Cassutt|year=1994|page=223|publisher=Forge: St. Martin's Press|location=New York City|isbn=0-312-85503-6|lccn=94-2463|oclc=29845663|url=https://archive.org/details/dekeusmannedspac00slay|quote=It wasn't just a cut-and-dried decision as to who should make the first steps on the Moon. If I had to select on that basis, my first choice would have been Gus, which both [[Christopher C. Kraft, Jr.|Chris Kraft]] and [[Robert R. Gilruth|Bob Gilruth]] seconded.}}</ref>

==== Soyuz 1 ====
{{Main|Soyuz 1}}

[[File:Vladimir Komarov - body remains.jpg|thumb|The remains of Vladimir Komarov]]

On April 24, 1967, the single pilot of Soyuz 1, [[Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov|Vladimir Komarov]], became the first in-flight spaceflight fatality. The mission was planned to be a three-day test, to include the first Soviet docking with an unpiloted [[Soyuz 2]], but the mission was plagued with problems. Problems began shortly after launch when one solar panel failed to unfold, leading to a shortage of power for the spacecraft's systems. Further problems with the orientation detectors complicated maneuvering the craft. By orbit 13, the automatic stabilisation system was completely dead, and the manual system was only partially effective.<ref>{{Cite web |title=soyuz-1 |url=https://sma.nasa.gov/SignificantIncidents/assets/soyuz-1.pdf |website=sma.nasa.gov}}</ref> The mission was aborted, Soyuz 1 fired its [[retrorocket]]s and [[Atmospheric reentry|reentered]] the [[Atmosphere of Earth|Earth's atmosphere]]. During the emergency re-entry, a fault in the landing parachute system caused the primary chute to fail, and the reserve chute became tangled with the drogue chute, causing descent speed to reach as high as 40&nbsp;m/s (140&nbsp;km/h; 89&nbsp;mph). Shortly thereafter, [[Soyuz 1]] impacted the ground 3&nbsp;km (1.9&nbsp;mi) west of Karabutak, and was found on fire. The official autopsy states Komarov died of blunt force trauma on impact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vladimir Komarov's tragic flight aboard Soyuz-1 |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/soyuz1.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.russianspaceweb.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Soyuz 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1967-037A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Spaceflight mission report: Soyuz 1 |url=http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/soyuz-1.htm |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.spacefacts.de}}</ref> In the US during subsequent years, stories began circulating that in his last transmissions Komarov cursed the engineers and flight staff as he descended, or even that he cursed the Soviet leadership, and that these transmissions were received by an [[National Security Agency|NSA]] listening station near [[Istanbul]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-08-20 |title=Soyuz 1 |url=http://www.astronautix.com/s/soyuz1.html |access-date=2024-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820192411/http://www.astronautix.com/s/soyuz1.html |archive-date=August 20, 2016 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Stilwell |first=Blake |date=2018-04-02 |title=The first man to die in the Space Race cursed the USSR the whole way down |url=https://www.wearethemighty.com/articles/first-man-die-space-race-cursed-command-whole-way/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=We Are The Mighty |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Harvey |first=Ian |date=2015-10-26 |title=US Analysts Heard Russian Astronaut Komarov cursing his superiors while he plunged to his death in 1967 {{!}} The Vintage News |url=https://www.thevintagenews.com/2015/10/26/us-analysts-heard-russian-astronaut-komarov-cursing-his-superiors-while-he-plunged-to-his-death-in-1967/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=thevintagenews |language=en}}</ref> This would contradict Soviet records of the radio transcripts, and historians such as [[Asif Azam Siddiqi]] and [[Robert Pearlman]] regard these claims to be fabrications.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-05-03 |title=A Cosmonaut's Fiery Death Retold : Krulwich Wonders... : NPR |website=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/05/03/135919389/a-cosmonauts-fiery-death-retold |access-date=2024-12-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503223325/https://www.npr.org/sections/krulwich/2011/05/03/135919389/a-cosmonauts-fiery-death-retold |archive-date=May 3, 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Margaritoff |first=Marco |date=2023-05-05 |title=The Tragic Death Of Vladimir Komarov, The Man Who Fell From Space |url=https://allthatsinteresting.com/vladimir-komarov |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=All That's Interesting |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Both programs recover ===

[[File:ZOND.jpg|thumb|Soyuz 7K-L1 Zond spacecraft, artist view]]

The United States recovered from the Apollo 1 fire, fixing the fatal flaws in an improved version of the [[Apollo Command and Service Module#Major differences between Block I and Block II|Block II command module]]. The US proceeded with unpiloted test launches of the Saturn V launch vehicle ([[Apollo 4]] and [[Apollo 6]]) and the Lunar Module ([[Apollo 5]]) during the latter half of 1967 and early 1968.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=310–12, 314–16}} The first Saturn V flight was an unqualified success, and although the second suffered some non-catastrophic engine failures, it was considered a partial success and the launcher achieved human rating qualification. Apollo 1's mission to check out the Apollo Command and Service Module in Earth orbit was accomplished by Grissom's backup crew on [[Apollo 7]], launched on October 11, 1968.<ref>Burrows (1999), p. 417</ref> The eleven-day mission was a total success, as the spacecraft performed a virtually flawless mission, paving the way for the United States to continue with its lunar mission schedule.{{sfn|Murray|Cox|1990|pp=323–24}}

The Soviet Union also fixed the parachute and control problems with Soyuz, and the next piloted mission [[Soyuz 3]] was launched on October 26, 1968.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2003|pp=144-47}} The goal was to complete Komarov's rendezvous and docking mission with the un-piloted Soyuz 2.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2003|pp=144-47}} Ground controllers brought the two craft to within {{convert|200|m|ft|sp=us}} of each other, then cosmonaut [[Georgy Beregovoy]] took control.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2003|pp=144-47}} He got within {{convert|40|m|ft|sp=us}} of his target, but was unable to dock before expending 90 percent of his maneuvering fuel, due to a piloting error that put his spacecraft into the wrong orientation and forced Soyuz 2 to automatically turn away from his approaching craft.{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2003|pp=144-47}} The first docking of Soviet spacecraft was finally realized in January 1969 by the [[Soyuz 4]] and [[Soyuz 5]] missions. It was the first-ever docking of two crewed spacecraft, and the first transfer of crew from one space vehicle to another.<ref>{{cite web |title=Soyuz 4 & 5: The First Crew Exchange in Space |url=https://www.drewexmachina.com/2019/01/17/soyuz-4-5-the-first-crew-exchange-in-space/ |website=drewexmachina |date=January 17, 2019 |access-date=24 July 2022}}</ref>

[[File:NASA-Apollo8-Dec24-Earthrise.jpg|alt=A small blue-white semicircle of Earth, almost glowing with color in the blackness of space, rising over the limb of the desolate, cratered surface of the Moon|thumb|left|''[[Earthrise]]'', as seen from Apollo&nbsp;8, December 24, 1968 (photograph by astronaut [[William Anders]])]]

