The USSR’s ambitious space exploration plans foundered due to the lack of a viable rocket system. We’re almost four decades away from the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War.

Katie has a PhD in maths, specializing in the intersection of dynamical systems and number theory. She reports on topics from maths and history to society and animals. Katie has a PhD in maths, ...

Sixty-eight years ago, on November 3, 1957, a historic event unfolded when Laika, a small stray dog from Moscow, became the first living creature to orbit Earth aboard the Soviet spacecraft Sputnik 2, ...

Description: The two prime crews of the joint U.S.-USSR Apollo Soyuz Test Project (ASTP) sit atop ASTP mock-ups at JSC to symbolize their historic docking in Earth orbit mission schedules for summer ...

The USSR’s ambitious Mars mission was initially planned to launch in 1975, but it was never executed. During the Cold War, significant advancements occurred in the fields of science and technology as ...

That’s where the USSR’s Heavy Interplanetary Vessel (TMK) comes into the picture. Conceived during the height of the Space Race of the Cold War, the TMK program endeavored to send crewed missions to ...