A powerful impetus to the development of the space industry was given by the Second World War, as a result of which two superpowers appeared in the world - the USSR and the USA. Moreover, at the end of the war, America had a monopoly on atomic weapons, demonstrating its capabilities by dropping bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
The Soviet Union had to eliminate its backlog in the military industry as soon as possible. An arms race has begun. 
Within five years of the war, the USSR created its own atomic bomb, while working on the means of delivering nuclear projectiles - missiles. The fact is that in the NATO countries, missiles of relatively small weight were on alert, which would be enough in a matter of minutes to carry a deadly load to our territory. And the Soviet Union did not have military bases off the coast of the United States. Our country, like air, needed heavy intercontinental ballistic missiles with a warhead weight of 5.5 tons.
Such a rocket was commissioned to build engineer Sergei Korolev. This was known only to a limited circle of specialists associated with the rocket industry. Only after his death, millions of people learned the name of the chief designer, who actually headed all Soviet space research for ten years - from 1957 to 1966.
"Sergei Korolev, more than anyone else, is credited with making the space age a reality."
Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alven - Nobel Prize winner From an early age, the young designer had the idea to build a rocket plane - a rocket-powered spacecraft. Korolev's dreams quickly began to come true thanks to his acquaintance with a prominent enthusiast of interplanetary flights, Friedrich Arturovich Zander. Together with him, Korolev created the Jet Propulsion Study Group (GIDR) at Osoaviakhim, which soon turned into the Jet Research Institute (RNII). The Queen was appointed Deputy Director for Science.
However, the era of the Great Terror intervened in the decisive step of Soviet space science. 1937 dealt a devastating blow to the nascent industry. Almost all employees of the RNII were arrested, experiments and research were curtailed. On June 27, 1938, they came for Korolev. From imminent death, he was saved by work in the so-called sharashka, prison design bureaus under the NKVD (these institutions are described in detail by Alexander Solzhenitsyn in the novel "In the First Circle").
In 1940, Sergei Korolev was returned to Moscow and included in the group of Andrei Tupolev, which was engaged in the creation of a new generation of heavy bombers. Two years later, Korolev developed projects for a jet-powered interceptor aircraft, and in 1943 he built a rocket booster for combat fighters. In September 1945, together with other Soviet specialists, he was sent to study captured equipment, in particular V-2 rockets, in Germany, and a few months later a new industry, the rocket industry, was created in the USSR. On its basis, space programs began to be developed in the future. Sergei Pavlovich Korolev was appointed chief designer of long-range missiles. A youthful dream began to take shape.
In a very short time, Korolev's design bureau developed and launched the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile R-1, designed the R-2 and R-3, and then the world's first strategic intercontinental missiles R-5 and R-7. "Seven" - a masterpiece of royal thought - had a record launch weight of 280 tons and a length of 34.2 meters.
The rocket industry, created for military needs, was engaged in peaceful science only indirectly. But Sergei Korolev, who never left thoughts about space, thought about sending a scientific laboratory into space. Although this idea had to be abandoned, limiting itself to an artificial earth satellite (AES). The fact is that the Soviet leadership had to by all means overtake the United States, which was also preparing its satellite for dispatch.
On October 6, 1957, Soviet newspapers stated: "An artificial Earth satellite was launched in the USSR." And all the newspapers of the world were full of screaming headlines. 
In the United States, the advent of satellite only added fuel to the Cold War. The Americans went to great lengths to decipher the satellite signals, believing they were signs for missile strikes or tracking. In fact, the satellite was a metal ball with a radio transmitter inside. Nevertheless, the launch of an artificial Earth satellite proved the superiority of the USSR in rocket science. 
General Secretary Khrushchev demanded: "Now, by November 7, launch something new."
Khrushchev told Korolyov: "Now start something new by November 7th." Thus, the designer was given only five weeks to prepare a new launch of the spacecraft. With a passenger on board. In November 1957, on the second satellite, a dog named Laika went into space, becoming the "first living astronaut" of the Earth.
For the USSR, the launch of both a near-Earth satellite and a satellite with a living being on board was a huge propaganda victory and at the same time a resounding slap in the face to America.
On December 6, 1957, in a festive atmosphere with a large gathering of people at Cape Canaveral, the launch of the first American satellite was to take place. Millions of Americans clung to the TV screens, the launch of the rocket was supposed to be shown live. The rocket was able to rise only 1.2 m, after which it tilted and exploded.
The next stage of the competition was sending a man into orbit. Moreover, increasing the reliability of aircraft made this task feasible. Until the last days before the flight, it was not known who would be the first: Yuri Gagarin or German Titov. On April 9, the State Commission finally made a decision: Gagarin was flying, Titov remained an understudy.
At this time, American engineers were strenuously trying to catch up with the USSR and do everything possible so that the first person to go into space was an American. Astronaut Alan Shepard's flight was scheduled for March 6, 1961. The score in the confrontation went on for days. But Shepard's expedition was delayed until May 5 due to cloud cover and heavy winds. 
Yuri Gagarin - first cosmonaut
At 9:00 7 minutes on April 12, 1961, Gagarin's famous "Let's go!" sounded. The first man went into space. It took Gagarin 1 hour 48 minutes to circumnavigate the planet. At 10:55 a.m., the capsule of his descent module landed safely near the village of Smelovka, Saratov Region. The news about “108 minutes that shook the world” instantly circled the globe, and the smile of the first cosmonaut became a symbol and a synonym for sincerity, being called “Gagarin’s”.