The Soviet [[Soyuz 7K-L1|Zond spacecraft]] was not yet ready for piloted [[circumlunar]] missions in 1968, after six unsuccessful automated test launches: [[Kosmos 146]] on March 10, 1967; [[Kosmos 154]] on April 8, 1967; [[Zond 1967A]] on September 28, 1967; [[Zond 1967B]] on November 22, 1967; [[Zond 1968A]] on April 23, 1968; and [[Zond 1968B]] in July 1968.<ref name="tent">{{cite web |url=http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/tent_launch.html |title=Tentatively Identified Missions and Launch Failures|publisher=NASA NSSDC|first=David R.|last=Williams|access-date=July 30, 2010|date=January 6, 2005}}</ref> [[Zond 4]] was launched on March 2, 1968, and successfully made a circumlunar flight,{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=616-618}} but encountered problems with its Earth reentry on March 9, and was ordered destroyed by an explosive charge {{convert|15000|m|ft|sp=us}} over the [[Gulf of Guinea]].{{sfn|Hall|Shayler|2003|p=25}} The Soviet official announcement said that Zond 4 was an automated test flight which ended with its intentional destruction, due to its recovery trajectory positioning it over the Atlantic Ocean instead of over the USSR.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=616-618}}

During the summer of 1968, the Apollo program hit another snag: the first pilot-rated Lunar Module (LM) was not ready for orbital tests in time for a December 1968 launch. NASA planners overcame this challenge by changing the mission flight order, delaying the first LM flight until March 1969, and sending [[Apollo 8]] into lunar orbit without the LM in December.{{sfn|Kraft|2001|pp=284–97}} This mission was in part motivated by intelligence rumors the Soviet Union might be ready for a piloted Zond flight in late 1968.{{sfn|Chaikin|1994|pp=57–58}} In September 1968, [[Zond 5]] made a circumlunar flight with [[tortoises]] on board and returned safely to Earth, accomplishing the first successful water landing of the Soviet space program in the Indian Ocean.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=654–56}} It also scared NASA planners, as it took them several days to figure out that it was only an automated flight, not piloted, because voice recordings were transmitted from the craft en route to the Moon.{{sfn|Turnhill|2004|p=134}} On November 10, 1968, another automated test flight, [[Zond 6]], was launched. It encountered difficulties in Earth reentry, and depressurized and deployed its parachute too early, causing it to crash-land only {{convert|16|km|mi|sp=us}} from where it had been launched six days earlier.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=663–66}} It turned out there was no chance of a piloted Soviet circumlunar flight during 1968, due to the unreliability of the Zonds.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=318–19}}

On December 21, 1968, [[Frank Borman]], [[Jim Lovell|James Lovell]], and [[William Anders]] became the first humans to ride the Saturn V rocket into space, on Apollo 8. They also became the first to leave low-Earth orbit and go to another celestial body, entering lunar orbit on December 24.{{sfn|Poole|2008|pp=19–34}} They made ten orbits in twenty hours, and transmitted one of the most watched TV broadcasts in history, with their [[Apollo 8 Genesis reading|Christmas Eve program]] from lunar orbit, which concluded with a reading from the biblical [[Book of Genesis]].{{sfn|Poole|2008|pp=19–34}} Two and a half hours after the broadcast, they fired their engine to perform the first [[trans-Earth injection]] to leave lunar orbit and return to the Earth.{{sfn|Poole|2008|pp=19–34}} Apollo 8 safely landed in the Pacific Ocean on December 27, in NASA's first dawn splashdown and recovery.{{sfn|Poole|2008|pp=19–34}}

The American Lunar Module was finally ready for a successful piloted test flight in low Earth orbit on [[Apollo 9]] in March 1969. The next mission, [[Apollo 10]], conducted a "dress rehearsal" for the first landing in May 1969, flying the LM in lunar orbit as close as {{convert|47400|ft|km}} above the surface, the point where the powered descent to the surface would begin.<ref name="chariots12-7">{{cite book |last1=Brooks |first1=Courtney G. |last2=Grimwood |first2=James M. |last3=Swenson |first3=Loyd S. Jr. |others=Foreword by [[Samuel C. Phillips]] |title=Chariots for Apollo: A History of Manned Lunar Spacecraft |url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/cover.html |access-date=January 29, 2008 |series=NASA History Series |year=1979 |publisher=Scientific and Technical Information Branch, NASA |location=Washington, D.C. |isbn=978-0-486-46756-6 |oclc=4664449 |lccn=79001042 |id=NASA SP-4205 |chapter=''Apollo 10:'' The Dress Rehearsal |chapter-url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/ch12-7.html |archive-date=October 20, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151020095653/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/SP-4205/cover.html }}</ref> With the LM proven to work well, the next step was to attempt the landing.

Unknown to the Americans, the Soviet Moon program was in deep trouble.{{sfn|Cadbury|2006|pp=318–19}} After two successive launch failures of the N1 rocket in 1969, Soviet plans for a piloted landing suffered delay.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=665, 832–34}} The launch pad explosion of the N-1 on July 3, 1969, was a significant setback.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=690–93}} The rocket hit the pad after an engine shutdown, destroying itself and the launch facility.{{sfn|Siddiqi|2003b|pp=690–93}} Without the N-1 rocket, the USSR could not send a large enough payload to the Moon to land a human and return him safely.{{sfn|Parry|2009|pp=178–79}}

== Men on the Moon, space stations, space shuttles (1969–1991) ==
The latter period of the space race began with the United States landing the first men on the Moon, and was followed by the Soviets operating the first space stations and putting the first robotic landers on Venus and Mars, the US space shuttles marking the first significant reusable space vehicles, and a cooling down of tensions with the first docking between a Soviet and American vessel.

=== First humans on the Moon ===
{{Main|Apollo 11}}

[[File:Buzz Aldrin and Apollo 11 Lunar Lander, AS11-40-5927.jpg|thumb|"Buzz" Aldrin facing away from Camera, with the Apollo 11 Lunar Lander]]

Apollo 11 was prepared with the goal of a July landing in the [[Sea of Tranquility]], just half a year after the first crewed flight to the Moon.{{sfn|Parry|2009|pp=144–51}} The crew, selected in January 1969, consisted of commander (CDR) Neil Armstrong, Command Module Pilot (CMP) [[Michael Collins (astronaut)|Michael Collins]], and Lunar Module Pilot (LMP) [[Buzz Aldrin|Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin]].{{sfn|Chaikin|1994|p=138}} They trained for the mission until just before the launch day.{{sfn|Chaikin|1994|pp=163–83}} On July 16, 1969, at 9:32&nbsp;am [[Eastern Time Zone|EDT]], the Saturn V rocket, AS-506, lifted off from [[Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39]] in Florida.{{sfn|Parry|2009|pp=38–44}}

The trip to the Moon took just over three days.<ref>{{cite web
|last=Jones
|first=Eric M.
|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/Apollo11_Press-Kit_restored.pdf
|title=Apollo 11 Press Kit
|page=33
|work=Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
|date=January 1, 2010
|access-date=August 15, 2010
|archive-date=November 17, 2015
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151117015010/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/Apollo11_Press-Kit_restored.pdf
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> After achieving orbit, Armstrong and Aldrin transferred into the Lunar Module named ''[[Lunar Module Eagle|Eagle]]'', leaving Collins in the [[Apollo command and service module|Command and Service Module]] ''[[Command module Columbia|Columbia]]'', and began their descent. Despite the interruption of alarms from an overloaded [[Apollo Guidance Computer|computer]] caused by an antenna switch left in the wrong position, Armstrong took over manual flight control at about {{convert|180|m|ft|sp=us}} to correct a slight downrange guidance error, and set the ''Eagle'' down on a safe [[Tranquility Base|landing spot]] at 20:18:04 [[Universal Coordinated Time|UTC]], July 20, 1969 (3:17:04&nbsp;pm [[Central Time Zone#Central Daylight Time|CDT]]). Six hours later, at 02:56 UTC, July 21 (9:56&nbsp;pm CDT July 20), Armstrong left the ''Eagle'' to become the first human to set foot on the Moon.{{sfn|Murray|Cox|1990|p=356}}

