209
See also: The Space Race 242–49 ■ Exploring the solar system 260–67 ■
Exploring Mars 318–25
NEW WINDOWS ON THE UNIVERSE
of the world’s first intercontinental
ballistic missile in 1953. During an
extraordinarily successful career,
he would go on to have several
more, each time catching the
US by surprise. (He was aided
by the fact that the Soviet space
agency could keep its plans secret,
while those of its US rivals were
announced at press conferences.)
In 1957, Korolev launched a dog,
Laika, into orbit, which prepared
the way for the first man in space
in 1961, and the first woman in
- Two years later this was
followed by the first two-man
crew and first spacewalk.
The Space Race
However, it was the launch of
Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, that
was to have the biggest impact on
American public opinion. Russia
was routinely caricatured in the
US media as a backward country,
but the launch of Sputnik was
undeniable evidence of Soviet
technological superiority, and
soon stoked Cold War paranoia.
The orbiting “red moon” raised
the possibility of nuclear bombs
raining down on American cities,
and the fears it aroused were seized
upon by political opponents of
US president Eisenhower.
When the Soviets put the first
man in space in 1961, NASA’s
press officer, woken by a 4:30 a.m.
call, said, “We’re all asleep down
here.” The next day’s headline
read: “Soviets put man in space.
Spokesman says US asleep.” The
perceived technological gap kick-
started the US space program and
resulted in the Apollo missions.
With Korolev’s sudden death in
1966, the Soviets’ winning streak
ended. Their space program had
lost the magnetic personality that
held a vast, complex enterprise
together, and became embroiled
in politics and bureaucracy. It
is intriguing to wonder whether
the Soviet Union might have put
the first man on the moon with
Korolev at the helm. Instead,
the US gained the initiative and
achieved that goal in July 1969. ■Sputnik 1 was a relatively simple
craft, comprising a metal sphere
containing radio, batteries, and
a thermometer. Its psychological
impact on the US was immense.The time will come
when a spacecraft
carrying human beings
will leave the Earth and
set out on a voyage to
distant planets—
to remote worlds.
Sergei KorolevSergei Korolev
Born in 1906, Sergei Pavlovich
Korolev studied under the
aircraft design pioneer Andrei
Tupolev, becoming the chief
engineer at Russia’s Jet
Propulsion Research Institute
by the mid-1930s. In 1938,
however, he was a victim of
Stalin’s purges. Denounced
by his colleagues, Korolev was
tortured and sent to the gulag
in eastern Siberia, where he
worked in a gold mine and
contracted scurvy.
Released in 1944, he was
appointed head of the secret
Scientific Research Insitute
No. 88—the Soviet space
program. Korolev won political
favor with his idea for Sputnik
1—a heavier artificial satellite
than the Americans were
capable of launching at the
time. Larger-than-life, Korolev
had a roaring temper and was
prone to shouting expletives.
But, despite his bearlike frame
and limitless energy, he was
weaker than he appeared.
Korolev had suffered a heart
attack in the gulag. He could
not turn his neck and his jaw
had been broken so badly that
it hurt for him to laugh. He
died during routine colon
surgery in 1966.