Yuri Gagarin Day
- Thread starter anon1
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Being the Soviets, he may not have had a choice. At least they didn't just leave him up there like the dog.
55 years is a long time. One of the best things that happened to the US was their massive investment in science/education based on fear of being outdone by the reds (now they have creationism 'museums' and bible theme parks.
The Americans did. They wanted to see if people could function in space as well as if they could bring them back safely. The Russians just sent a a dog with monitors attached and left it in orbit.
In their defense, it should be noted that Laika was a stray dog. The Animal Services might not approve, but shooting the strays into outer space is an effective and permanent solution to control their number. Somewhat expensive, of course. We should try that on our raccoons.
It is actually not true; the Soviets did test Vostok with animals before Gagarin. The first launches of Vostok were either with no crew or with animals that were recovered alive.
What you are refering to is Sputnik-2, which happened a few years before (1957) and technology then was simply not there yet for recovering a capsule.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korabl-Sputnik_2
And the Soviet space program was very advanced by the standards of 1960s; this was a cold war necessity as the Soviet Union needed a vehicle to successfully deliver an atomic bomb to Continental USA. The US in the other hand, had a massive fleet of strategic bombers and therefore rocket technology was not a strategic priority. Hence, the US did not have anything close to the R-7 family of rockets (Sputnik, Vostok, etc) until the Saturn rocket of the mid 60s finally close the gap and won the moon race.
But by the early 50s Soviet original designs had greatly improved the German V-2 blueprints, and Soviet rocket designers like Sergei Korolev had already surpassed any former Nazi scientific.
The US owes its rocket development to German Engineers. The Russian program was indigenous a few years after WW2.
...and the U.S.....Werner Von Braun.....
It's kinda like all these characters who claim to have conquered Everest, when really,....without the Sherpas, they wouldn't have stood a chance. Without the Germans.........
