1 year before?

[michaelreader]

Had the soviets landed on the moon in June of '68, would this have pushed the Americans even further by leaps and bounds, head and shoulders to do something that the Soviet space program could only dream about? Where would this take the space race to?

 

[COLGeek]

Who knows? It would only be speculation to ponder that now.

 

[michaelreader]

Who knows? It would only be speculation to ponder that now.

Would the nasa space program feel demoralized?

 

[COLGeek]

Would the nasa space program feel demoralized?

Same answer.

What do you think?

 

[Rob77]

Would the nasa space program feel demoralized?

Doubt it, Russians were the first to put man in space, but don't think it slowed NASA's space program.
JFK promised to put a man on moon by end of decade, so they were probably held to that.

 

[billslugg]

1963 US GDP was $637B
1963 USSR GDP wa $228B

The US had three times the resources to draw upon in the sixties than the USSR did. The Apollo program consumed 4% of our GDP in the busiest years. It would have taken the Soviets maybe 12% of theirs to equal us. A big stretch.

 

[michaelreader]

1963 US GDP was $637B
1963 USSR GDP wa $228B

The US had three times the resources to draw upon in the sixties than the USSR did. The Apollo program consumed 4% of our GDP in the busiest years. It would have taken the Soviets maybe 12% of theirs to equal us. A big stretch.

But on apple for all mankind assuming the soviets had landed first in june of 68, how big of a blow would this have been to the nasa space program then?

 

[COLGeek]

As you have yet to offer your thoughts. Who knows what would of, could have, or should have happened in regards to your hypothetical question.

I wouldn't base anything on a TV show.

 

[billslugg]

But on apple for all mankind assuming the soviets had landed first in june of 68, how big of a blow would this have been to the nasa space program then?

"But on apple for all mankind" ???

 

[contrarian]

The US had three times the resources to draw upon in the sixties than the USSR did.

We also had the best rocket scientists, captured after WWII (Wernher von Braun, et al.).

The primary reason the Soviets beat us into space was because we were working on ICBMs during the 1950s to annihilate them.

 

[michaelreader]

If cccp beat the usa to land first on the moon by 1968, what would nasa have done to retaliate? Would the soviets have humiliated the americans? Could this have proven that the soviets simply wanted it more badly...?

 

[Donald Sim]

It would, without a doubt have humiliated the US. The first Apollo landing would have probably still gone ahead. The subsequent ones, possibly not.
At least the conspiracy theorists would have more plausible tale, especially with how secretive the USSR was during the cold war?

 

[michaelreader]

It would, without a doubt have humiliated the US. The first Apollo landing would have probably still gone ahead. The subsequent ones, possibly not.
At least the conspiracy theorists would have more plausible tale, especially with how secretive the USSR was during the cold war?

Secretive?

 

[COLGeek]

Please don't start another thread on the same topic. Thank you.

 

[contrarian]

If cccp beat the usa to land first on the moon by 1968, what would nasa have done to retaliate?

The CCCP did beat NASA to the moon with Luna-9*, a robotic craft than soft-landed on 3 February 1966.

Curiously, that did not seem to get as much attention as Sputnik, but it sure got the attention of NASA. They retaliated by landing the first humans on the moon, beating the CCCP in that regard.

That is the end of this story.

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_9

 

[Hevach]

But on apple for all mankind assuming the soviets had landed first in june of 68, how big of a blow would this have been to the nasa space program then?

It would have been bad, but winning was almost as bad. The US government was treating NASA like a horse in a race, and the thing with that mentality is... At the end of the race the loser goes home and the winner goes home with a smile on their face.

The Apollo program lost political support as it was, with everything that came after being a diminished shadow of the dreams of the race. And that's after we won.

For All Mankind covers this. Apollo 11 was literally on the pad so it was too late to cancel, but 12 was an open question and 13 was in real doubt. It was 12's stunt with landing at the south pole that sparked the idea of the Race for the Base, but even then they had to repurpose parts meant for Skylab to build and launch Jamestown because there wasn't the political will to fund it until somebody managed to put dollar signs on the moon.