{{listen
| filename     = Neil Armstrong small step.wav
| title        = Neil Armstrong's historic first words on the Moon.
| description  = "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."
| format       = [[Ogg]]
}}

The first step was witnessed on live television by at least one-fifth of the population of Earth, or about 723 million people.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=spaceprogram|title=Space Program and television|publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications|last=Paterson|first=Chris|year=2010|access-date=August 11, 2010|archive-date=December 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101204055730/http://www.museum.tv/eotvsection.php?entrycode=spaceprogram}}</ref> His first words when he stepped off the LM's landing footpad were, "That's one small step for [a] man, one giant leap for mankind."{{sfn|Murray|Cox|1990|p=356}} Aldrin joined him on the surface almost 20 minutes later.<ref>{{cite web
|last=Jones
|first=Eric M.
|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.html
|title=Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal
|page=MET 109:43:16
|work=Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
|date=January 1, 2010
|access-date=August 15, 2010
|archive-date=January 16, 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116013417/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.html
|url-status=dead
}}</ref> Altogether, they spent just under two and one-quarter hours outside their craft.<ref>{{cite web
|last=Jones
|first=Eric M.
|url=http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.html
|title=Apollo 11 Lunar Surface Journal
|work=Apollo Lunar Surface Journal
|date=January 1, 2010
|access-date=August 15, 2010
|archive-date=January 16, 2012
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120116013417/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/alsj/a11/a11.html
|url-status=dead
}} Mission elapsed time (MET) from when Armstrong states that he will step off the LM at 109hrs:24mins:13secs to when Armstrong was back inside the LM at 111hrs:38mins:38sec</ref> The next day, they performed the first crewed launch from another celestial body, and rendezvoused back with Collins in ''Columbia''.{{sfn|Parry|2009|pp=250–51}} But before they return ascended the Space Race came to a particular culmination.<ref>{{cite web| url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna-15/in-depth| title=Missions: Luna 15| website=Solar System Exploration: NASA Science| access-date=18 March 2019| archive-date=10 April 2019| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190410114541/https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/luna-15/in-depth| url-status=dead}}</ref> A few days before Apollo 11 left Earth, the Soviet Union launched the [[Luna 15]] probe, entering lunar orbit just before Apollo 11 and eventually sharing it with Apollo 11. Aware of Luna 15, Apollo 8 astronaut Frank Borman was asked to use his goodwill contacts in the Soviet Union to prevent any collision. Subsequently, in one of the first instances of Soviet–American space communication the Soviet Union released Luna 15's flight plan to ensure it would not collide with Apollo 11, although its exact mission was not publicized.<ref name="audio">{{cite news| url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/recording-tracks-russias-moon-gatecrash-attempt-1730851.html| title=Recording tracks Russia's Moon gatecrash attempt| date=3 July 2009| newspaper=[[The Independent]]| location=London| last=Brown| first=Jonathan}}</ref> But as Apollo 11 was wrapping up surface activities, the Soviet mission command hastened Luna 15 and attempted its robotic [[sample-return mission]] before Apollo 11 would return. As Luna 15 descended just two hours before Apollo 11's launch and impacted at 15:50 UTC some hundred kilometers away from Apollo 11, British astronomers monitoring Luna 15 recorded the situation, with one commenting:“I say, this has really been drama of the highest order”.<ref name="a357">{{cite news | last=Horton | first=Alex | title=The Soviets crashed a spacecraft onto the moon | newspaper=Washington Post | date=2019-07-19 | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/07/19/soviets-tried-beat-apollo-they-crashed-spacecraft-moon-instead/ | access-date=2024-07-17}}</ref>

[[File:Land on the Moon 7 21 1969-repair.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|A girl reading a newspaper quoting the famous phrase 'The Eagle has landed']]

Apollo 11 left lunar orbit and returned to Earth, landing safely in the Pacific Ocean on July 24, 1969.{{sfn|Parry|2009|pp=252–62}} When the spacecraft splashed down, 2,982 days had passed since Kennedy's commitment to landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth before the end of the decade; the mission was completed with 161 days to spare.{{sfn|Murray|Cox|1990|p=347}} With the safe completion of the Apollo 11 mission, the Americans won the race to the Moon.{{sfn|Schefter|1999|p=288}}

Armstrong and his crew became worldwide celebrities, feted with ticker-tape parades on August 13 in New York City and Chicago, attended by an estimated six million.<ref name="LADinner">{{cite web |title=Richard Nixon: Remarks at a Dinner in Los Angeles Honoring the Apollo 11 Astronauts |url=https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/remarks-dinner-los-angeles-honoring-the-apollo-11-astronauts |website=The American Presidency Project |access-date=October 24, 2017 |date=August 13, 1969}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27531303/the_evening_sun/|title=President Offers Toast to 'Three Brave Men'|newspaper=The Evening Sun|date=August 14, 1969|page=1|location=Baltimore, Maryland|via=Newspapers.com|agency=Associated Press}}</ref> That evening in Los Angeles they were honored at an official [[state dinner]] attended by members of Congress, 44 governors, the [[Chief Justice of the United States]], and ambassadors from 83 nations. The President and Vice president presented each astronaut with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]].<ref name="LADinner" /><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27531557/the_honolulu_advertiser/|title=Astronauts Awed by the Acclaim|newspaper=The Honolulu Advertiser|location=Honolulu, Hawaii|page=1|date=August 14, 1969|last1=Smith|first1=Merriman|agency=UPI|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref> The astronauts spoke before a [[joint session of the United States Congress|joint session of Congress]] on September 16, 1969.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/35693 |title=The Apollo 11 Crew Members Appear Before a Joint Meeting of Congress|access-date=March 3, 2018 |publisher=United States House of Representatives}}</ref> This began a 38-day world tour to 22 foreign countries and included visits with the leaders of many countries.<ref name="Apollo 11 Crew Starts World Tour">{{cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/27494178/the_logan_daily_news/|title=Apollo 11 Crew Starts World Tour|agency=Associated Press|date=September 29, 1969|page=1|location=Logan, Ohio|newspaper=Logan Daily News|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

The public's reaction in the Soviet Union was mixed. The Soviet government limited the release of information about the lunar landing, which affected the reaction. A portion of the populace did not give it any attention, and another portion was angered by it.<ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/apollo-moon-khrushchev/ |title=The Moon Landing through Soviet Eyes: A Q&A with Sergei Khrushchev, son of former premier Nikita Khrushchev |magazine=Scientific American |date=July 16, 2009 |access-date=January 7, 2019 |last1=Das |first1=Saswato R. |archive-date=February 25, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225085952/http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/apollo-moon-khrushchev/ |url-status=live}}</ref>

The first landing was followed by another, precision landing on [[Apollo 12]] in November 1969, within walking distance of the [[Surveyor 3]] spacecraft which landed on April 20, 1967.

