The Post Quiz: Who Won the Space Race? Answers

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Oh, so long ago, that space race.

Who Won the Space Race? Answers

The answer to the quiz title – Who won the space race? – is simple. We all did. If it took a contest to get those governments to cough up the resources for exploration, we can live with that. Humans got there.

FIRSTRussian/SovietUSA
First 'rocket equation'Russian. 1879, Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky. That's why they named a ship after him in Star Trek. 
First liquid fuel rocket USA. Robert Goddard, on 16 March 1926. Flew for 2.5 seconds, wow.
First satelliteUSSR. Sputnik started beeping in October 1957, and scared the USA half to death. The space race was on. 
First human in spaceUSSR. 12 April 1961, Yuri Gagarin. 'The Earth is blue.' Who knew? 
First scientific discovery by spacecraft USA. 31 January 1958. Van Allen Belts. Cool; this is good for something.
First artificial planet of the SunUSSR. January 1959. Lunar 1 flew right past the moon and made history. 
First woman in spaceUSSR. Valentina Tereshkova, in June 1963. One giant leap for womankind. 
First humans on moon USA. Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, 20 July 1969. They came in peace.
First spacecraft to pass Jupiter USA. 3 December 1973, Pioneer 10 passed Jupiter on its way out of the solar system. Boldly going.
First international cooperative space flightUSSR ANDUSA. Finally doing it together. Apollo and Soyuz docked on 18 July 1975. Astronauts and cosmonauts had dinner together. Pass the borscht, tovarich.

Now, aren't you glad you know all that? Isn't ancient history fun?

A rocket enthusiast.
Post Quiz and Oddities Archive

Dmitri Gheorgheni

23.01.17 Front Page

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