A History Of The Space Race: Recent Episodes
Albert Lai
Detailed history of the Space Race, from the International Geophysical Year and the launch of Sputnik to the Apollo Program and the moon landing. Visit the website at www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com
Credit for background theme music to: Superepic by Alexander Nakarada | https://www.serpentsoundstudios.com Music promoted by https://www.chosic.com Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
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
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 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
NASA launches the first Gemini spacecraft and begins to prepare for first manned Gemini mission toward the end of 1964. (No photos this episode!)
By 1964, the major design decisions for the Apollo command module and the lunar excursion module have been made, and the flight testing process began. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-28-apollo-spacecraft
After a series of failures, the Ranger Program will finally return the first American photos of the moon in July 1964. These photos, the first closeup photos of the moon taken by anyone, will be considered the turning point when the United States began to overtake the Soviet Union in space exploration. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-28-turning-point-revisiting-ranger
By mid-1964, the Soviet Union finally decides to embark on a manned lunar landing effort--three years after the United States aimed for the moon in the Apollo Program. But, from the beginning, the Soviet space program faced disorganization and mismanagement that hampered their efforts. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-27-soviet-lunar-landing-program
On September 20, 1963, President Kennedy suggests for the second time that the United States and the Soviet Union attempt a joint moon landing. On November 1, 1963, Premier Khrushchev stated that the proposal would be given due consideration, and that it was a fine idea for an American and a Soviet to fly to the moon together. History would intervene to prevent this from ever happening. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-26-joint-moon-landing
A change in management over the Apollo Program leads to the stunning decision to engage in all-up testing for the Saturn V rocket, a necessity if there was going to be any chance of landing on the moon before 1970. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-25-reprogramming-apollo
After being reprogrammed to keep costs down in September 1962, the cost of the Gemini Program suddenly rises again in March 1963. In response, the manager of the Gemini Program is swapped out, and Gemini is reprogrammed again in the midst of numerous technical problems. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-24-gemini-in-trouble-again
Sergei Korolev proposes the first challenge to the Apollo Program. But his plans for to get to the moon with the N1 rocket encounters serious problems. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-23-the-n1-rocket
In June 1963, the Soviet Union launched the first woman into space as part of a second multi-spacecraft mission with Vostok 5 and Vostok 6. After the mission, those involved in the Soviet space program, such as Sergei Korolev, will refuse to send another woman to space again. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-22-the-first-woman
The Mercury Program comes to an end by mid-1963 after successfully completing a full day mission during Mercury-Atlas 9. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-21-mercury-s-sunset
Rising Cold War tensions lead in October 1962 to the Cuban Missile Crisis. In the aftermath of this crisis, the Soviet Union and the United States seek a detente in relations. This search for an understanding in relations will begin in outer space. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-19-space-for-peace
The cost of America's mission to land on the moon is increasing. As NASA defends its rising budget requests for the Apollo Program, the Soviets launch the first multiple spacecraft mission with Vostok 3 and 4, and President Kennedy gives his famous speech at Rice University defending the Apollo Program. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-18-tandem-flights-to-the-rescue
Gemini undergoes reprogramming in late 1962 in response to spiraling costs and limitations on budget. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-18-gemini-in-trouble
To land on the moon, NASA needed to build a lunar lander. To build that lander, NASA needed to know what the lunar surface was like. To fulfill this need, NASA turned to the Ranger Program.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-17-the-ranger-program
In mid-1962, NASA selects the mode for getting to the moon. This momentous decision finalizes how the Unitrd States will achieve a lunar landing and will eventually spark a response from the Soviet Union to the Apollo Program. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-16-lunar-orbital-rendezvous
While NASA is building the groundwork to eventually perform a manned landing on the moon, the Soviet Union's manned space exploration efforts remain disorganized, confused, and underfunded. Sergei Korolev, however, continues to dream and proposed a manned circumlunar flight. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-15-the-origins-of-soyuz
NASA finally sends the first American astronauts into orbital flight in the first half of 1962. Having reached a measure of parity with the Soviets in manned spaceflight, possibilities for cooperation between the two superpowers emerge for the first time. Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-14-mercury-orbits
NASA realizes it needs to learn rendezvous to get to the moon and establishes the Gemini Program to do this.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-13-the-gemini-program
NASA starts reorganizing, building new facilities, awarding major contracts, and designing new rockets to get to the moon before the end of the decade.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-12-the-apollo-program
The president has said the nation will land a man on the moon, but the nation was struggling just to put an astronaut in orbit.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-11-racing-for-orbits
Yuri Gagarin makes it to space first. But the Americans aren't far behind.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-9-vostok-1
Project Mercury encounters its darkest hour in the latter half of 1960 under the scrutiny of a presidential election.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-8-man-rating-mercury
Sergei Korolev advances toward a manned spaceflight with the Object K spacecraft.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-7-korabl-sputnik
NASA begins to focus of achieving the first manned spaceflight.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-6-project-mercury
After Sputnik, the United States centralized its space program under a single institution, NASA. The Soviet space program on the other hand became decentralized and less coherent.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-5-soviet-space-program
This episode discusses the creation if NASA, its initial facilities, and its initial tasks.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-4-nasa
The United States tries to reach the moon first with lunar probes under the Pioneer program. But the Soviet Union's Luna probes get there first.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-3-shooting-for-the-moon
The Soviet Union defied expectations to launch the first satellite before the United States. This episode explains how that happened.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode-2-sputnik
The decision to go to outer space originated from the International Geophysical Year of 1957-58.
Photos: https://www.spaceracehistorypodcast.com/post/episode1