Alan Shepard became the second man in space after just four weeks. But his fifteen-minute suborbital flight was a disappointment amid Yuri Gagarin's triumph.
The space race was only gaining momentum. To wipe the nose of the Russians, the Americans decided to bet on the exploration of the moon. The United States is beginning to invest heavily in the lunar program.
On August 6, 1961, German Titov became the first man in space to spend more than a day in orbit, making 17 orbits around the Earth.
June 14, 1963 Valery Bykovsky is in Earth orbit for almost five days - the longest single flight. 
Just two days later, on June 16, the Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space.
In 1964, a new Voskhod spacecraft was created, designed for a multi-seat crew.
On March 18, 1965, cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made his first spacewalk.
His report to the state commission was brief: "You can live and work in outer space."
On January 14, 1966, Sergei Korolev dies during a many-hour heart operation. The funeral with state honors took place on Red Square in Moscow.
But the battle for space continued. Over time, spacecraft became more and more perfect, new launch vehicles appeared. The transition from experimental flights to permanent long-term work in space was associated with the Soyuz program. A new type of spacecraft has been successfully used in near-Earth orbits since the late 60s. On the vehicles of this series, dockings were carried out in space, numerous technological experiments were carried out, scientific research of the globe was carried out, and records were set for the duration of flights. There were no tragedies. 
Alexei Leonov is the first man in outer space.
On April 23, 1967, Vladimir Komarov was preparing for the launch. The launch was successful, but then trouble began, multiple problems were discovered. When returning to Earth, the ship's parachute system failed. "Soyuz" flew to the ground at a speed of 1120 kilometers per hour. There was no chance of survival.
On March 27, 1968, Yuri Gagarin dies during a routine training flight in a fighter jet.
In the summer of 1971 another tragedy occurred. After a three-week stay in orbit, the Soyuz-11 crew, consisting of Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov and Viktor Patsaev, began their descent to Earth. However, after landing, the astronauts showed no signs of life. A special commission investigating the death of the astronauts came to the conclusion that the cause of the disaster was the depressurization of the cabin in a vacuum. New flights into space after that were postponed for two years - to work on improving the reliability of the ships.
The American lunar program, meanwhile, was gaining momentum. While the USSR was building test facilities to simulate one-sixth of the Earth's gravity felt on the Moon's surface, they were working on a descent module that would take one of the astronauts to its surface. NASA assembled the huge Saturn V, the most powerful rocket ever built at the time.
The Russians were also working on a behemoth - the N-1 rocket. With 30 separate engines, it was 16 times more powerful than the R-1. And the hopes of the entire Soviet space program were pinned on it.
On July 3, 1969, the N-1 launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, but after a 23-second "flight" it almost fell flat on the launch pad and exploded, destroying the launch facility No. 1, destroying the rotary maintenance tower, damaging the underground facilities of the complex. The wreckage of the carrier was scattered within a radius of 1 km ...
The Americans seized the initiative in the exploration of the moon. 1969 was the year of the landing of the first people on the lunar surface. On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on a night satellite of the Earth. Neil Armstrong's famous phrase: "It's one small step for a man, but a giant leap for the whole of mankind", spread around the whole world. 
American astronauts have landed on the moon six times. In the 1970s, the Soviet Lunokhod-1 and Lunokhod-2 spacecraft were delivered to the lunar soil. The USSR, on the contrary, quickly forgot about the Moon and found a new goal that could revive their space program - colonization. A way not only to fly into space, but to live and work there. Ability to conduct long-term experiments in orbit.
For the remainder of the 1970s, the Soviet Union continued to send crews and a series of Salyut space stations on ever longer missions. By the mid-1980s, while the Americans were still focused on short-term flights in their space shuttles, the Russians were ready to take the next step - to make the first permanent orbital space station "Mir", designed to provide conditions for the work and rest of the crew, to conduct scientific and applied research and experiments. On February 20, 1986, the Mir orbital complex was launched into orbit and operated until March 23, 2001.
The development of a new generation of manned spacecraft continued until the mid-80s. The result of many years of work was the delivery into space in 1988 by the Energia rocket of the Buran reusable spacecraft, an analogue of the American shuttle. But the political realities of that time - the crisis in the USSR and the subsequent reduction in the country's military budget - put an end to this program. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the program was curtailed, and the Buran was moved to the amusement park at the TsPKiO im. Gorky in Moscow.
Now the era of the International Space Station (ISS) has begun. The ISS is a joint international project, in which, apart from Russia, there are 13 countries: Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Denmark, Spain, Italy, Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the USA, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Japan.
Our country was the only one with experience in servicing an orbital space station. Only in the Soviet Union did they know what happens to a person when he is in space for a long time. Therefore, today Russia is actively participating in the ISS program, passing on its knowledge. The International Space Station is the greatest testament to the achievements of the mighty USSR program in space exploration. Its very existence depended on the technology and expertise that we had gained over 50 years of space exploration. The most important life support systems of the station are based on those developed on Salyut and Mir. Space suits are Russian-made. Until 2011, the only way to get to the station was by a Soyuz capsule mounted on top of an R-7 rocket, an improved version of the one designed by Sergei Korolev more than half a century ago.
September 1967 was marked by the proclamation of October 4 by the International Astronautical Federation as the world day for the beginning of the space age of mankind. It was on October 4, 1957 that a small ball with four antennas tore apart the near-Earth space and laid the foundation for the space age, opened the golden age of astronautics. How it was, how space exploration took place, what the first satellites, animals and people in space were like - this article will tell about all this.
