Did America really win the space race? (Maybe not.)
On October 4, 1957, the unthinkable happened.
From a site deep within the Soviet Union, in an event shrouded in secrecy, a modified R-7 ICBM missile was launched. And as the rest of the world looked on in amazement, man’s first artificial satellite took its place among the stars.
The Space Race had begun.
From the 1957 launch of Sputnik to the 1975 “Handshake In Space”, the American and Soviet space programs conducted an all-out assault on on our solar system. The two world powers competed on an unprecedented scale for supremacy in space. The Soviet space program launched over 2,000 space vehicles in the 20th century – more than double the number launched by the United States over the same time period. And while the United States achieved the ultimate prize – putting a man on the moon – the sheer volume of “firsts” in space accomplished by the Soviets begs the question:
Who really won the Space Race?
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The Soviet space program was the first to put a man in orbit. The first to walk in space. The first to land on Venus, and the first to transmit signals from the surface of Mars. They were the first to photograph the dark side of the moon and sent the first probes into Haley’s Comet. And they established the first permanent outpost in space.
But the Soviet space program’s most amazing accomplishment? That they did it all in just 18 years.
★★★★
If the Soviet space program was born in 1957, it came of age in 1961, when cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, orbiting the earth aboard Vostok 1 for an hour and 48 minutes. It would take another year for John Glenn to accomplish the same feat.
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Two years later, the Soviets made history again by launching the first woman into space. Valentina Tereshkova was orbiting the earth aboard Vostok IV twenty years before Sally Ride made her historic flight. Her flight lasted 70 hours, during which she orbited the earth, she had spent more time in space than all the U.S. astronauts combined.
The Soviets notched another first when Alexi Leonov became the first human being to walk in space. He very nearly became the first human to die in space, as well. During the historic walk, the vacuum of space initiated rapid air pressure inflation in his suit, causing his gloves and boots to begin to slip off. The suit inflated so quickly that he had to force his way head-first through the airlock. His troubles didn’t end there, however. A malfunction during re-entry led to a landing in a remote area of the Ural Mountains. The cosmonauts spent two nights in sub-zero temperatures before being rescued.
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In 1971, they launched the world’s first space station. Salyut 1 orbited the earth 3,000 times over 175 days. A crew of three spent three weeks on the space station, but were tragically killed during their return to earth when a malfunctioning ventilation valve caused rapid depressurization within the capsule.
Despite the tragedy, the Soviets would put a total of eight space stations into orbit over the next two decades. Their efforts culminated with the launch of Mir, the world’s first modular space station and the technological building block which enabled man to establish the first permanent outpost in space. Since then, Soviet cosmonauts have maintained an almost continuous presence in space.
★★★★
The breadth and magnitude of the Soviet space program was nothing less than astounding.
The Soviet Union averaged more than two rocket launches per week between 1970 and 1990. In a single year, they sent into space more than 100 satellites. By 1987, the Soviet space program accounted for nearly 90% of the world’s space-related activity. Soviet cosmonauts spent more than 6,000 days in space – the equivalent of 16 years. It was, without a doubt, the most prolific space program the world had ever known. And at the same time, the most mysterious.
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For the first time ever, a comprehensive view of the Soviet space program is coming to the United States.
Soviet Space, presented in conjunction with the Soviet civil space agency Glavkosmos, is one of the most important exhibitions ever to come to this country. The historical artifacts and once top-secret information this exhibit brings will shed valuable light on the space program that launched us all into the Space Age. Never before has the Soviet space program toured outside of the U.S.S.R. It will visit only five U.S. cities, including only one city in the entire Southwest: Fort Worth, Texas.
What’s more, the Fort Worth showing of Soviet Space will be spectacular. Although the event is sponsored by the Fort Worth Museum of Science and History, some of the pieces of space equipment , such as the 30-foot tall four-ton telescope, are so large that the Museum had to move the site to the larger Amon Carter Jr. Exhibits Hall. The exhibit will cover 50,000 square feet and feature over 80 tons of space hardware.
Visitors will see more than 60 Soviet space artifacts, including a fully operational lunar rover and a life-sized model of the Mir space station crew quarters through which you can walk. A guided tour will detail for you the rich history of the Soviet space program and describe for you the USSR’s impressive array of space “firsts”, from the first manned spacecraft to the establishment of the first permanent space outpost. It’s all part of the past, present and future of space exploration.
It’s all part of Soviet Space.
