„Sapere aude” - A Szegedi Történészhallgatók Egyesületének Második Konferenciájának tanulmánykötete

A szovjet Hold-program kudarca, avagy hogyan veszítsünk el egy űrversenyt?

Kiss Szandra The Soviets, despite their initial advantage and early priorities (Sputnik-1, Luna-3, Gagarin's spaceflight, Tereshkova's spaceflight, Leonov's spacewalk), lagged the Americans in the race to land on the moon. While the Americans consciously organized prepared to fulfill the promise of U.S. President John F. Kennedy, the Soviets seemed unprepared to send a man to the moon. What led to the Soviets still falling short of their rivals despite their supposed significant advantage? Was accommodation on the Soviet Moon a reality at all? What events and factors hindered Soviet scientists, engineers and designers working on space programs?

The reasons why the Soviets eventually failed to compete for accommodation on the Moon are multifaceted, with many wrong decisions and system failures contributing to the failure as much as major events and problems.

Keywords: Soviet Lunar programs, Korolev, N-1 rocket, space race