Chronology of events
To begin with, we will give a brief description of the chronology of events, one way or another connected with the beginning of the space age.
Dreamers from the distant past
As long as humanity exists, the stars have beckoned it so much. Let's look for the origins of astronautics and the beginning of the space age in ancient tomes and give just a few examples of amazing facts and far-sighted predictions. In the ancient Indian epic Bhagavad Gita (circa 15th century BC), an entire chapter is devoted to instructions for flying to the moon. Clay tablets in the library of the Assyrian ruler Assurbanipal (3200 BC) tell of King Etan flying up to a height from which the Earth looked like "bread in a basket". The inhabitants of Atlantis left the Earth, flying to other planets. And the Bible tells about the flight on the fiery chariot of the prophet Elijah. But in 1500 AD, the inventor Wang Gu from Ancient China could have become the first astronaut if he had not died. He made a flying machine out of kites. Which was supposed to take off when 4 powder rockets were set on fire. Since the 17th century, Europe has been raving about flying to the moon: first Johannes Kepler and Cyrano de Bergerac, and later Jules Verne with his idea of cannon flight.
Kibalchich, Gunswind and Tsiolkovsky
In 1881, in solitary confinement in the Peter and Paul Fortress, while awaiting execution for an attempt on the life of Tsar Alexander II, N. I. Kibalchich (1853-1881) draws a jet space platform. The idea of his project is the creation of jet thrust by burning substances. His project was found in the archives of the tsarist secret police only in 1917. At the same time, the German scientist G. Gansvid created his own spacecraft, where the thrust is provided by the outgoing bullets. And in 1883, the Russian physicist K. E. Tsiolkovsky (1857-1935) described a ship with a jet engine, which was embodied in 1903 in the scheme of a liquid rocket. It is Tsiolkovsky who is considered to be the father of Russian cosmonautics, whose works already in the 20s of the last century were widely recognized by the world community.
Just a satellite
The artificial satellite that marked the beginning of the space age launched the Soviet Union from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on October 4, 1957. An aluminum sphere with a mass of 83.5 kilograms and a diameter of 58 centimeters, with four bayonet antennas and equipment inside, flew up to a perigee height of 228 kilometers and an apogee of 947 kilometers. They called it simply "Sputnik-1". Such a simple device was a tribute to the Cold War with the United States, which developed similar programs. America with their satellite Explorer 1 (launched on February 1, 1958) is almost half a year behind us. The Soviets, who launched the first artificial satellite, won the race. A victory that has not been lost, because the time has come for the first astronauts.
Dogs, cats and monkeys
The beginning of the space age in the USSR began with the first orbital flights of rootless tailed cosmonauts. The Soviets chose dogs as astronauts. America - monkeys, and France - cats. Immediately after Sputnik-1, Sputnik-2 flew into space with the most unfortunate dog on board - the mongrel Laika. It was November 3, 1957, and the return of Sergei Korolev's favorite Laika was not foreseen. The well-known Belka and Strelka, with their triumphant flight and return to Earth on August 19, 1960, were by no means the first and far from the last. France launched the cat Felicette into space (October 18, 1963), and the United States, after the rhesus monkey (September 1961), sent the chimpanzee Ham (January 31, 1961), who became a national hero, to explore space.
Man's conquest of space
And here the Soviet Union was the first. On April 12, 1961, near the village of Tyuratam (Baikonur Cosmodrome), the R-7 launch vehicle with the Vostok-1 spacecraft took off into the sky. Air Force Major Yuri Alekseevich Gagarin went on his first space flight. At a perigee altitude of 181 km and an apogee of 327 km, it flew around the Earth and landed in the vicinity of the village of Smelovka (Saratov Region) at the 108th minute of the flight. The world was blown up by this event - agrarian and bastard Russia overtook the high-tech States, and Gagarin's "Let's go!" became an anthem for space fans. It was an event of global scale and incredible significance for all mankind. Here America lagged behind the Union for a month - on May 5, 1961, the Redstone rocket carrier with the Mercury-3 spacecraft from Cape Canaveral launched the American cosmonaut Air Force Captain 3rd rank Alan Shepard into orbit.
During the space flight on March 18, 1965, co-pilot Lieutenant Colonel Alexei Leonov (the first pilot was Colonel Pavel Belyaev) went into outer space and stayed there for 20 minutes, moving away from the ship at a distance of up to five meters. He confirmed that a person can stay and work in outer space. In June, American astronaut Edward White spent only a minute more in outer space and proved the possibility of performing maneuvers in outer space with a hand gun that runs on compressed gas on the principle of a jet. The beginning of the space age of man in outer space has come to pass.
First human casualties
Space has given us many discoveries and heroes. However, the beginning of the space age was also marked by casualties. Americans Virgil Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee were the first to die on January 27, 1967. The Apollo 1 spacecraft burned out in 15 seconds due to a fire inside. Vladimir Komarov was the first Soviet cosmonaut to die. On October 23, 1967, he successfully deorbited on the Soyuz-1 spacecraft after an orbital flight. But the main parachute of the descent capsule did not open, and it crashed into the ground at a speed of 200 km / h and completely burned out.
Apollo lunar program
On July 20, 1969, American astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin felt the surface of the moon under their feet. Thus ended the flight of the Apollo 11 spacecraft with the Eagle lunar module on board. America did take over the leadership in space exploration from the Soviet Union. And although later there were many publications about the falsification of the fact that the Americans landed on the moon, today everyone knows Neil Armstrong as the first person to set foot on its surface.