In total the Apollo programme involved six crewed Moon landings from 1969 to 1972, and a total of twelve astronauts walked on the surface of the Moon. These were [[Apollo 11]], [[Apollo 12]], [[Apollo 14]], [[Apollo 15]], [[Apollo 16]], and [[Apollo 17]].

==== Post-Apollo NASA: Shifting goals and budget cuts ====
NASA had ambitious follow-on human spaceflight plans as it reached its lunar goal but soon discovered it had expended most of its political capital to do so.{{sfn|Hepplewhite|1999|p=186}} A victim of its own success, Apollo had achieved its first landing goal with enough spacecraft and Saturn V launchers left for a total of ten lunar landings through Apollo 20, conducting extended-duration missions and transporting the landing crews in [[Lunar Roving Vehicle]]s on the last five. NASA also planned an [[Apollo Applications Program]] (AAP) to develop a longer-duration Earth orbital workshop (later named ''[[Skylab]]'') from a spent [[S-IVB]] upper stage, to be constructed in orbit using several launches of the smaller [[Saturn IB]] launch vehicle.

In February 1969, President [[Richard M. Nixon]] convened a "[[National Space Council|space task group]]" to set recommendations for the future US civilian space program, headed by his vice president, [[Spiro T. Agnew]].{{sfn|Hepplewhite|1999|p=123}} Agnew was an enthusiastic proponent of NASA's follow-up plans for permanent [[space station]]s in Earth and lunar orbit, perhaps a base on the lunar surface, and the first human flight to Mars as early as 1986 or as late as 2000.{{sfn|Hepplewhite|1999|pp=136–50}} These would be serviced by an infrastructure of a reusable [[Space Transportation System]], including an Earth-to-orbit [[Space Shuttle]]. Nixon had a 'better sense' of the declining political support in Congress for new Apollo-style programs, which had disappeared with the achievement of the landing, and he intended to pursue détente with the USSR and China, which he hoped might ease Cold War tensions. He cut the spending proposal he sent to Congress to include funding for only the Space Shuttle, with perhaps an option to pursue the Earth orbital space station for the foreseeable future.{{sfn|Hepplewhite|1999|pp=150–77}}

AAP planners decided the Earth orbital workshop could be accomplished more efficiently by prefabricating it on the ground and launching it with a single Saturn V, which immediately eliminated Apollo 20. Budget cuts soon led NASA to cut Apollo 18 and 19 as well. [[Apollo 13]] had to abort its lunar landing in April 1970 due to an in-flight spacecraft failure but returned its crew safely to Earth. The Apollo program made its [[Apollo 17|final]] lunar landing in December 1972; the two unused Saturn Vs were used as outdoor visitor displays and allowed to deteriorate due to the effects of weathering.

The USSR continued trying to develop its N1 rocket, after two more launch failures in 1971 and 1972, finally canceling it in May 1974, without achieving a single successful uncrewed test flight.{{sfn|Portree|1995|p=5}}

=== Soviet Lunar sample return and robotic rovers ===

In late 1970 [[Luna 16]] was launched by the Soviet Union, and became the first uncrewed probe to return a sample from the Moon. This was followed by [[Luna 20]] and [[Luna 24]] in subsequent years.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Gurbir |date=2020-09-25 |title=Declassified Files. Luna 16 Mission. USSR's first robotic lunar sample return mission 24 Sep 1970 |url=https://astrotalkuk.org/luna-16/ |access-date=2024-12-06 |website=AstrotalkUK |language=en-GB}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna 16 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-072A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

The Soviet Union was also able to successfully land the first robotic rover on the Moon in 1970, followed by another in 1973, with the [[Lunokhod programme|Lunokhod]] missions.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-095A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

These missions demonstrated continued Soviet willingness to compete with the US in the space race despite having lost the manned Moon landing aspect of the space race.

=== Salyut and Skylab ===
[[File:Salyut-7kosmos1686mayakT-15.jpg|thumb|Salyut-7 with Kosmos1686 and Soyuz T-15 docked, truss extended, May 31, 1986]]
Having lost the race to the Moon, the USSR seemed to decide to concentrate on orbital space stations instead of pursuing a crewed lunar mission. During 1969 and 1970, they launched six more Soyuz flights after Soyuz 3 and then launched a series of six successful space stations (plus two failures to achieve orbit and one station rendered uninhabitable due to damage from explosion of the launcher's upper stage) on their [[Proton-K]] heavy-lift launcher in their [[Salyut programme|Salyut program]] designed by [[Kerim Kerimov]]. Each one weighed between {{convert|18500|and|19824|kg|lb}}, was {{convert|20|m|ft|sp=us}} long by {{convert|4|m|ft|sp=us}} in diameter, and had a habitable volume of {{convert|99|m3|ft3|sp=us}}. All of the Salyuts were presented to the public as non-military scientific laboratories, but three of them were covers for military [[Almaz]] reconnaissance stations: [[Salyut 2]] (failed),<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz_ops1.html |publisher=Russian Space Web |title=Salyut 2 |access-date=6 July 2012 }}</ref> [[Salyut 3]],<ref name="astrospies">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/astrospies/ |title=Astrospies |author=James Bamford |publisher=PBS Nova |access-date=6 July 2012}}</ref> and [[Salyut 5]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Almaz program |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/almaz.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.russianspaceweb.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The USSR begins enduring space station program |url=https://www.russianspaceweb.com/salyut1-origin.html |access-date=2024-11-26 |website=www.russianspaceweb.com}}</ref>
[[File:Skylab and Earth Limb - GPN-2000-001055.jpg|thumb|Skylab Orbital Workshop as photographed by the Skylab 4 CSM during the final fly-around by the CSM before returning home.]]
[[Salyut 1]], the first space station, was launched by the Soviets on April 19, 1971. Three days later, the [[Soyuz 10]] crew attempted to dock with it, but failed to achieve a secure enough connection to safely enter the station. The [[Soyuz 11]] crew of [[Vladislav Volkov]], [[Georgi Dobrovolski]] and [[Viktor Patsayev]] successfully docked on June 7, and completed a then record 22-day stay. The crew became the second in-flight space fatality during their reentry on June 30, when they were [[asphyxiated]] due to the spacecraft's cabin becoming depressurized, shortly after undocking.<ref>{{Cite web |title=descent-into-the-void |url=https://sma.nasa.gov/SignificantIncidents/assets/descent-into-the-void.pdf |website=sma.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-06-30 |title=50 Years Ago: Remembering the Crew of Soyuz 11 - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/50-years-ago-remembering-the-crew-of-soyuz-11/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |language=en-US}}</ref> The disaster was blamed on a faulty cabin pressure valve, that allowed the air to vent into space. The crew was not wearing pressure suits and had no chance of survival once the leak occurred.<ref name="part">{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch8-2.htm|title=The Partnership: A History of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project|access-date=20 October 2007|publisher=NASA|year=1974|quote=When the valve opened at a height of 168 kilometers, the gradual but steady loss of pressure was fatal to the crew within about 30 seconds.|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070823124845/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch8-2.htm |archive-date=23 August 2007}}</ref> To prevent a recurrence of the Soyuz 11 tragedy, Soviet engineers redesigned the Soyuz spacecraft and mandated that cosmonauts wear Sokol pressure suits during launch and landing, a requirement still in place today.<ref name=":6" />

