Buzz
The Space Race was a fierce competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, beginning immediately after World War II and gradually tapering off after Neil Armstrong's historic moon landing on July 20, 1969. The U.S. emerged victorious, and the race came to a sudden end following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.
While many of us are familiar with certain Space Race highlights (like the U.S. contemplating a moon nuclear bomb), there are numerous lesser-known facts. For instance, Zambia’s involvement in the race, the Soviet Union’s offer to aid the U.S. space program, and even the Soviet Union’s own plans to bomb the moon.
10. Zambia Became Part of the Space Race
Zambia is a country not often mentioned. Nestled in south-central Africa, it's landlocked. In 1964, Zambia entered the Space Race with plans to land a man on the moon before either the U.S. or the Soviet Union. This was five years before Neil Armstrong's historic moonwalk.
The Zambian space initiative was a personal endeavor by Edward Mukuka Nkoloso, a schoolteacher and founder of Zambia’s National Academy of Science, Space Research and Philosophy. Mukuka enlisted twelve would-be astronauts, including a 16-year-old girl named Matha Mwamba, for his ambitious moon mission.
Mukuka’s space program faced significant financial challenges. The Zambian government showed little interest, and his requests for funding were dismissed by the United Nations, United States, Soviet Union, and Israel. Despite the lack of support, he pressed on, training his astronauts with a makeshift device – an old drum he found.
The aspiring astronauts would climb into the drum, which would then be rolled around a tree or down a hill to simulate the feeling of flight. Additionally, the astronauts were taught to walk on their hands, a technique Mukuka believed was the only way humans could move on the moon.
The entire program became so absurd that international journalists began to see it as a joke. Mukuka, however, never clarified whether it was a satire or a serious venture. He once told a reporter, 'I’ll be laughing the day I plant Zambia’s flag on the moon.'
The space program began to unravel when the trainee astronauts started demanding financial support. Two of Mukuka’s leading astronauts became intoxicated and never returned for training, while a third joined a film troupe. The program came to an end when the sole female trainee astronaut became pregnant.
9. Astronaut, Cosmonaut, Or Taikonaut?
Why do the United States, Soviet Union, and China use different terms for space travelers? NASA calls them astronauts, Russia refers to them as cosmonauts, and China uses the term taikonauts. (For this article, the term 'astronaut' is used to encompass astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts.)
This naming debate originated during the Space Race. The U.S. and the Soviets were such fierce competitors that they couldn't agree on a universal term for space explorers. The U.S. chose astronaut ('star sailor'), while the Soviets opted for cosmonaut ('cosmos sailor'). Astronauts from other countries traveling on Russian or American spacecraft use the term favored by the host nation.
China also created its own term for space explorers when it began launching humans into space. Initially, it considered calling them Chinanauts, but eventually settled on yuhangyuan ('space navigator'). However, the term taikonaut ('space sailor') became more widely used because it ends in 'naut,' making it easier for non-Chinese speakers to pronounce.
8. Playgrounds Were Designed to Inspire Interest in Space Travel
The Space Race even influenced playgrounds. During this era, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union designed school playground equipment meant to spark children's curiosity about space travel. Playgrounds featured structures that mimicked rockets, satellites, towers, submarines, and even planets.
Space-themed playground equipment in the U.S. began disappearing in 1973 when Congress established the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission became concerned with playground accidents and pushed for safer equipment designs. As a result, safety and practicality began to overshadow imaginative design.
The second blow came twenty years later when new regulations required that sand and rubber replace asphalt, dirt, and grass in playgrounds. Some schools opted to tear down their playgrounds rather than comply with the new standards.
7. The Soviet Union Offered the U.S. Technical Assistance Meant for Developing Nations
The Soviet Union ignited the Space Race when it launched Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957. Just a month later, it followed with Sputnik 2, carrying a dog named Laika. These events shocked the U.S., which had long considered itself the global leader in science and technology. In response, the U.S. decided to launch its own rockets.
The U.S. came close to launching its first successful rocket on December 6, 1957, when it attempted the Vanguard 1A. Over 100 reporters and television crews were on-site to cover the event. However, the Vanguard 1A barely lifted three feet off the ground before losing power and crashing in a dramatic fireball, all captured live on TV.
The U.S. quickly became the subject of ridicule. Journalists coined terms like 'flopnik' and 'kaputnik' to mock the failure. The New York Times even published an editorial criticizing the U.S. space program. Seizing the opportunity, the Soviet Union offered technical assistance to the U.S., intended for developing nations, but the U.S. rejected the offer.
6. The Soviets Had Plans to Nuke the Moon
Many are familiar with the infamous Project A119, a U.S. attempt to nuke the moon. Interestingly, the Soviet Union had similar plans. Neither nation had any practical purpose for such an action, aside from demonstrating their dominance in the Space Race.
The Soviet Union had plans to nuke the moon right after landing on it. The concept was to land a man on the moon, plant a flag, and then detonate a nuclear weapon to prove they had arrived first. The explosion's flash and mushroom cloud would be visible to people on Earth watching the event.
Later, the Soviets realized nuking the moon was a bad idea. With no atmosphere, a mushroom cloud would never form. The explosion's flash would be so brief that viewers on Earth wouldn't even notice. Instead, the Soviets decided to send turtles to the moon.