Orbital stations Salyut
The Soviets were also the first to launch orbital stations - spacecraft for the long stay of astronauts. Salyut is a series of manned stations, the first of which was launched into orbit on April 19, 1971. In total, 14 space objects were put into orbit in this project under the Almaz military program and the civil one - the Long-Term Orbital Station. Including the station "Mir" ("Salyut-8"), which was in orbit from 1986 to 2001 (flooded in the cemetery of spaceships in the Pacific Ocean on 03/23/2001).
First international space station
The ISS has a complex history of creation. Started as an American project Freedom (1984), in 1992 it became a joint Mir-Shuttle project and today it is an international project with 14 participating countries. The first module of the ISS launched the Proton-K launch vehicle into orbit on November 20, 1998. Subsequently, the participating countries removed other connecting blocks, and today the station weighs about 400 tons. It was planned to operate the station until 2014, but the project was extended. And it is managed jointly by four agencies - the Space Flight Control Center (Korolev, Russia), the Mission Control Center. L. Johnson (Houston, USA), the Control Center of the European Space Agency (Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany) and the Aerospace Research Agency (Tsukuba, Japan). The station has a crew of 6 cosmonauts. The program of the station provides for the constant presence of people. According to this indicator, it has already broken the Mir station record (3664 days of continuous stay). Power is completely autonomous - solar panels weigh almost 276 kilograms, power up to 90 kilowatts. The station houses laboratories, greenhouses and living quarters (five bedrooms), a gymnasium and bathrooms.
Some facts about the ISS
The International Space Station is by far the most expensive project in the world. More than $157 billion has already been spent on it. The speed of the station in orbit is 27.7 thousand km / h, with a weight of more than 41 tons. Astronauts observe sunrise and sunset at the station every 45 minutes. In 2008, the "Disk of Immortality" was delivered to the station - a device containing digitized DNA of outstanding representatives of mankind. The purpose of this collection is to save human DNA in case of a global catastrophe. In the laboratories of the space station, quails are born and flowers bloom. And viable spores of bacteria were found on its skin, which makes one think about the possible expansion of space.
Space commercialization
Humanity can no longer imagine itself without space. In addition to all the advantages of the practical exploration of outer space, the commercial component is also developing. Since 2005, private spaceports have been under construction in the United States (Mojave), the United Arab Emirates (Ras Alm Khaimah) and Singapore. Virgin Galactic Corporation (USA) is planning space cruises for seven thousand tourists at an affordable price of $200,000. And well-known space merchant Robert Bigelow, owner of the Budget Suites of America hotel chain, announced the project of the first Skywalker orbital hotel. For $35 billion, Space Adventures (partner of the Roscosmos Corporation) will send you on a space journey for up to 10 days tomorrow. Having paid another 3 billion, you will be able to go into outer space. The company has already organized tours for seven tourists, one of them is Guy Laliberte, head of the circus du Soleil. The same company is preparing a new tourist product for 2018 - a trip to the moon.
Dreams and fantasies have become reality. Having overcome gravity once, humanity is no longer able to stop in its pursuit of stars, galaxies and universes. I would like to believe that we will not play too much, and we will continue to be surprised and delighted by the myriads of stars in the night sky. All the same mysterious, alluring and fantastic, as in the first days of creation.
Russian state
trade and economic university
Faculty of FMEiT
Course 1
Group 13 ME
in the discipline "USA: history, politics, economics" on the topic:
Space race between the USSR and the USA
Work completed
student
Greshnova
Ekaterina
Igorevna
Supervisor:
Professor
Dobrokhotov L.N.
Moscow 2011
"The more a person conquers space, the more he becomes his slave"
Unknown.
The space race is an arms race between the two superpowers of the USSR and the USA. It is generally accepted that it began in 1957 and continued until 1975.
But it should be noted that, in my opinion, the arms race began long before the formation of two opposing political blocs - the "socialist world" and the "capitalist camp".
65 studies of new “why” that could not be satisfied by the existing questions, but only gave rise to more and more new ones.
Despite the many discoveries that mankind has made throughout its history, we have always been and will be concerned about the issue of "space", because the more we know it, the more questions arise, the answers to which we cannot give, even with the help of all available knowledge. and developments we are powerless; but progress does not stand still, and I believe that humanity will soon answer many questions, but not all, because new ones will always appear.
Start of the space race.
Primitive rockets in military affairs were used in the 20th century in China. However, the modern history of the development of rocket science dates back to the discovery of the Russian scientist Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, who developed the theory of a multi-stage liquid-fuel rocket capable of reaching space in the 1880s. The formula, which is named after this great scientist, is still used in rocket science. Tsiolkovsky also made the first theoretical description of an artificial satellite.
In 1926, American scientist Robert Goddard built the first liquid-fueled rocket.
The construction of jet vehicles for space exploration was thought of in many countries, but especially many scientists dealt with this problem in the USSR and Germany. Initially, all the developments and achievements of these scientists in this area were absolutely not classified, but from the moment when all countries realized that the threat of war was potential, they thought about the question “can these developments be applied in military affairs?” and that's how it all started.