The United States launched a single orbital workstation, ''[[Skylab]]'', on May 14, 1973. It was launched using a leftover Saturn-5 rocket from the Apollo programme.<ref name=":6">{{Cite web |date=2023-05-14 |title=50 Years Ago: The Launch of Skylab, America's First Space Station - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/history/50-years-ago-the-launch-of-skylab-americas-first-space-station/ |access-date=2024-11-26 |language=en-US}}</ref> Skylab weighed {{convert|169950|lb|kg}}, was {{convert|58|ft|m|sp=us}} long by {{convert|21.7|ft|m|sp=us}} in diameter, and had a habitable volume of over {{convert|10000|ft3|m3|sp=us}}. ''Skylab'' was damaged during the ascent to orbit, losing one of its solar panels and a meteoroid thermal shield. Subsequent crewed missions repaired the station, and conducted valuable research. The third and final mission's crew, [[Skylab 4]], set a human endurance record (at the time) with 84 days in orbit when the mission ended on February 8, 1974. ''Skylab'' stayed in orbit another five years before reentering the Earth's atmosphere over the Indian Ocean and Western Australia on July 11, 1979.<ref name="lewis1984">{{cite book|title=The Voyages of Columbia: The First True Spaceship|publisher=Columbia University Press|last=Lewis|first=Richard S.|year=1984
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=v0cG1SdLkP0C|isbn=0-231-05924-8|pages=80–82|via=Google Books}}</ref>

[[Salyut 4]] broke ''Skylab'''s occupation record at 92 days. [[Salyut 6]] and [[Salyut 7]] were second-generation stations designed for long duration, and were occupied for 683 and 816 days. [[Salyut 7]] improved upon earlier designs by allowing long-duration crewed missions and more complex experiments. These stations, with their expanded crew capacity and amenities for long term stay, carrying electric stoves, a refrigerator, and constant hot water.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Salyut 7 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1982-033A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

=== Venus and Mars robotic landings ===

==== Venus landings ====
In 1970, the Soviet Union's [[Venera#Venera 7|Venera 7]] marked the first time a spacecraft was able to return data after landing on another planet.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1970-060A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> Venera 7 held a resistant [[thermometer]] and an aneroid [[barometer]] to measure the temperature and atmospheric pressure on the surface, the transmitted data showed 475 C at the surface, and a pressure of 92 bar.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7, The First Craft to Make Controlled Landing on Another Planet And Send Data From its Surface |url=https://www.amusingplanet.com/2021/12/venera-7-first-craft-to-make-controlled.html |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=www.amusingplanet.com |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 7 |url=http://weebau.com/satplan/venera%207.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=weebau.com}}</ref><ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Plumbing the Atmosphere of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Lavochkin1.htm |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref>

In 1975, [[Venera 9]] established an orbit around Venus and successfully returned the first photography of the surface of Venus.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 9 descent craft |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1975-050D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref> [[Venera 10]] landed on Venus and followed with further photography shortly after.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venus - Venera 10 Lander |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/v10_lander_proc.html |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

NASA initiated the [[Pioneer Venus project]] in 1978, successfully deploying four small probes into the Venusian atmosphere on December 9, 1978. The probes confirmed that Venus has little if any magnetic field, and cameras detected lightning in the atmosphere. The last transmissions were received on October 8, 1992, as its decaying orbit no longer permitted communications. The spacecraft burned up the atmosphere soon after, ending a successful 14-year mission that was planned to last only eight months.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Pioneer Venus 1 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/pioneer-venus-1/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 21, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1981, [[Venera 13]] performed a successful soft-landing on Venus and marked the first probe to drill into the surface of another planet and take a sample.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web |title=Venera 13 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-106D |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Surface of Venus |url=https://pages.uoregon.edu/jschombe/ast121/lectures/surface_venus.html |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=pages.uoregon.edu}}</ref> Venera 13 also took an audio sample of the Venusian environment, marking another first.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Drilling into the Surface of Venus |url=http://mentallandscape.com/V_Venera11.htm |access-date=2024-11-19 |website=mentallandscape.com}}</ref> Venera 13 returned the first color images of the surface of Venus, revealing an orange-brown flat bedrock surface covered with loose [[regolith]] and small flat thin angular rocks.<ref name=":4" /> [[Venera 14]], an identical spacecraft to Venera 13, was launched 5 days apart with a similar mission profile.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Venera 14 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1981-110A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In total ten Venera probes achieved a soft landing on the surface of Venus.

In 1984, the Soviet [[Vega program]]me began and ended with the launch of two crafts launched six days apart, [[Vega 1]] and [[Vega 2]]. Both crafts deployed a balloon in addition to a lander, marking a first in spaceflight.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 1 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-125A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Vega 2 |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1984-128A |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=In Depth {{!}} Vega 2 |url=https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/vega-2/in-depth/ |access-date=2024-11-20 |website=NASA Solar System Exploration|date=May 23, 2023 }}</ref>

The US never caught up or matched the Soviet efforts to explore the surface of Venus, but did claim the title of the first successful probe to have flown by the planet and had notable success with the Pioneer atmospheric probes.

==== Mars landings ====
[[File:PIA00572-MarsRock-BigJoe-19970228.jpg|thumb|Surface of Mars taken by Viking 1.<ref>{{Cite web |title=28. "Big Joe" Boulder |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/winds/slide_28.html |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=www.lpi.usra.edu}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Catalog Page for PIA00572 |url=https://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA00572 |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov |date=February 28, 1997 }}</ref>]]In 1971, the Soviet's [[Mars 2]] successfully established Mars orbit and attempted a soft landing but crashed, becoming the first man-made object to impact Mars. This was shortly followed by [[Mars 3]], a 358&nbsp;kg lander, which successfully landed but the lander only transmitted data for 14.5 seconds before losing contact.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Mars 3 Lander |url=https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/spacecraft/display.action?id=1971-049F |website=nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov}}</ref>

In 1976, NASA followed suit, and put two successful landers on Mars. These were [[Viking 1]] and [[Viking 2]]. These landers were significantly larger than the Soviet Mars landers (Viking 1 was 3,527 kilograms). They were able to take the first photographs from the surface of Mars.<ref>{{Cite web |title=viking-1 |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/viking-1/ |website=jpl.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite web |title=Viking 1 - NASA Science |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking-1/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=science.nasa.gov |date=December 6, 2017 |language=en-US}}</ref>

Viking 1 operated on the surface of Mars for around six years (On November 11, 1982, the Lander stopped operating after getting a faulty command) and Viking 2 for over three years (mission ended in early 1980). Both landers were equipped with a robotic sampler arm which successfully scooped up soil samples and tested them with instruments such as a [[Gas chromatography–mass spectrometry|Gas chromatography–mass spectrometer]]. The landers measured temperatures ranging from negative 86 degrees Celsius before dawn to negative 33 degrees Celsius in the afternoon. Both landers had issues obtaining accurate results from their [[seismometer]]s.<ref name=":5" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=Viking 1 - Mars Missions - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/viking-1/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=viking-2 |url=https://science.nasa.gov/mission/viking-2/ |website=science.nasa.gov|date=December 6, 2017 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Viking 2 - Mars Missions - NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory |url=https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/viking-2/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) |language=en-US}}</ref>

Photographs from the landers and orbiters surpassed expectations in quality and quantity. The total exceeded 4,500 from the landers and 52,000 from the orbiters.

