Nazis in space, the Zambian space program and the joint flight to the moon.
The Nazis were the first in space
The first who managed to cross the Karman Line – the conditional border between the atmosphere of the Earth and space at an altitude of 100 kilometers above sea level – were the Nazis.
In 1944, the German V-2 ballistic missile crossed the Karman Line and completed the first suborbital space field, rising 188 kilometers.
By the way, the Soviet and American space programs originate from captured and modernized V-2 rockets.
Zambia also participated in the space race
In 1964, when Zambia became independent, school teacher Edward Makuki Nkoloso opened the National Academy of Sciences, Space Research and Philosophy of Zambia. And almost immediately he began training astronauts for space exploration.
According to Edward's plan, Zambia was to colonize not only the moon, but also Mars. The first expedition was to include a 17-year-old girl, Matu Mwambwu, and two cats. Moreover, they were to fly into space on a rocket made of copper and aluminum, which was no different from rockets in playgrounds. And it was planned to launch it with the help of a system of huge catapults from the central stadium of Zambia (well, at least not from a trampoline).
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The space race is believed to have begun on October 4, 1957, when the USSR launched Sputnik 1. This event so amazed the United States, which is accustomed to considering itself the most technologically advanced country, that they immediately began to retaliate.
But then the first failure awaited them. On December 6, 1957, the Americans tried to launch a rocket with an artificial satellite “Avangard TV3”. It rose one meter, then collapsed and exploded.
The United States immediately became the subject of jokes. American journalists dubbed this launch “kaputnik” and “upsnik”. And The New York Times even published a devastating article criticizing the American space program.
The Soviet Union also did not stand aside and offered America technical assistance intended for developing countries. The USA gloomily ignored such a generous offer.
Children's playgrounds
The space race was also reflected in playgrounds in the USA and the USSR. Both countries have designed them to spark children's interest in space travel. That is why many slides and ladders at that time were shaped like rockets, satellites and planets.
A little bit of fun: 5 myths about space that we believe in because of science fiction films.
Astronaut, cosmonaut, taikonaut – how is it right?
Answer: for each country in its own way. And again, all because of the space race. It was so tense that the USSR and the USA could not even agree on a common term. That is why in America they began to use the word “astronaut”, and in the Soviet Union – “cosmonaut”.
By the way, even China has come up with its own term “taikonaut”. But they did not come to him right away, at first there was a “Chinanaut”, then “Yuhanyuan”, but in the end they settled on a “Taikonaut”. Therefore, it has the usual ending “-navt” for everyone, and it is easier to pronounce for those who do not speak Chinese.
By the way, in Zambia, the failed space explorers were called “afronauts.”
The USA offered the USSR to jointly send people to the moon
At a meeting of the UN General Assembly in September 1963, US President John F. Kennedy proposed to cooperate in preparing lunar missions and to make a joint expedition.
But Nikita Khrushchev did not accept such an offer and said that the USSR would conquer the moon on its own. In some ways he could be understood. By that time, the Soviet Union was ahead of America in everything, and therefore it was unprofitable to agree to the offer of the weak side.
Who won the race?
It is now generally accepted that the United States won the space race when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon on July 20, 1969.
But some are inclined to believe that the USSR was the real winner. Because landing on the moon is just one of the achievements of the United States, while the Soviet Union has many more.
For example, the USSR was the first in 1957 to launch an artificial satellite into Earth's orbit. And in the same year he sent the first animal into space. (You can read about it here: On this day 63 years ago, the first dog flew into space.) And four years later, on April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first to fly into space. In 1963, the Soviets sent the first woman into space, Valentina Tereshkova. And two years later, Alexei Leonov made the first spacewalk.
So, if you count on the totality of achievements, the USSR is far ahead of America.
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