After the First World War, under the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, Germany was forbidden to have long-range artillery, so the Reichswehr command showed interest in rocket weapons. Since the mid-20s, German engineers have been experimenting with rockets and by 1942, thanks to Wernher von Braun, they have achieved significant success. The German A-4 ballistic combat rocket, launched in 1942, became the first vehicle to reach space altitude at the highest point of a suborbital flight path. In 1943, Germany began the serial production of these missiles under the name "V-2".
On May 2, 1945, the Peenemünde missile range ceased to belong to Germany. For various reasons, one part of the engineers, documentation and missile parts ended up in the United States, the other - in the USSR. This vital information, as well as the experience of the German specialists, became a prerequisite for the beginning arms race.
Thus, the scientist Von Braun came to the USA along with most of the rocket engineers. They built a new modification of the V-2, with the help of which they first studied the upper layers of the atmosphere. Subsequently, a second stage, called the Corporal, was installed on the V-2 rocket. The two-stage rocket was named "Bumper".
In the future, the Americans each time more and more modified their missiles. So, with the help of the Viking research rocket, they were able to reach record heights and get a solution to many technical problems that were subsequently applied to military rockets.
At the same time, similar developments were carried out in the USSR, regular launches of rockets were carried out to study the upper layers of the atmosphere. Soon, under the leadership of Korolev and other engineers from the GIRD, a modification of the V-2 was developed in the USSR, which received the designation T-1. Subsequently, the T-2 and T-3 missiles were created, the latter was developed in 1957 and became the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile.
By this time, both the USSR and the USA had produced nuclear weapons, which showed their strength at the end of the Second World War. Now nuclear weapons can be delivered using ballistic missiles, while earlier this was only possible with the help of strategic aviation.
"Go!"
In 1955, advances in rocket technology led the United States to announce that the Vanguard research rocket would be able to launch an artificial Earth satellite into orbit in 1957, and this would allow observation of the Earth from space as part of the International Geophysical Year. The USSR also announced the possibility of launching an artificial Earth satellite in 1957, but this statement was met with distrust, because in all countries it was believed that the USSR was still far from the achievements of the United States, which indicates the secrecy of the tests conducted in the USSR.
On August 7, 1957, the American rocket "Jupiter" reached an altitude of 960 km. Meanwhile, in the process of working on the "Vanguard" problems arose, and it became obvious that the United States would be able to launch a satellite of the Earth only in 1958. Meanwhile, on August 26, 1957, the USSR announced that on August 3, the launch of "the first ultra-long intercontinental multi-stage ballistic missile" was launched.
On October 5, 1957, the whole world learned that the day before, the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik-1, had been launched in the USSR. With the launch of this satellite, the USSR was able to show not only its strength in the space issue, but also draw many conclusions from this flight. The launch of the first shocked the whole world, but especially the United States, which could not even imagine that such a thing was possible in principle in the USSR. But before the Americans could recover from such a defeat both morally and respond in action, on November 3, 1957, the second artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 2 or 1957 Beta, was launched. It should be noted that the whole world was shocked not only by the fact that the USSR launched the satellite again, but also by the presence of a living creature on it - the dog Laika, which, unfortunately, was doomed to death due to lack of oxygen.
These successes of the USSR provoked a wave of indignation and political pressure on American scientists and engineers, but they managed to launch the first satellite, which was called Explorer 1, only on January 31, 1958.
Until April 12, 1961, repeated launches of satellites were carried out, both from the USSR and the USA, and 2, perhaps, the most famous dogs flew: Belka and Strelka, who successfully returned home.
But the turning point was the launch of the Vostok-1 spacecraft, which took place on April 12, 1961 at 09:07 Moscow time from the Baikonur Cosmodrome, when the first man in the history of the entire space race flew into space, his name has been well known to us since childhood - this is Yu.A.Gagarin. The flight of the first cosmonaut lasted 1 hour 48 minutes. After one orbit around the Earth, the spacecraft's descent module landed in the Saratov region. At an altitude of several kilometers, Gagarin ejected and made a soft landing on a parachute not far from the descent vehicle. The first cosmonaut of the planet was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, and the day of his flight became a national holiday - Cosmonautics Day, starting from April 12, 1962.
The flight of a man into space was not just a “slap in the face” to the Americans, like the launch of the first satellite, but something much more, they remember this event to this day as one of the main defeats of the entire nation in the history of the United States of America.
However, the Americans quickly took revenge and on May 5, 1961, American astronaut Alan Shepard made a suborbital flight up to an altitude of 187 km, crossing the lower 100-kilometer boundary of space, and on February 20, 1962, John Glenn made the first manned orbital flight.
In the early 1960s The USSR developed and consolidated its success in the space race. On August 12, 1962, the world's first group space flight was made on the Vostok-3 and Vostok-4 spacecraft. About a year later, on June 16, 1963, for the first time in the world, a woman cosmonaut flew into space - it was Valentina Tereshkova on the Vostok-6 spacecraft.
At that time, the Americans also did not waste time, and on May 15, 1963, the last launch was made under the Mercury program. Gordon Cooper was in orbit for 34 hours, making almost 22 orbits. For the United States, this was a very serious achievement.
On October 12, 1954, the world's first multi-seat spacecraft Voskhod-1 was launched into space.
March 18, 1965 - the first ever manned spacewalk. Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov made a spacewalk from the Voskhod-2 spacecraft. In the same year, the USSR launched the first communications satellite into space.
The year 1966 was especially fruitful for the USSR. On February 3, AMS Luna-9 made the world's first soft landing on the surface of the Moon, at the same time the first panoramic images of the Moon were transmitted. On March 1, the Venere-3 station reached the surface of Venus for the first time, which was the first flight to another planet. On April 3, the station "Luna - 10" became the first satellite of the moon.
