Question:
Could the russians have made it to the moon first?
2008-08-13 13:48:35 UTC
The man behind the USSR's space program in the early 60's, Sergey Korolyov had died during a failed surgeory in 1966 causing the project to be headed by the less influential Mishin who was pressured by the government to launch the Soyuz 1 before the mayday parade of 1967 when it hadn't even been properly tested and had a whopping 200 known technical problems which lead to the first fatality in astronautics history in the face of cosmonaut Komarov. The Soyuz 1 was the first step to the evntual plan to send a man to the moon, which was later abandonned after several other mishaps during the post-Korolyev era letting the americans get upo there in 1969 (IF you don't believe the infamous moon hoax theory ;) ).

Now here's a question - Korolyev was an able man, despite a wreck of a body after years in Siberia, which is proven by his several successes. Now if he had survived that surgeory (even though he was in horrible shape already, not being able to turn his neck for instance) could have he made the soviet landing in 1968 possible?

Your thoughts if you please.
Fifteen answers:
ericbryce2
2008-08-13 17:42:56 UTC
It is doubtful that they could have done it. The failure of the N-1 rocket

meant that the Russians could have only managed to beat the USA to the Moon only with a circumlunar flight but not a landing. The Soyuz was designed for a round the Moon flight and could have been achieved first but the people in charge of the program felt it too risky at the time. The Soyuz was barely man rated at the time and the first few flights were full of problems some resulting in loss of the crew. It was Apollo 8 that made that first circumlunar flight and at that point the Russians had no hope of landing a man on the Moon first.

.
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2016-05-28 07:41:45 UTC
What the hell? Look,find a really good telescope and look at the moon. See those Lunar Rovers we left behind? That's right,we're Americans and we not only put men on the moon,we took cars with us! Now,just how do you "fake" the landing site,with not only the bottom half of the Lunar Module still there,but the Lunar Rover and the Stars and Stripes? Why hasn't anyone else gone to the moon since we did it? Easy. Money and technology. It takes an ungodly sum of money to go to the moon. And as far as technology,we have the market cornered on that and we don't share. But fret not,the Chinese say they're going soon. They finally must have stolen all the technology they need from us. God knows those f*ckers have stolen everything else we have.
campbelp2002
2008-08-13 18:00:59 UTC
I don't think so. The Soviet program had too many problems for one man to fix, no matter how talented. Von Braun was able to do what Korolyov couldn't because he was in the United States and not the Soviet Union. Demonstrating this fact was actually the main reason Kennedy started the program in the first place.
Erik G
2008-08-13 15:04:46 UTC
I know it would be possible that our former Cold War enemies would have achieved their space dreams had they fixed many of their technological mistakes. My possibilities....



Had Sergei Korolyov never died in the failed surgery in 1966, his Soviet space program would have continued not just his survival but perhaps the resolution of between himself and rival scientist Chelomei by sharing the same data and results that would have led the success of their lunar program. Therefore the Russians would have won the Space Race by landing their first man on the Moon by 1969.



The reasons why Russia never sent their astronauts (or cosmonauts, the Russian equivalent) to the Moon through American victory is not just because of the downfall of the lunar program after Korolyov's death. Here they are:



1.) First, the program's funding overlapped many areas of research and engineering. The rockets that sent Gagarin and later cosmonauts to space, for example, were actually modified military missiles, or ICBMs.



2.) Second, rival groups had lack of focus and political in-fighting. They had the same goal of garnering the glory for themselves but never had its share with others. As I've mentioned earlier, Korolyov and Chelomei had the same aim of reaching the Moon and gathered their own data and results, but they never co-operated.



3.) Third, space programs were kept state secret. While the United States shared their scientific data to the public due to their freedom of the press, the Soviets only kept their latest technological projects, especially the latest lunar program, out of the public.



4.) Fourth, space projects that were not launched were canceled for political reasons. High levels of risk were taken, so there were several accidents and deaths that put Soviet space projects on hold or cancellation, including a few botched secret test launches of the giant N-1 booster that exploded during liftoff.



Back to the (would-have-been) Soviet Moon landing: The first cosmonaut's lunar steps would lead later lunar missions as a preparation for future lunar colonization. Salyut space stations would also develop space capsules and lunar rovers to the Moon, where the first moon base would be constructed by the end of the 1970s.



Meanwhile, for the US, their lunar missions would be put on hold. Future manned missions such as Skylab station and the space shuttles would either go on, be postponed indefinitely, or be officially terminated forever, leaving unmanned missions such as the Viking and Voyager space probes to continue as planned. Many of the funds for the manned programs would end up for either military uses or social programs (i.e., health care, education).
2008-08-13 14:11:11 UTC
They probably would have if they hadn't designed a totally awful rocket to do the job. The thing kept exploding. And it didn't help that they lacked a good infrastructure to transport the thing. The US had the intercoastal waterway that could ship large components directly from the factories. The russians had to assemble the entire rocket on site. Bad idea if your rocket is a plumbing nightmare. So the Russians gave up and declared there had never been a race. And the US kept going successfully and declared there was still a race.
2008-08-13 17:13:57 UTC
Probably not. Korolev was crucial to their success, but his untimely death was not their only failure. By 1967 the Soviets were well behind NASA in developing hardware and techniques. In addition, the Soviets had a higher hurdle to clear in that their hardware had to be fully-automated, "just in case." The rules in effect in 1968 or 1969 stipulated that hardware tests had to be unmanned and cover the whole mission profile.
Elizabeth H
2008-08-13 14:07:56 UTC
With Gagarin's death and the successive launch failures of the N1 booster in 1969, plans for a manned landing suffered first delay and then cancellation.



It was a Space Race and the USA won!
Doc
2008-08-13 13:59:04 UTC
*smirking* The old party line, "Our German (read Nazi) scientists are better than theirs!" It's doubtful that the U.S. would have gotten off the ground in any relative amount of time without the help of those Germans. The Russians got Sputnik into space a whole lot faster, it is then a safe assumption that they could have beaten us to the moon as well.
2008-08-13 13:53:37 UTC
I have no doubt that the Russians could have been able to be the first on the moon.



I mean, they were the first to launch a satellite into space...clearly they have enough talent.



But who knows? Maybe it would have crashed just before reaching the moon, or crashed ON the moon. We don't know.
2008-08-13 13:57:50 UTC
yes and if the muslims would have pushed past byzantine we would all be muslim now. if the world trade center never fell we wouldnt be fighting 2 wars right now. if hitler wouldnt have invaded poland there would be no israel.



and if your aunt had nuts she'd be your uncle.
wendy865
2008-08-13 13:52:10 UTC
Sure, why not. It was a space race, and we got there first. So it doesnt really matter, does it?
Patrick K
2008-08-13 13:52:39 UTC
He could have, but his body was in horrible shape so maybe he couldn't do it mentally.
Fat
2008-08-13 13:50:57 UTC
Maybe
Jon
2008-08-13 13:52:50 UTC
Possibly, but there would have to be proof.
2008-08-13 13:52:16 UTC
i think so


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