A History Of The Space Race

The first joint manned docking mission in 1975 lays the groundwork for the International Space Station. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/epilogue-the-apollo-soyuz-test-project

Opinions on the lessons of the Space Race.

The Space Race comes to an end when the Soviet Union cancels its moon landing program in 1974. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-79-n1-l3-cancelled

In 1973, the Soviet Union and the United States race to launch the first operating space station. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-78-space-station-race

The last moon landing mission occurs in December 1972. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-77-apollo-17

With the penultimate moon landing mission, NASA focuses on scientific exploration. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-76-apollo-16

The USSR launches the first space station, but tragedy quickly follows. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-75-salyut-1

Apollo Program matures with a lunar rover on the moon and longer stays. Hear more: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-74-apollo-15

Golfing on the moon! Apollo 14 takes off in January 1971. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-73-apollo-14

By 1970, both the Soviet Union and the United States are turning away from the moon. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-72-moonset

Apollo 13, NASA's finest hour, comes in April 1970. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-71-houston-we-ve-had-a-problem

In November 1969, NASA launches Apollo 12--a mission that nearly ended right after launch until someone in Mission Control gave the instruction, "SCE to auxiliary." Photo: spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-70-sce-to-aux

In response to Apollo 11, the Soviet Union launches 3 manned spacecraft into orbit. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-69-troika

One small step for a man! Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-68-apollo-11-pt-2

Prior to Apollo 11, NASA had to select the crew, build a lunar lander simulator, training astronauts and a mission control team, select a landing site, plan surface mission activities, develop quarantine procedures, and build a new laboratory to receive lunar samples. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-67-apollo-11-part-1

The USSR spends the first six months of 1969 finding a way to blunt the impact of the impending American moon landing. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/ep-66-grasping-at-straws

In May 1969, NASA performs a dress rehearsal to land on the moon.

In March 1969, NASA finishes flight testing the Apollo command and lunar modules in anticipation of a moon landing. Photo: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-64-apollo-9

After Apollo 8, the Soviet Union struggles to find a new objective for its space program besides a manned landing on the moon in anticipation that he United States will land astronauts there first. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-63-soviet-coverup

On December 21, 1968, NASA launches the first manned mission to the moon. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-62-apollo-8

On October 11, 1968, NASA returns astronauts to space for the first time since the Apollo 1 fire. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-61-apollo-7

In October 1968, the Soviet Union is ready to launch the first earth-orbital Soyuz 7K-OK since the Soyuz 1 accident. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-60-man-rating-soyuz-again

In September 1968, the Soviet Union launches Zond 5, the first spacecraft to be recovered on earth after making a journey all the way to the moon and back. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-59-zond-program

In early 1968, NASA finishes man-rating the Apollo lunar module and the command module during the Apollo 5 and Apollo 6 missions, respectively. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-58-man-rating-apollo

In the aftermath of the first Saturn V launch during Apollo 4 in November 1967, the Soviet Union tried to launched its own N1 moon rocket. But repeated delays pushed the first test launch of the N1 into 1969. 

On November 9, 1967, NASA launches the first Saturn V rocket. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-56-apollo-4

In November 1967, the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet revolution passes without a Soviet space spectacular.

On April 23, 1967, the Soviet Union launches Soyuz 1, the first manned mission for its second-generation spacecraft. The mission will end in disaster. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-54-soyuz-1

Between late 1966 and early 1967, Vasily Mishin declares the Soyuz 7K-OK ready for a crewed mission, despite mixed results during flight testing. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-53-man-rating-soyuz

On January 27, 1967, astronauts Gus Grissom, Ed White, and Roger Chaffee die in a fire inside Spacecraft 012. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-52-fire

On January 27, 1967, the signing of the Outer Space Treaty signals the beginning of the end of the Space Race. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-51-outer-space-treaty

By the end of 1966, Vasily Mishin was modifying the N1-L3 lunar landing program to include a flotilla of unmanned vehicles to support a crewed landing on the moon. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-50-the-lunokhod-program