1967 The USSR launches the Kosmos-139 satellite into orbit, capable of destroying enemy spacecraft. It has been successfully tested. The USSR receives the first color image of the Earth from space and conducts the first docking of two satellites. The Treaty on Principles for the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, was signed, which banned the placement of nuclear weapons in outer space.
“For the first time, we went beyond the atmosphere thanks to our rocket,” the scientist said, joyfully raising his glass up.
“A new era of transportation is coming – space transportation,” the scientist said that day.
This scientist was Walter Dornberger. It was October 3, 1942, and Dornberger was a Nazi. He and his team have finally completed work on the A-4 ballistic missile (better known as V-2"), the first ever launched into space.
When the Nazis lost, their dreams of space travel died with them. The nations that defeated them took apart for themselves all the technologies and developments that they had. Stalin convinced some scientists to cooperate, and he literally forced those whom he could not convince. The US, in turn, launched Operation Paperclip, hiring nearly 500 Nazi scientists to help the Americans recreate the A-4 missile.
In both cases, the development of new projects was successful. The space race began, the NASA aerospace agency was formed, which was actually founded by Nazi scientists forgiven by the United States.
The USSR and the USA fought over the right to own space
When America decided to launch its first rocket into Earth orbit, President Eisenhower was plagued by one question. On land and water, the boundaries of states can be clearly marked, but no one has ever thought about how these boundaries are marked when it comes to height. If an American space probe had been over Soviet airspace, this incident could have led to a real war.
Therefore, Eisenhower began the fight for the so-called "freedom of outer space." According to the drafted memorandum, everything that is located at an altitude of 100 kilometers above sea level should belong to "outer space" and not belong to any of the nations.
The USSR did not agree with this formulation. The Soviet government wanted this border to be much higher.
In the end, Eisenhower got his way, but lost technically. It was the Soviet apparatus, Sputnik-1, that was the first to enter the Earth's orbit. Of course, at some point this device flew over the airspace of America, so the USSR had no choice but to sign the agreement. It's all about the spy satellites that both the Americans and the Russians wanted to have in Earth orbit.
US and Russia agree not to launch nuclear strikes on the moon
Once space launches became a reality, every science fiction story in the West was seen as a real possibility. There is growing hysteria among the US government about the possible development of events in which Russia could begin a nuclear bombardment of the moon.
The two nations sign an "outer space treaty". The main part of the document is connected with the promises of free and peaceful conquest and exploration of outer space. One part of the contract is connected with the Moon. It says that our natural satellite should not be presented as a site for military bases. You can't send soldiers to the moon, conduct military exercises there. In addition, it describes the prohibition of placing nuclear or any other weapons of mass destruction in Earth's orbit.
In addition, the countries participating in the treaty undertake not to carry out a nuclear bombardment of the moon. Even out of curiosity.
In the USSR created a space laser pistol
In the Land of Soviets, not only space rockets were developed. From the point of view of the West, the USSR did not just strive to get into space - it wanted to win in all space spheres and issues, including those related to possible space conflicts. For this reason, the space laser pistol was created, a non-lethal weapon designed to destroy the sensitive optical instruments of a possible enemy both in the closed conditions of the spacecraft and in open space in close combat without the risk of damaging the skin and non-optical equipment.
In the end, the project was closed. Now one of the copies of the Soviet space laser pistol is stored in the exposition of the Museum of the History of the Military Academy of the Strategic Missile Forces named after Peter the Great.
People still flew into space armed. For example, a semi-automatic pistol - just in case - took with him Yuri Gagarin, the first man to fly into space. The Americans did not lag behind in this regard either. More precisely, in technical terms, they just lagged behind, as they took ordinary hunting knives with them, apparently unaware of the possibility of laser skirmishes.
The USSR and the USA could fly to the moon together
For a while, the USSR led the space race in every single area, but closer to the mid-1960s, the Soviet superpower began to lose ground. In 1963, as part of a cooperative program, the Soviet Academy of Science invited scientists from NASA to exchange experiences. Scientists from NASA then came to the conclusion that the USSR decided to abandon plans to send a man to the moon.
At that time, US President Kennedy did not believe this conclusion, but nevertheless thought about it. Shortly after this trip, he came up with a proposal for the joint work of the two nations.
“There are prerequisites for new cooperation. Among the possibilities, I include a joint expedition to the moon, ”said the then President of the United States.
If Khrushchev's son is to be believed, the leader of the USSR was prepared to accept this level of cooperation. However, Kennedy was soon killed, and Khrushchev did not trust Lyndon Johnson, who came to replace him. As soon as the United States had a new president, plans to jointly conquer the moon were immediately abandoned.
During the historic landing on the moon, a Soviet space probe fell on the satellite
During the time of the Apollo space missions, the Soviet side decided to resort to a different plan. The USSR wanted to send a robotic probe to the moon and collect samples of lunar soil. This apparatus was supposed to be the Luna. Specifically, the apparatus "Luna-15" went to the Earth's satellite three days before the launch of "Apollo-11".
Both countries exchanged their flight plans to avoid the risk of spacecraft collision. It is noteworthy that the USSR actually hid the plans and tasks of the Luna-15 space probe, but nevertheless shared with America information about where the device was going to avoid a possible collision during flight and landing.
While Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were taking their first steps on the moon, a Soviet probe was descending on the moon's surface. The device crashed on a lunar mountain during landing and was completely destroyed.
Neil Armstrong brought one of Yuri Gagarin's medals to the moon
Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Yuri Gagarin's wife had a conversation before the flight to the moon. The first man in space had died a year earlier, and his wife asked the astronauts for one thing: to take one of her husband's commemorative medals to the moon. The astronauts complied with this request, leaving on the Moon, in addition to other medals and nameplates of other cosmonauts and astronauts, the Gagarin medal.
As part of the Apollo 15 mission, a similar ceremony took place. The crew of the spacecraft brought with them to the Moon a plaque with the names of every astronaut and cosmonaut who died for one reason or another. The astronauts thus paid tribute and reverence to those people, one way or another thanks to whom they are now on the moon. Astronaut Dave Scott later told Space Flight Control that he followed the rover as part of a mission and secretly dropped a sign and a small figurine labeled "To the Fallen Astronaut."
The USSR went to rescue the Apollo 13 crew
The Apollo 13 mission failed. The service module's fuel cells exploded, taking half of its oxygen supply into space with it. The mission team had no choice but to deploy the apparatus and try to return back to Earth alive.
The Soviet Union learned of this incident and was ready to help. When the American apparatus began to enter the Earth's atmosphere, the USSR considered that the waves of Soviet radar stations could adversely affect the emergency landing. Therefore, it was decided to turn off absolutely all radio channels using the same frequency with Apollo 13.
Several Soviet ships entered the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, ready for emergency rescue operations. In the end, the crewed module was picked up by an American vessel.
The last Apollo mission was carried out together with the USSR
The USSR and the USA never flew to the Moon together, but there was cooperation in outer space between the two powers. In 1975, President Kennedy's dream became a reality. The last Apollo mission turned out to be a joint one, and within its framework, docking with the Soviet Soyuz spacecraft was carried out.
The two spacecraft launched 30 minutes apart. Two days later, the docking took place. Over the next two days, the teams of both ships conducted joint scientific experiments, after which, having undocked the vehicles, they returned back to earth.
For more effective communication before the flight, both teams learned each other's languages. Every Soviet cosmonaut learned English, and every American - Russian.
The USSR and the USA considered a joint mission to Mars
After the Americans landed on the moon, Gorbachev expressed a desire to conduct a series of joint unmanned space missions, the key task of which was to send a spacecraft and explore Mars by the year 2000. The idea found support in both countries, and US congressmen even wrote to President Reagan urging him to agree.
In 1988, the American side took the first step towards the implementation of this plan. They agreed to help the Soviet side launch a spacecraft to Mars in 1994. However, within a few days, this idea was decided to be abandoned. Reagan was worried about the extra financial costs. And then the USA generally ceased to be considered by the USSR as the main player in the space race.
This is where the spirit of cooperation between the two countries ended. A few years later, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the spirit of competition between the two countries evaporated. Thus, the space race came to an end.
The landmark flight of Yuri Gagarin 50 years ago is not only a starting point in the conquest of space by man. The first manned flight around the Earth marked the beginning of a grandiose space race between the two powers - the USSR and the USA.
Once bitter rivals are now working together on the International Space Station (ISS) and other projects as if there were no decades of fierce struggle. Today, the passions are not the same, and partly because the bipolar world is no more, and more and more new countries are participating in the struggle for the first place. However, that historical battle of the great powers continues to fascinate and makes you return again and again to those times when the whole space became too small for the two of them. 
1. First in space
In truth, the rivalry for the championship in space began between the USSR and the USA much earlier than our first cosmonaut said his famous "Let's go!". Immediately after the war and the aggravation of relations between the two countries, American and Soviet scientists began to fight for access to space. 
2. Radical differences in approaches were immediately revealed - the US space intentions were declared in advance, furnished with pomp and extensive propaganda. In the USSR, everything related to space was tightly classified. The silence on the Soviet side gave the Americans reason to believe that Moscow was hopelessly behind them. But in vain.
The first wake-up call for the United States rang in 1957, when the USSR was the first to launch an artificial Earth satellite (AES) into space. It was followed by the second, third satellites - each time more and more. The Americans thought about it. It became clear that they clearly underestimated the enemy and now occupy the second position. And the launch of our own satellite a year later did not even really console: the sent device was smaller, and most importantly - later, later ... 
3. The flight of Y. Gagarin on April 12, 1961. became a real shock for the Americans. The United States, it seems, has never received such a painful punch in the nose either before or since. The lag behind the USSR in space exploration became unconditional, and Washington had to put in many years and billions of dollars to even catch up with the Soviet Union. 
4. In the meantime, Yuri Gagarin and the USSR were collecting the cream of fame. The world was amazed by the successes of Soviet cosmonautics: photographs of the first man who flew in orbit around the Earth did not leave the pages of newspapers. Y. Gagarin was received at the highest level, general secretaries and presidents met with him, he even visited the Queen of England, and they literally went crazy over him in different parts of the world. 
5. Moscow, all subsequent years of its leadership, sought to “kick the lying person” as painfully as possible. The second Soviet cosmonaut German Titov, a few months after Yuri Gagarin's flight, spent more than a day in orbit. The world's first female cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova, ascends into space. The USSR creates the world's first multi-seat spacecraft (1964), Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov is the first to make a spacewalk (1965). And reports about the launches of more and more new satellites and missiles soon became so commonplace that in the USSR they no longer paid attention to them. 
equalize
Whatever the Americans did, everywhere in those years they were only second. It became a matter of honor for them to equalize the situation with the Soviets. And the then US President John F. Kennedy (who came to power with promises to overtake the USSR in space) laid the foundations for the ambitious task of landing a man on the moon. The famous Apollo program was launched, which over the years will make the score in the space race 1:1.