The Viking landers recorded atmospheric pressures ranging from below 7 millibars (0.0068 bars) to over 10 millibars (0.0108 bars) over the Martian year, leading to the conclusion that atmospheric pressure varies by 30 percent during the Martian year because carbon dioxide condenses and sublimes at the polar caps. Martian winds generally blow more slowly than expected, scientists had expected them to reach speeds of several hundred miles an hour from observing global dust storms, but neither lander recorded gusts over 120 kilometers (74 miles) an hour, and average velocities were considerably lower. Nevertheless, the orbiters observed more than a dozen small dust storms. The Viking landers detected [[nitrogen]] in the atmosphere for the first time, and that it was a significant component of the Martian atmosphere. There was speculation from the atmospheric analysis that the atmosphere of Mars used to be much denser.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Viking Mission to Mars |url=https://mars.nasa.gov/internal_resources/828/ |website=mars.nasa.gov}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Winds of Mars: Aeolian Activity and Landforms |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/winds/index.shtml |access-date=2024-12-08 |website=www.lpi.usra.edu}}</ref>

The Soviets did not match the Martian lander achievements of NASA, but did claim the title of the first lander.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Mark |date=2021-12-02 |title=50 years ago, a forgotten mission landed on Mars |url=https://www.astronomy.com/space-exploration/50-years-ago-a-forgotten-mission-landed-on-mars/ |access-date=2025-02-12 |website=Astronomy Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Apollo–Soyuz Test Project ===
{{Main|Apollo–Soyuz Test Project}}

[[File:ASTP handshake - cropped.jpg|thumb|American Stafford and Russian Leonov shake hands in space aboard the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] docking adapter.]]

In May 1972, President Richard M. Nixon and Soviet [[Premier of the Soviet Union|Premier]] [[Leonid Brezhnev]] negotiated an easing of relations known as détente, creating a temporary "thaw" in the Cold War. The two nations planned a joint mission to dock the last US Apollo craft with a Soyuz, known as the [[Apollo-Soyuz Test Project]] (ASTP). To prepare, the US designed a docking module for the Apollo that was compatible with the Soviet docking system, which allowed any of their craft to dock with any other (e.g. Soyuz-to-Soyuz as well as Soyuz-to-Salyut). The module was also necessary as an airlock to allow the men to visit each other's craft, which had incompatible cabin atmospheres. The USSR used the [[Soyuz 16]] mission in December 1974 to test modifications of the Soyuz atmosphere and the docking adapter to prepare for ASTP.<ref name=clark>{{cite book|title=The Soviet Manned Space Program|url=https://archive.org/details/sovietmannedspac0000clar|url-access=registration|year=1988|isbn=0-517-56954-X|publisher=Orion Books, a division of Crown Publishers, Inc.|last=Clark|first=Phillip |location=New York}}</ref><ref name=newkirk>{{cite book|last=Newkirk |first=Dennis|title=Almanac of Soviet Manned Space Flight|year=1990|isbn=0-87201-848-2|publisher=Gulf Publishing Company|location=Houston, Texas}}</ref>

The joint mission began when [[Soyuz 19]] was first launched on July 15, 1975, at 12:20 [[UTC]], and the Apollo craft was launched with the docking module six and a half hours later. The two craft rendezvoused and docked on July 17 at 16:19 UTC. The three astronauts conducted joint experiments with the two cosmonauts, and the crew shook hands, exchanged gifts, and visited each other's craft.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch11-3.htm|title=The Partnership: A History of the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project|author1=Edward Clinton Ezell|author2=Linda Neuman Ezell|year=1978|publisher=NASA|access-date=4 May 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110524064713/https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4209/ch11-3.htm|archive-date=May 24, 2011|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Space Shuttles ===
[[File:Soyuz, Space Shuttle, Buran comparison.svg|thumb|Soyuz, US Space Shuttle, and Energia-Buran]]
NASA achieved the first approach and landing test of its [[Space Shuttle orbiter]] on a [[Shuttle Carrier Aircraft|Boeing 747 carrier plane]] on August 12, 1977, and the [[STS-1|first orbital test flight]] of a complete, crewed Space Shuttle, consisting of the orbiter, an [[external tank|external fuel tank]], and two [[Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters|solid rocket boosters]], on April 12, 1981. The designers underestimated the time and cost of refurbishment between flights, which reduced the cost benefit of its reusability. They also overestimated its safety: two of the fleet of five orbiters were lost in fatal flight accidents: one [[Space Shuttle Challenger disaster|during launch]], due to failure of a solid rocket booster seal; and [[Space Shuttle Columbia disaster|one on reentry]], due to launch damage of a wing heat shield. The Air Force was also supposed to use the Shuttle to launch its military payloads, but shunned it in favor of its expendable launchers after the first Shuttle loss. NASA ceased production of its Apollo spacecraft and Saturn IB launcher, and used the Shuttle as its orbital workhorse until [[STS-135|2011]], then [[Retirement of the Space Shuttle|retired]] it due to the safety concern. Originally, more than 150 flights over a 15-year operation were expected; actually, the Shuttles made 135 flights in the 30-year lifespan of the series.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Space Shuttle - NASA |url=https://www.nasa.gov/space-shuttle/ |access-date=2024-12-08 |language=en-US}}</ref>

The Soviets interpreted the Shuttle as a military surveillance vehicle, and decided they had to develop their own shuttle, which they named [[Buran programme|Buran]], beginning in 1974. They copied the aerodynamic design of NASA's Shuttle orbiter, which they strapped to the side of their expendable, [[liquid rocket propellant#Hydrogen|liquid hydrogen-fueled]] [[Energia (rocket)|Energia launcher]]. The Buran could be fitted with four [[Saturn AL-31]] [[turbofan]] engines and a fuel tank in its payload bay, allowing it to make its own atmospheric test flights, which began in November 1985. Also unlike the US Shuttle, it could be flown pilotlessly and landed automatically. Energia-Buran made only one orbital test flight in November 1988, but US [[counterintelligence]] baited the Soviets with disinformation about the heat shield design, and it was not reusable for repeated flight.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18686550 |title=How the Soviet space shuttle fizzled|date=February 11, 2008|publisher=NBC News|access-date=January 8, 2023}}</ref> Buran was the largest and most expensive Soviet program in the history of the Space Race,<ref name="harvey">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kmTz6Phf5WYC&pg=PA8 |title=The Rebirth of the Russian Space Program: 50 Years After Sputnik, New Frontiers |publisher=Springer |first=Brian |last=Harvey |year=2007 |page=8 |isbn=978-0-38-771356-4 |access-date=9 February 2016 |archive-date=24 June 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624065603/https://books.google.com/books?id=kmTz6Phf5WYC&pg=PA8 |url-status=live }}</ref> and was effectively canceled by the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, due to lack of funding. The Energia was also canceled at the same time, after only two flights.

=== First women in space ===
The first woman in space was from the Soviet Union, [[Valentina Tereshkova]]. NASA did not welcome female astronauts into its corps until 1978, when six female [[mission specialist]]s were recruited. This first class included scientist [[Sally Ride]], who became America's first woman in space on [[STS-7]] in June 1983. NASA included women mission specialists in the next four astronaut candidate classes, and admitted female pilots starting in 1990. [[Eileen Collins]] from this class became the first pilot to fly on Space Shuttle flight [[STS-63]] in February 1995, and the first female commander of a spaceflight on [[STS-93]] in July 1999.