5. Some Believe the Soviet Union Won the Space Race
The U.S. is celebrated for winning the Space Race when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969. However, some argue that the Soviet Union was the true victor, as the moon landing was just one of the few space milestones the U.S. achieved, while the Soviets surpassed the U.S. in more areas.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the first satellite into orbit. That same year, they also sent the first animal into space. Four years later, on April 12, 1961, the Soviets made history again by sending the first man, Yuri Gagarin, into space.
After Gagarin’s historic flight, the Soviets sent two cosmonauts on the same mission, marking the first time two humans traveled to space together. In 1963, Valentina Tereshkova became the first woman to reach space, and two years later, Alexei Leonov made history by performing the first-ever spacewalk.
However, the Soviet Union could not sustain its lead in space due to financial limitations. The government needed funds for more pressing matters like food and housing for its citizens. This led to the decline of its space program, and it was soon surpassed by the U.S. The Soviet Union ultimately lost the race after the U.S. successfully landed on the moon.
4. Buzz Aldrin Should Have Been the First Man on the Moon
As the world eagerly awaited the Apollo 11 launch, there was speculation that Buzz Aldrin would be the first man on the moon. This seemed likely, given that the astronaut seated on the right in previous Gemini spacecraft (which Apollo replaced) was always the first to exit the spacecraft.
Although Aldrin was seated on the right in Apollo 11, the door of the spacecraft was moved to the left side. This design meant that the astronaut in the left seat—Neil Armstrong in this case—would be the first to exit. Aldrin would have to climb over Armstrong to take that honor.
Aldrin did attempt to climb over Armstrong during training on Earth, but he was unsuccessful and ended up damaging the test module in the process. Some NASA officials also believed that Neil Armstrong, as the module commander, deserved the honor of being the first to set foot on the moon.
3. The Space Race Was Essentially an Arms Race
Rockets are considered dual-use technology, meaning they can serve both peaceful and military purposes. Attach a space capsule or shuttle, and it becomes a spacecraft. Swap the capsule for a warhead, and it becomes an intercontinental ballistic missile. The Space Race was closely tied to the nuclear arms race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
After World War II, both the U.S. and the Soviet Union expanded their nuclear weapon programs. At the same time, both nations developed long-range capabilities to deliver these weapons to each other. The U.S. focused on long-range bombers, while the Soviets invested in long-range rockets.
The Soviet rockets, initially designed for military purposes, proved invaluable during the Space Race. In fact, they gave the Soviet Union an early advantage at the start of the competition.
The United States didn’t begin to take its rocket program seriously until the Soviets launched Sputnik 1 in 1957. The launch shocked President Eisenhower, who feared that the Soviets might use the same type of rockets to carry a warhead to the U.S. mainland. These concerns ultimately led to the onset of the space race.
2. The Space Shuttle Derailed the Soviet Space Program
Although Russia prefers to keep it a secret, the Soviet Union did indeed develop a space shuttle. Its design was remarkably similar to the American shuttle, and this was no accident; the Soviets had obtained the blueprints from NASA.
The U.S. had left the design plans for its space shuttle unclassified, making them available in public online databases. The KGB, the Soviet equivalent of the CIA, simply had to find these plans, which they did. The result was the Soviet space shuttle, which they named Buran.
The Soviets initially planned for Buran to dock with the Mir space station. However, the shuttle flew only once, in 1990, and was then abandoned. It never made it to the Mir space station and was decommissioned in 1994.
As mentioned earlier, the space shuttle program turned out to be costly for the U.S., but its impact was even more severe for the financially struggling Soviet Union. After pouring their limited resources into the failed shuttle project, their space program collapsed soon after. The Soviet Union's eventual collapse a year later only worsened the situation.
The stolen shuttle plans later became advantageous for the U.S. when a NASA shuttle successfully docked with the Mir space station in 1995. The shuttle utilized the same facilities that the Soviets had originally planned to use for Buran.
1. The US Air Force Mishandled the Space Shuttle Program
The space shuttle was meant to change the game for space travel. Early spacecraft were single-use rockets, while the shuttle was supposed to be reusable. NASA boasted that the shuttle would make spaceflight more affordable and predicted it would launch weekly for $20 million per flight.
That would have equaled around $1 billion for 50 flights a year—remarkably cheap for space travel. However, reality fell short. The space shuttle flew only 134 times over 29 years, from 1981 to 2010. The entire program cost NASA a whopping $209 billion, averaging around $1.6 billion per flight.
The shuttle’s range was limited to just a few hundred miles above Earth's atmosphere. This limitation was one of the main reasons astronauts never returned to the moon. Even worse, the shuttle turned out to be more dangerous than the rockets it replaced. Out of 134 flights, two shuttle missions ended in disasters, resulting in the loss of 14 astronauts. That's a troubling safety record for any aircraft.
The failure of the space shuttle was largely blamed on the US Air Force. The shuttle's initial design was sound, but the Air Force requested modifications so that it could launch US satellites and capture Soviet satellites. These changes necessitated larger fuel tanks and a bigger cargo bay than what had originally been planned.
Additionally, the Air Force wanted the shuttle to fly over the poles, enabling them to spy on the Soviet Union. This prompted NASA to construct a $4 billion launch facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California—yet this facility was never used.
The modified shuttle ultimately became a valuable asset to the US space program. Its larger size allowed it to carry out missions like launching the Hubble Space Telescope and delivering parts to the International Space Station. The original shuttle, with its smaller design, wouldn't have been capable of these tasks. In addition, the shuttle's success helped undermine the Soviet space program, as will be discussed later.