At the end of 1966, Vladimir Chelomey challenges Sergei Korolev's N1-L3 lunar landing program by proposing a landing on the moon using a UR-700 rocket and a LK700 spacecraft. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-49-lk-700-lunar-lander

In November 1966, NASA takes a big step toward landing on the moon when it qualifies the F-1 rocket engine for manned flight. This engine, the most powerful rocket engine in history, will launch astronauts to the moon. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-48-the-f-1-engine

On November 11, 1966, NASA launches Gemini XII, the last of the Gemini missions. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-47-gemini-xii

On September 12, 1966, NASA launches Gemini XI, which made the highest orbital flight of any manned spacecraft up to this day. Gemini XI will also be the first mission in space to generate artificial gravity. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-46-gemini-xi

On July 18, 1966, NASA launches the Gemini X mission. Gemini X is when the Gemini Program enters maturity, with the first successful double-rendezvous, multiple EVAs, and the highest orbit flown during a manned mission. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-45-gemini-x

On August 14, 1966, NASA places the Lunar Orbiter 1 into lunar orbit. Lunar Orbiter 1 is only the second artificial satellite to be placed around the moon after the Soviet Union's Luna 10 probe launched in April 1966. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-44-lunar-orbiter

On June 3, 1966, NASA makes the first soft landing on the moon with Surveyor 1, carried there on the Centaur rocket. Centaur and Surveyor were each critical pieces of technology that enabled the eventually manned lunar landing of Apollo 11. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-43-centaur-and-surveyor

On May 25, 1966, five years to the day that President Kennedy challenged the nation to land on the moon, Launch Complex 39, the nation's moon port, comes online when a crawler-transporter carries a 36 story tall mockup of the Saturn V rocket from a vehicle assembly building to the launch pad. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-42-launch-complex-39

Looking to recover from the emergency that cut short the mission of Gemini VIII, NASA looks toward Gemini IX. But Gemini IX will be the mission where everything seems to go wrong. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-41-gemini-ix

On March 16, 1966, NASA encountered its first near-fatal accident in space during the Gemini VIII mission. At the spacecraft controls were Neil Armstrong and David Scott. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-40-gemini-viii

On January 14, 1966, Sergei Korolev, the instigator of the Space Race, died. In the aftermath of his death, the Soviet manned spaceflight program will change direction to place more focus in the second-generation Soyuz and unmanned vehicles. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-39-the-death-of-sergei-korolev

In 1965, internal fighting between Vladimir Chelomey and Sergei Korolev over control of the Soviet manned circumlunar flight program will cause the Soyuz Program to split into two branches. There will be an earth-orbital version of the Soyuz known as the Soyuz 7K-OK and a revised circumlunar flight version known as the Soyuz 7K-L1. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-38-soyuz-reprogrammed

In 1965, Sergei Korolev firms up his plans for how the Soviet Union would land a cosmonaut on the moon's surface. The plan would rely on the N1 rocket and the L1 spacecraft complex. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-37-the-n1-l3-complex

On October 25, 1965, NASA loses an Agena spacecraft and cancels the Gemini VI rendezvous mission. Three days after this setback, NASA announced the single most daring mission of the Gemini Program--the rendezvous of two Gemini spacecraft. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-36-the-spirit-of-76

On August 21, 1965, NASA launched its first attempt at a long-duration mission of 8 days, the same amount of time it would take to get to the moon and back. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-35-gemini-v

On June 3, 1965, NASA launches the Gemini IV and performs the first American spacewalk to a live audience. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-34-gemini-iv

After a 20 month hiatus, NASA returns American astronauts to space with the Gemini III mission. Gemini III was the first manned spacecraft to maneuver in space, carried the first astronaut to return to space, and was the mission in which the first corned beef sandwich was ever consumed in space. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-33-gemini-iii

On March 18, 1965, the Soviet Union launches the Voskhod 2 mission, and Alexei Leonov becomes the first person to ever perform a spacewalk. This mission was the high-water mark of Soviet achievement in the Space Race. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-32-voskhod-2

The Soviet Union engages in a game of one-upmanship by launching the first multi-crewed spacecraft with the Voskhod mission just ahead of NASA's plans to launch a manned Gemini mission. https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-31-voskhod-1