Fifty-two years ago today, the Soviet Union send a basketball-sized metal ball into orbit—and changed the planet forever.
Sputnik shocked America and the world. Suddenly, we were in a battle for the “high ground” of space. And we were badly behind. Following the launch of the first-ever satellite, the Soviets expanded their lead.
They sent heavier and [...]

You probably don’t remember the name Pavel Popovich. He was big news in 1962. That’s a long time ago, and more memorable space achievement occurred both before and after his historic flight.
But in August 1962, Popovich piloted the fourth manned Soviet space mission, Vostok 4. The year before, Yuri Gagarin became the first man in [...]

In the 1970s, the Soviets designed a military space station called Almaz. Under the guise of the non-mThe military program operated briefly, and two stations—called Salyut 3 and Salyut 5—were tested and used. Then, in 1978, the Soviets abandoned the program, deciding that unmanned satellites were more cost-efficient spies than manned space stations.
Now, a private [...]

In the late 1950s and 1960s, the Soviet Union performed one incredible feat after another in space. But they had a serious problem with Venus.
From February 1961 through November 1965, the Soviet Union tried a dozen times to get a probe to send data from Venus. Only three got there; they were called Venera 1, [...]

There is a past with wheeled vehicles—both robotic and with human passengers—riding on the lunar surface. And, if all goes well, more wheeled vehicles will roll across the moon in the future.

Apollo and Lunakhod
The first wheeled lunar rover was the unmanned Soviet Lunakhod 1. It was carried to the surface by Luna 17 in 1970. [...]

The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter—to be launch in July 2009—is expected to take photos of the old Apollo lunar landing sites, and more.
History in pictures
From orbit, even with powerful cameras, the images will be tiny and few details will be available. But, whatever it gets, the LRO will (if all goes well) get the first images [...]

Forty-eight years ago today, Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space. He rode the Soviet spaceship Vostok 1 into orbit, shocking America and the world with a major PR coup…and an incredible achievement.
Not the best pilot
Gagarin was s good pilot, but not the best. Cosmonaut Gherman Titov, who’s flight followed Gagain’s, was widely [...]

While America was rushing towards its first moon landing, the USSR was struggling. Its N1 moon rocket failed. They had a good spacecraft (Soyuz), but no way to get it (and its cosmonauts) to the moon.
Still, they were desperate to do something. They wanted to steal the thunder from the United States. And they hoped [...]

In the mid-1960s, the Soviet Union began developing a space plane. The vehicle was to be carried aloft by a large airplane, and then released to be rocketed into orbit. To me, this sounds like the X-15 on steroids. It was nicknamed “Spiral.”
A Space Plane for An Early Cosmonaut?
Gherman Titov, an early cosmonaut and the [...]

You know about the Challenger, which disintegrated shortly after launch, killing seven astronauts. And you remember Columbia’s fatal flight in 2003. But what about the Shuttle disaster in 2002?
The shuttle that was destroyed was called Buran. Still unfamiliar?
One Successful Flight

Buran (a Russian word meaning “snowstorm”) was a Soviet space shuttle. The vehicle heavily “borrowed” from [...]