The USSR admitted its first female test pilot as a cosmonaut, [[Svetlana Savitskaya]], in 1980. She became the first female to fly since Tereshkova, on [[Salyut 7]] in December 1981.

=== First modular space station ===
The USSR turned its space program to the development of the low Earth orbit modular space station ''[[Mir]]'' (''peace'' or ''world'') assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996. At {{convert|129700|kg|lb}}, it held records for the largest spacecraft and the longest continuous human presence in space at 3,644 days, until the [[International Space Station]] was built starting in 1998.<ref name="Mirrecord">{{cite news|last=Jackman|first=Frank|title=ISS Passing Old Russian Mir In Crewed Time|url=http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2010/10/28/11.xml|newspaper=Aviation Week|date=29 October 2010}}{{Dead link|date=August 2023 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> ''Mir'''s operation continued after the 1991 replacement of the USSR's space program with the [[Russian Federal Space Agency]] until 2001, supported by Soyuz spacecraft.

== Analysis and reception ==

=== "Winner" of the Space Race ===
The question of who won the Space Race has sparked considerable debate among historians and analysts. The United States is widely seen as the victor due to the Apollo crewed landing and moonwalk missions, which achieved President John F. Kennedy's ambitious goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. This achievement, completed in July 1969, marked the pinnacle of U.S. space exploration efforts of the time and was regarded by most observers as the culmination of the Space Race. Political scientist Richard J. Samuels describes Apollo 11 as a "decisive American victory."<ref name="NatSecEncyclopedia" />

The Moon race is often analyzed as a microcosm of the Space Race's broader dynamics. Historians such as Jennifer Frost argue that if the Space Race is measured in terms of overall spaceflight capability, the Soviet Union "won it hands down."<ref name="Frost">{{cite web |last1=Frost |first1=Jennifer |date=July 18, 2019 |title=Who really won the US-Soviet space race? |url=https://newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/18/who-really-won-the-us-soviet-space-race/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=newsroom.co.nz}}</ref> Asif A. Siddiqi, a noted space historian, provides a more nuanced view, emphasizing the Soviet Union's dominance in smaller aspects of the race to the moon, yet critical, benchmarks such as the first lunar impact, first photos of the Moon's far side, first soft lunar landing, and first lunar orbit.<ref name="AAS">{{cite web |date=29 June 2023 |title=Calls For a New Way of Thinking About the Global Space Race - SPACE & DEFENSE |url=https://spaceanddefense.io/calls-for-a-new-way-of-thinking-about-the-global-space-race/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=spaceanddefense.io}}</ref> These accomplishments laid the groundwork for lunar exploration, though they are often overshadowed by the Apollo 11 mission.<blockquote>Before that landing [Apollo 11], there was an enormous amount of investment in the robotic exploration of the Moon, both by the Soviets and the US, in terms of all sorts of smaller benchmarks like the first lunar impact, the first pictures of the far side of the Moon, the first soft lunar landing, and the first lunar orbit. We forget, but in those little races, the Soviet Union dominated almost every benchmark, but it is forgotten as the United States won the big one.</blockquote>

=== Historians' analysis ===
The Space Race was deeply intertwined with Cold War rivalries and reflected broader ideological contests between the United States and the Soviet Union. Historian Walter A. McDougall highlights how space exploration served as a demonstration of each superpower's political and technological systems, with the U.S. emphasizing transparency and democratic values, and the USSR showcasing the capabilities of its centralized, state-driven model.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age - Foreign Policy Research Institute |url=https://www.fpri.org/books/the-heavens-and-the-earth-a-political-history-of-the-space-age/ |access-date=2024-12-07 |website=www.fpri.org |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=The Heavens and the Earth: A Political History of the Space Age |url=https://www.history.upenn.edu/publications/walter-mcdougall |website=history.upenn.edu}}</ref> [[Asif Azam Siddiqi|Asif A. Siddiqi]] stresses the importance of viewing the Space Race as more than a single-event competition. He notes that while the U.S. achieved the symbolic "big one" with the Apollo missions, the Soviet Union's early and sustained achievements in robotic lunar and interplanetary exploration reveal the broader, multi-faceted nature of the rivalry.<ref name="AAS" />

== Legacy ==
After the end of the Cold War in 1991, the assets of the USSR's space program passed mainly to [[Russia]]. Since then, the United States and Russia have cooperated in space with the [[Shuttle–Mir Program|Shuttle-''Mir'' Program]], and the [[International Space Station]] (ISS).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.txstate-epdc.net/international-cooperation-on-the-iss/|title=International Cooperation on the ISS|date=November 1, 2019|website=Texas State University|language=en-US|access-date=January 15, 2020|archive-date=January 15, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200115140829/https://www.txstate-epdc.net/international-cooperation-on-the-iss/|url-status=dead}}</ref> The Russians continue to use their [[R-7 (rocket family)|R-7 rocket family]] as their orbital workhorse to launch the Soyuz crewed spacecraft and its [[Progress (spacecraft)|Progress]] derivative uncrewed cargo craft as shuttles to the ISS. After the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle, American crews were dependent on the R-7–Soyuz to reach the ISS,<ref name="Chow">{{cite web|url=http://www.space.com/13664-nasa-future-space-exploration-progress.html|title=U.S. Human Spaceflight Program Still Strong, NASA Chief Says|last=Chow|first=Denise|date=November 17, 2011|publisher=Space.com|access-date=July 2, 2012}}</ref> until the 2020 first flight of the US [[Crew Dragon]] [[Commercial Crew Development]] vehicle.

In 2023 the Russian Federation resumed the ''Luna'' missions as a part of the [[Luna-Glob]] programme with the launch of [[Luna 25]] (47 years after the Soviet [[Luna 24]]),<ref>{{Cite web |author1=Meghan Bartels |date=2020-05-07 |title=Russia wants to land 3 next-generation Luna spacecraft on the moon by 2025 |url=https://www.space.com/luna-russian-moon-lander-program-2020s.html |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=Space.com |language=en}}</ref> amidst American reignition of interest in the Moon with the [[Artemis program]] beginning with the launch of [[Artemis I]] in 2022.<ref>{{Cite web |last=SpaceRef |date=2021-11-10 |title=NASA Outlines Challenges, Progress for Artemis Moon Missions |url=https://spacenews.com/nasa-outlines-challenges-progress-for-artemis-moon-missions/ |access-date=2024-11-24 |website=SpaceNews |language=en-US}}</ref>

