Space exploration program conducted by the Soviet Union from 1955 to 1991
USSR space program
Космическая программа СССР Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR
Launch of the first successful artificial satellite, Sputnik-1, from R-7 platform in 1957.
Formed
1955–1991
Dissolved
December 25, 1991
Manager
Sergei Korolev (1951–66)
Vasily Mishin (1966–74)
Valentin Glushko (1974–89)
Key people
Design Bureaus
Primary spaceport
Cosmodrome Baikonur, Plesetsk
First flight
Sputnik 1 (4 October 1957)
First crewed flight
Vostok 1 (12 April 1961)
Last flight
25 December 1991
Last crewed flight
Soyuz TM-13 (2 October 1991)
Successes
See accomplishments
Failures
See failures below
Partial failures
See partial or cancelled projects Soviet lunar program
Part of a series of articles on the
Soviet space program
Soviet crewed lunar programs
Luna program
Human spaceflight programs
Vostok
Voskhod
Soyuz
Salyut
Apollo–Soyuz (joint)
Mir
Zond (lunar Soyuz 7K-L1)
N1-L3 (Moon landing)
TMK (Mars flyby)
Spiral
Almaz / TKS
Energia / Buran
Space probes
Sputnik program
Kosmos
Bion
GLONASS
Molniya
Meteor
Zenit
Luna program
Zond program
Lunokhod program
Mars program
Phobos program
Marsnik program
Astron (spacecraft)
Orion 1 and Orion 2 Space Observatories
RELIKT-1
Venera
Vega program
Expendable launch vehicles
Kosmos-3M
Molniya-M
Proton
K
Soyuz
U
Zenit
2
Energia
Kosmos
1
2I
3
3M
N1
R-7
Luna
Molniya
Polyot
Soyuz
L
M
U2
Soyuz/Vostok
Sputnik
Voskhod
Vostok
L
K
2
2M
Tsyklon
2
3
Notable figures
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
Friedrich Zander
Mstislav Keldysh
Sergei Korolev
Laika
Yuri Gagarin
Alexander Kemurdzhian
Valentina Tereshkova
Alexei Leonov
Konstantin Feoktistov
Mikhail Tikhonravov
Mikhail Yangel
Valentin Glushko
Vladimir Chelomey
Kerim Kerimov
Vasily Mishin
Boris Chertok
Cosmonauts
List of Soviet and Russian cosmonauts
v
t
e
Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin—the first man in the outer space.
The Soviet space program[1] (Russian: Космическая программа СССР, romanized: Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) was the national space program of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), active from 1955 until the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991.[2]
Soviet investigations in rocketry began with the formation of a research laboratory in 1921, but these efforts were hampered by the devastating war with Germany[citation needed]. Competing in the Space Race with the United States and later with the European Union and China, the Soviet program was notable in setting many records in space exploration, including the first intercontinental missile (R-7 Semyorka) that launched the first satellite (Sputnik 1) and sent the first animal (Laika) into Earth orbit in 1957, and placed the first human in space in 1961, Yuri Gagarin. In addition, the Soviet program also saw the first woman in space, Valentina Tereshkova, in 1963 and the first spacewalk in 1965. Other milestones included computerized robotic missions exploring the Moon starting in 1959: being the first to reach the surface of the Moon, recording the first image of the far side of the Moon, and achieving the first soft landing on the Moon. The Soviet program also achieved the first space rover deployment with the Lunokhod programme in 1966, and sent the first robotic probe that automatically extracted a sample of lunar soil and brought it to Earth in 1970, Luna 16.[3][4] The Soviet program was also responsible for leading the first interplanetary probes to Venus and Mars and made successful soft landings on these planets in the 1960s and 1970s.[5] It put the first space station, Salyut 1, into low Earth orbit in 1971, and the first modular space station, Mir, in 1986.[6] Its Interkosmos program was also notable for sending the first citizen of a country other than the United States or Soviet Union into space.[7][8]
After WWII, the Soviet and US space programs both utilised German technology in their early efforts. Eventually, the program was managed under Sergei Korolev, who led the program based on unique ideas derived by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, sometimes known as the father of theoretical astronautics.[9] Contrary to its American, European, and Chinese competitors, who had their programs run under a single coordinating agency, the Soviet space program was divided and split among several internally competing design bureaus led by Korolev, Kerimov, Keldysh, Yangel, Glushko, Chelomey, Makeyev, Chertok and Reshetnev.[10]
The Soviet space program served as an important marker of Soviet claims to its global superpower status.[11]: 1
^Reichl, Eugen (2019). The Soviet Space Program: The Lunar Mission Years: 1959–1976. Atglen, PA: Schiffer Publishing, Limited. p. 160. ISBN 978-0-7643-5675-9. Retrieved May 22, 2022.
^"Space Race Timeline".
^"Famous firsts in space". cnn.com. Cable News Network. April 9, 2021. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
^Article title
^"Behind the Iron Curtain: The Soviet Venera program". August 26, 2020.
^Brian Dunbar (April 19, 2021). "50 Years Ago: Launch of Salyut, the World's First Space Station". NASA.gov. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved May 13, 2022.
^Sheehan, Michael (2007). The international politics of space. London: Routledge. pp. 59–61. ISBN 978-0-415-39917-3.
^Burgess, Colin; Hall, Rex (2008). The first Soviet cosmonaut team: their lives, legacy, and historical impact. Berlin: Springer. p. 331. ISBN 978-0-387-84823-5.
^"Home | AIAA". Archived from the original on January 4, 2012.
^"Postal Stationery Russia Airmail Envelope with Depiction of the Earth Being Orbited and Four Gold Stars". groundzerobooksltd.com. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
^Andrews, James T.; Siddiqi, Asif A. (2011). Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture. University of Pittsburgh Pre. ISBN 978-0-8229-7746-9.
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