Space Race

The Space Race, an informal competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, lasted roughly from 1957 to 1975. It involved the parallel efforts by each of those countries to explore outer space with artificial satellites, to send humans into space, and to land people on the moon.

Organization, funding and the economic impact

The huge expenditures and bureaucracy needed to organize successful space exploration led to the creation of national space agencies. The United States and the Soviet Union developed programs focused solely on the scientific and industrial requirements for these efforts.

Related Topics:
Bureaucracy - Space exploration

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On July 29 1958, President Eisenhower signed the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 establishing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). When it began operations on October 1 1958, NASA consisted mainly of the four laboratories and some 8,000 employees of the government's 46-year-old research agency for aeronautics, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). While its predecessor, NACA, operated on a $5 million budget, NASA funding rapidly accelerated to $5 billion per year, including huge sums for subcontractors from the private sector. The Apollo 11 moon landing, the high point of NASA's success, cost an estimated 20 to 25 billion USD.

Related Topics:
July 29 - 1958 - National Aeronautics and Space Act - NASA - October 1 - National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics - $ - Apollo 11

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Lack of reliable statistics makes it difficult to compare U.S. and Soviet space spending, especially during the Khruschev years. However in 1989, the then-Chief of Staff of the Soviet Armed Services, General M. Moiseyev, reported that the Soviet Union had allocated 6.9 billion rubles (about $4 billion) to its space program that year3. Other Soviet officials estimated that their total manned space expenses totalled about that amount over the entire duration of the programs, with some lower unofficial estimates of about four and half billion rubles. In addition to the murkiness of the figures, such comparisons must also take into account the likely effect of Soviet propaganda, which pursued the goal of making the Soviet Union look strong and of confusing the Western analysis.

Related Topics:
Ruble - 3

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Organizational issues, particularly internal rivalries, also plagued the Soviet effort. The USSR had nothing like NASA (the Russian Aviation and Space Agency originated only in the 1990s). Too many political issues in science and too many personal views handicapped Soviet progress. Every Soviet chief designer had to stand for his own ideas, looking for the patronage of a communist official. In 1964, between the various chief designers, the USSR was developing 30 different programmes of launcher and spacecraft design. Following the death of Korolev the Soviet space programme became reactive, attempting to maintain parity with the US. In 1974 the USSR reorganized their space program, creating the Energia project to duplicate the US Space Shuttle with Buran.

Related Topics:
Russian Aviation and Space Agency - 1990s - Energia - Space Shuttle - Buran

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The Soviets also operated in the face of an economic disadvantage. Although the Soviet economy was the second largest in the world, the US economy was the largest. Eventually the Soviets' inefficient organization and lack of funds led them to lose their early advantage. Some observers have argued that the high economic cost of the space race, along with the extremely expensive arms race, eventually deepened the economic crisis of the Soviet system during the late 1970's and 80's and was one of the factors that led to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Related Topics:
Arms race - Collapse of the Soviet Union

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