Happy Cosmonautics Day

This entry was written by Stanislav , posted on Thursday April 12 2012 , filed under NonLoper . Bookmark the permalink . Post a comment below or leave a trackback: Trackback URL.

16 Responses to “Happy Cosmonautics Day”

  • The rednecks didn't kill the American space program. The bureaucrats and neo-Puritans who want to "solve our problems here on Earth, first" did that.

    Aside from that, good infographic.

    • Stanislav says:

      Dear Rudolf Winestock,

      > The rednecks didn’t kill the American space program.

      I didn't think so. The picture is merely a cruel caricature, like a surrendering Frenchman or a German in a Pickelhaube.

      > The bureaucrats and neo-Puritans who want to “solve our problems here on Earth, first” did that.

      I though it was the nation going broke which did it.

      Yours,
      -Stanislav

      • Munch says:

        I distinctly remember the USSR was going broke at that time too. The only difference is the USSR actually had a vision, and didn't let money issues interfere. We're a country of spineless bean-counters, not doers.

  • Dennis says:

    After the USSR collapsed there was less and less political need to have NASA functioning.

    • Chris Smith says:

      Did it ever function? Apollo was a mess and that piece of junk known as the space shuttle was a fine political cock up i.e expensive, over engineered and a death trap... The moment they get clue, Obama pisses on the party.

      I'm glad I'm in the UK otherwise I'd be really annoyed.

  • RS says:

    As many successes and firsts as the Soviet space program had, the message is a bit diluted by including the space station. If you're going to observe that two US shuttles blew up, you could also point out that it wasn't until after Skylab was already up and had a couple of missions under it's belt that a Cosmonaut actually made it to a Soviet space station and back to earth with his life. Just sayin.

  • Astronerd says:

    This is a fun little comic, but it's pretty misleading. The USSR was certainly
    whooping the US at the beginning of the space race, but they fell behind
    in the 60's and there are many achievements by the US that they simply
    never equaled. It also leaves out a lot of US firsts, like the first rendezvous in space.

    The USSR only beat the US to the "man in space" by a few weeks, and unlike
    Alan Sheppard, Yuri Gagarin did not actually control his craft at all and
    didn't even land with it (a fact the USSR hid because it violates the rules
    on aeronautics records).

    The first woman in space is a rather weak argument since it's not a real
    demonstration of equality, it was done purely for propaganda. Women
    weren't allowed to be cosmonauts until 2 years after the US started
    allowing women astronauts.

    The mid-60s is where the USSR started to really fall behind, and some of
    their last few firsts were accomplished in a rushed/slightly dangerous manner.

    The US did the first docking of 2 craft in space. We started doing missions
    long enough to do actual work. We did EVAs where actual work was done.

    The US launched the first craft that was capable of changing it's orbit.

    We orbited the moon first.

    We sent more probes, farther than the USSR did.

    etc etc...so yes...we won the space race in the end, but the Soviet program
    was/is impressive nonetheless.

  • ErisGuy says:

    With any luck, Putin will restore the USSR (under a different name); it will merge with the EU, and the combined country can go on to have many joyful firsts.

  • Dennis says:

    I must point out, Stanislav, that this too has been done before with some success.

    • Stanislav says:

      Dear Dennis,

      Which of the examples you are thinking of resulted in something even vaguely resembling the original Roman Empire (in some way other than purely geographically?)

      There will be new empires in the future. But they won't be Roman - or Soviet. History "rhymes," but does not repeat itself.

      Yours,
      -Stanislav

  • Dennis says:

    Both Mussolini and Hitler adopted a Roman Empire theme for their reign; that's what I was referring to.

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