==See also==
{{colbegin}}
* [[Billionaire space race]]
* [[Cold War]]
* [[Arms race]]
* [[Cold War playground equipment]]
* [[History of spaceflight]]
* [[List of space exploration milestones, 1957–1969]]
* [[Moon landing]]
* [[Moon Shot]]
* [[Space advocacy]]
* [[Space exploration]]
* [[Space policy]]
* [[Space propaganda]]
* [[Spaceflight records]]
* [[SEDS]]
* [[Timeline of Solar System exploration]]
* [[Timeline of space exploration]]
* [[Woods Hole Conference]]
* [[Mars race]]
{{colend}}
{{Portal bar|Space|Spaceflight|1950s|1960s|1970s|1980s}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Cited literature==
* {{cite book |title=Stages to Saturn: A Technological History of the Apollo/Saturn Launch Vehicles |last= Bilstein |first= Roger E. |year= 1996 |publisher= Scientific and Technical Information Branch, National Aeronautics and Space Administration |location= Washington |isbn= 0-16-048909-1 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=RUIjAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrdVPtCNL9AC|title=The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team|last1=Burgess|first1=Colin|last2=Hall|first2=Rex|publisher=Praxis Publishing|location=Chichester, UK|lccn=2008935694|isbn=978-0-387-84824-2|year=2009}}
* {{cite book |title= Fallen Astronauts: Heroes Who Died Reaching for the Moon |last=Burgess |first= Colin |author2=Kate Doolan |author3=Bert Vis |year= 2003 |publisher= University of Nebraska Press |location= Lincoln |isbn= 0-8032-6212-4 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iJ8WwRBNgk0C }}
* {{Cite book | last1 =Brzezinski | first1= Matthew |title= Red Moon Rising: Sputnik and the Hidden Rivalries that Ingnited the Space Race |year=2007 |publisher= Times Books, Henry Holt and Company |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-8050-8147-3}}
* {{cite book |title= This New Ocean: The Story of the First Space Age |last1= Burrows |first1= William E. |year= 1998 |publisher= [[Random House]] |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-679-44521-0}}
* {{cite book |last1=Cadbury |first1= Deborah |title= Space Race: The Epic Battle Between America and the Soviet Union for Dominance of Space |url=https://archive.org/details/spaceraceepicbat00cadb |year= 2006 |publisher= Harper Collins Publishers |location= New York |isbn= 978-0-06-084553-7 |url-access= registration}}
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* {{cite book |last1=Chertok |first1=Boris |title=Rockets and People Volumes 1-4 |date=2005 |publisher=National Aeronautics and Space Administration |url=https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/rockets_people_vol1_detail.html |access-date=29 May 2022}}
* {{cite book
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* {{cite book |title=Arrows to the Moon: Avro's Engineers and the Space Race |last1=Gainor |first1=Chris |year=2001 |publisher=Apogee Books |location=Burlington, Ontario |isbn=1-896522-83-1 |url=https://archive.org/details/arrowstomoonavro0000gain |access-date=August 2, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723213816/http://www.space.com/spacelibrary/books/library_gainor_020125.html |archive-date=July 23, 2008 }}
* {{cite book | first1 = Kenneth | last1 = Gatland | title = Manned Spacecraft, Second Revision | place = New York | publisher = Macmillan Publishing Co., Inc | year = 1976 | isbn = 0-02-542820-9}}
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* {{cite book |title= Soyuz: A Universal Spacecraft |last1= Hall |first1= Rex |last2=Shayler |first2=David J. |year= 2003 |publisher= [[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer–Praxis Books]] |location= New York |isbn= 1-85233-657-9 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=dbGchpi1HP8C}}
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* {{cite web
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* {{cite book |title= Flight: My Life in Mission Control |last1=Kraft|first1= Christopher C.|year= 2001 |publisher= Dutton |location= New York |isbn= 0-525-94571-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/flight00chri}}
* {{cite book |title= Apollo: The Race to the Moon |last1= Murray |first1= Charles |author-link= Charles Murray (political scientist) |last2=Cox|first2=Catherine Bly|year= 1990 |publisher= Touchstone ([[Simon & Schuster]]) |location= New York |isbn= 0-671-70625-X |quote= The link is to the 2004 edition, pages differ, but content the same.}}
* {{cite book |title= Moonshot: The Inside Story of Mankind's Greatest Adventure |last1= Parry |first1= Dan |year= 2009 |publisher = [[Ebury Publishing|Ebury Press]] |location= Chatham, United Kingdom |isbn= 978-0-09-192837-7}}
* Pekkanen, Saadia M. "Governing the New Space Race." ''AJIL Unbound'' 113 (2019): 92–97. [https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/14BD9B37A7A15A8E225A5355BB29E51B/S2398772319000163a.pdf/div-class-title-governing-the-new-space-race-div.pdf online], role of international law.
* {{cite book |title= Strategic Air Command: People, Aircraft, and Missiles |last1= Polmar |first1= Norman |author2=Timothy M. Laur |edition=2 |year= 1990 |publisher= Nautical and Publishing Company of America |location= Baltimore |isbn=0-933852-77-0 }}
* {{cite book |title= Earthrise: How Man First Saw the Earth |last1= Poole |first1= Robert |year= 2008 |publisher = Yale University |location= New Haven, Connecticut |isbn= 978-0-300-13766-8 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5qHuAAAAMAAJ |author-link = Robert Poole (historian)}}
* {{Cite journal | last1 = Portree | first1 = David S.F. | title = Mir Hardware Heritage | journal = Johnson Space Center Reference Series | place = Houston TX | publisher = NASA | series = NASA Reference Publication 1357 | date = March 1995 | url = https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirheritage.pdf | access-date = January 8, 2023 | archive-date = March 23, 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210323130750/https://historycollection.jsc.nasa.gov/history/shuttle-mir/references/documents/mirheritage.pdf }}
* {{cite book |title= The Race: The uncensored story of how America beat Russia to the Moon |last1= Schefter |first1= James |year= 1999 |publisher= [[Doubleday (publisher)|Doubleday]] |location= New York |isbn= 0-385-49253-7 |url= https://archive.org/details/raceuncensored00sche|url-access= registration}}
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* {{cite book |title=This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury|first1=Loyd S. Jr. |last1=Swenson|first2=James M. |last2=Grimwood|first3=Charles C. |last3=Alexander |url=https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4201/cover.htm|date=1966|publisher=NASA|isbn=1-934941-87-5|access-date=January 8, 2023}}
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* {{cite book|title=108 minutes which changed the world (in Russian)|first1=Anton |last1=Pervushin|year=2011|publisher=Эксмо|isbn=978-5-699-48001-2}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|date=2005-07-02|Space_Race_Part_1.ogg|Space_Race_Part_2.ogg|}}
* [http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo3.pdf Scanned letter from Wernher Von Braun to Vice President Johnson] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050513043040/http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/Apollomon/apollo3.pdf |date=May 13, 2005 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070630011305/http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/101space/101space.htm ''"America's Space Program: Exploring a New Frontier"'', a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan]
* [http://english.pravda.ru/main/2002/12/03/40312.html Why Did the USSR Lose the Moon Race?] from ''[[Pravda]]'', 2002-12-03
* [http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/gal114.htm Space Race Exhibition] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060101011729/http://www.nasm.si.edu/exhibitions/gal114/gal114.htm |date=January 1, 2006 }} at the [[Smithsonian Institution|Smithsonian]] [[National Air and Space Museum]]
* [http://www.thespacerace.com/ TheSpaceRace.com] – Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo space programs
* [http://www.historyshots.com/space/timeline.cfm Timeline of the Space Race to the Moon 1960 – 1969] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051119095447/http://www.historyshots.com/space/timeline.cfm |date=November 19, 2005 }}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070212153437/http://www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040503/shadows.shtml Shadows of the Soviet Space Age, Paul Lucas]
* [http://www.russianspaceweb.com/chronology_moon_race.html Chronology:Moon Race] at russianspaceweb.com
* {{YouTube|9yW2cObTTy8|John F. Kennedy Moon Speech at Rice Stadium and Apollo 11 Mission Video}}
* [https://www.esa.int/About_Us/ESA_history/50_years_of_humans_in_space/Sergei_Korolev_Father_of_the_Soviet_Union_s_success_in_space Sergei Korolev: Father of the Soviet Union’s success in space] ESA.int

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