6. The USSR, by the way, had its own lunar program. However, Moscow did not particularly plan to land a man on the moon, limiting itself to unmanned vehicles and moon rovers. And again, the Russians were the first in this regard: already in 1959. Soviet stations reached the moon and even photographed its far side. 
But the main emphasis in those years was placed by Moscow on human exploration of near space and the construction of an orbital station. The Americans took advantage of this to seize the initiative. No efforts, no means, no time were spared for the space race. As a result, the project of landing an American on the moon went down in history as one of the most expensive projects in the history of astronautics.
7. The first major success of the Americans was a manned flight around the moon on the apparatus "Apollo 8" in 1968. Finally, the US could claim to have done something cosmically outstanding as the first in the world. But the true goal was achieved a year later - footage of the famous landing on the moon of Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin flew around the world. 
It was a real victory for the US (although the authenticity of the footage is still disputed by skeptics). American propaganda did not fail to take advantage of the success - in textbooks and articles of that time and later, it became the norm to hush up the previous achievements of the USSR, and the history of space exploration began immediately with the landing on the moon.
In space - on an equal footing
8. The balance of the two space powers coincided with some warming of relations between the USSR and the USA. The parties opposing on all fronts in the 70s suddenly tried to see a partner in each other. The result of this peering was the famous Soyuz-Apollo docking. 
In 1972 Moscow and Washington have agreed to cooperate in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes. Three years later, with a difference of several hours, two spacecraft, Soyuz-19 and Apollo, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome and Cape Canaveral, and two days later a historic meeting of the two crews took place in orbit.
During the joint docking, some elements of space aerobatics were worked out, and a number of scientific experiments were also carried out. Unfortunately, on this the paths of the two powers diverged again - the USSR suspected the Americans of military space exploration, and a strip of alienation again ran between the countries.
Overtaking and change of leader
9. From the lunar program, the United States moved on to the creation of a reusable space shuttle. And here the USSR, at that time successfully (unlike the Americans) developing orbital stations, for the first time found itself in the role of catching up. And while imperfect, uneconomical, but already working shuttles started at Cape Canaveral, the USSR was only developing its own system, which later received the name "Energy" - "Buran". 
Alas and ah, but the first flight in 1988. turned out to be the last for Buran - the country was shaken by political events, the economy was bursting at the seams, and the program was curtailed. Soon the USSR collapsed, and the confrontation between the two great powers ended - cooperation began, primarily on the ISS.
10. Since then, the leadership in space belongs to the American NASA - it is they who now have the most ambitious programs. There is an economic motive here: of the $68 billion spent on space in 2009, the US agency accounted for nearly $50 billion of spending. Currently, the new James Webb space telescope is being prepared for launch, unmanned vehicles are being equipped to the far corners of our solar system, preparations are in full swing for the launch of an advanced rover. And deployed during the space race, the GPS system has become the world leader in global positioning. 
Russia, for the time being, is content with second place - the legacy of the USSR and subsequent developments allow it to maintain significant positions in space, although not the first. The services of our launch vehicles are in great demand on the world market, and technologies developed for Soviet orbital stations are being introduced to the ISS with might and main. True, poverty served the fact that Russia managed to become the first in the field of space tourism - it was on the Russian Soyuz that the first person who paid for the flight out of his own pocket went to the ISS. But there are no big breakthroughs for objective reasons yet. The alternative to GPS, the GLONASS system, although it has a number of technological advantages, is still quite crude, and its large-scale commercial use, not only in the external, but also in the domestic market, is still in question.
Rise of the dragon
11. Meanwhile, the other powers did not sit idly by. Back in the 1960s, the leadership of many countries concluded that world leadership is impossible without a serious space program. But an active exit from the cosmic shadow began with the termination of the race between the USSR and the USA. 
12. So far, China is advancing most successfully and aggressively in this direction. Its claims to the title of a world space power are obvious to everyone: in a short time, a program for flights of taikonauts (Chinese cosmonauts) into orbit was implemented, and the launch of the Chinese into space is about to become regular. In the near future - the creation of its own orbital station and landing on the moon (though unmanned). 
Significant space successes have been achieved by Japan and Europe. Despite the lack of their own manned programs, they have been quite successfully developing space projects for more than a decade, launching satellites and probes to various objects in the solar system.
13. Among the developing countries, India has a serious space program. The Indians have not yet made their own manned flights into space, but they are actively developing launch vehicles, launching satellites and developing their own reusable spacecraft. Like any other decent space power, India has its own plans for the Moon, again unmanned. Yes, in 2008 the first Indian-made lunar probe flew to this satellite of the Earth. 
Both China and India are actively cooperating with Russia, drawing on the experience and technologies developed by Soviet and Russian scientists.
There are more and more participants in the current space race: Brazil, Israel, and even North Korea and Iran. A total of 27 countries have their own space programs of varying degrees of development, although only three of them were able to independently launch a person into space. Which of them will become the leader, time will tell. But it is already obvious now: for further space breakthroughs, the forces and means of one country are becoming insufficient, and the path to the development of new spaces lies through international cooperation, the first example of which was the very same ISS. (FROM INET)
