Although the Soviet Union, now the Russian Federation, has never sent an astronaut to the Moon, they still helped pave the way for human space exploration.
The cosmonaut from Russia holds the record for the longest consecutive stay in space. Valery Polyakov, a cosmonaut from Soviet-era Russia who set the record for most consecutive days spent in space, has died at the age of 80.
Cosmonaut Valery Polyakov, who logged the single longest stay in space, has died at the age of 80. Polyakov launched on two missions to the space station Mir. In total, he was off Earth for 678 days.
Seeking to demonstrate the safety of long space missions, he worked out on his trip and returned 437 days later looking “like he could wrestle a bear,” one astronaut said.
March 11, 2021 at 2:26 pm
The Space Race began in earnest on 4 October 1957, when the Soviets launched Sputnik, the world’s first artificial satellite. Sputnik I orbited Earth roughly once every 96 minutes and was tracked by Soviet scientists for about 21 days, before its batteries died on 26 October 1958.
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The USSR had begun the race to conquer space. On 4 January 1958, Sputnik I fell back towards Earth, burning up on re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere, but by that stage the Soviets had already launched Sputnik II on 3 November 1957, carrying the dog Laika into Earth orbit.
The Soviets has shown it was possible to put animals in space, and from that day forward the launch of human beings seemed more of a possibility. Now it was up to the USA to show that they could compete with the space-faring successes enjoyed by the USSR