[Russkie]

1961: Soviets win space race
The Soviet Union has beaten the USA in the race to get the first man into space.
At just after 0700BST, Major Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin was fired from the Baikonur launch pad in Kazakhstan, Soviet central Asia, in the space craft Vostok (East).

Major Gagarin orbited the Earth for 108 minutes travelling at more than 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 kilometres per hour) before landing at an undisclosed location.

The Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev has congratulated Major Gagarin on his achievement.

He sent the cosmonaut a message from his holiday home on the Black Sea.

"The flight made by you opens up a new page in the history of mankind in its conquest of space," Mr Khrushchev said.

The Soviet news agency, Tass, made the first official announcement of Major Gagarin's flight at just before 0800BST.


National hero

Radio Moscow then interrupted its schedule to give details to a jubilant nation.

Major Gagarin's safe return has laid to rest worries that space flight would be fatal for humans.

It is also a blow to the Americans who had hoped to be the first to launch a man beyond Earth's atmosphere.

However, President Kennedy has congratulated the Soviets on their achievement.

It would be some time before the United States caught up with the Soviets in the fields of rocket boosters, the president added.

Rumours that a Soviet launch attempt was imminent began some days ago.

It was the culmination of two years of highly secretive training for Yuri Gagarin, 27, who beat off thousands of other hopefuls.

The previously obscure army major has returned to earth a national hero.

He has already been awarded the title of "Master of Radio Sport of the Soviet Union" and a big reception for him at the Kremlin in Red Square is being planned.

http://newssearch.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/april/12/newsid_2477000/2477715.stm

If a race was to the Moon, then they should of called it the 'Moon Race'. The launch to the Moon was a desperate act by the US, since they lost consecutatively in the 'Space Race'.

The moon landing was a propaganda tool.

[Attila The Nun]

The moon landing a propoganda tool? Oh, gee. That's so different from the Soviets.

[Maxim Litvinov]

If it was a 'Human Race To Space' it should have been called that. Instead it was called the 'Space Race'. So Sputnik won it.

[Attila The Nun]

It doesn't matter what country won some pissing contest or how

[Lokakyy]

It doesn't matter what country won some pissing contest or how

Agreed.
While I have nothing against space exploration or technology, the cold war space race was hardly anything else than a pissing contest of two bloated superpowers.

[The American Lion]

BTW Russkie! Where's the soviet flag on the moon!

[Russkie]

Read your history books or maybe your goverment dosen't print it. The soviets launched a robot probe to the moon, saving billions of dollars.

[Attila The Nun]

With that kind of attitude, why send any person to space ever?

[Red_Army]

Good question. I think the only motivation so far is to make otehr countries look bad.

[The American Lion]

Read your history books or maybe your goverment dosen't print it. The soviets launched a robot probe to the moon, saving billions of dollars.

I know, IT CRASHED LANDED ON THE MOON!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_15


Also your man-moon mission was a failer. Wasting billions of dollars. God thank god we took Van Braun before you Russians did.

[Steven_K]

Wasting billions of dollars.

So did yours...unless you can point to some benifit from the Apollo mission aside from national pride. Also, that's not a complete sentence.
Some help

[R_G]

Look, everyone knows the United States made up the whole " landing on the moon " simple video facts show, the flag waved when there is no air in space. Idiots Americans.

[Steven_K]

simple video facts show, the flag waved when there is no air in space. Roll eyes Idiots Americans.

The flags they used on the Apollo missions had a bar that extended horizontally. The astronauts intentionally didn't extend it the whole way so it would look like the flag was waving.

More info: http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.htm

[Einherjar]

Steve, your link is broken.

This responds to all questions.

The flags they used on the Apollo missions had a bar that extended horizontally. The astronauts intentionally didn't extend it the whole way so it would look like the flag was waving.

But the flag fluttered even in filmed clips. I can't understand how a half-extended bar would produce this effect.

[The American Lion]

Here is the corrected link
http://www.badastronomy.com/bad/tv/foxapollo.html#flag

Bad: When the astronauts are assembling the American flag, the flag waves. Kaysing says this must have been from an errant breeze on the set. A flag wouldn't wave in a vacuum.

Good: Of course a flag can wave in a vacuum. In the shot of the astronaut and the flag, the astronaut is rotating the pole on which the flag is mounted, trying to get it to stay up. The flag is mounted on one side on the pole, and along the top by another pole that sticks out to the side. In a vacuum or not, when you whip around the vertical pole, the flag will ``wave'', since it is attached at the top. The top will move first, then the cloth will follow along in a wave that moves down. This isn't air that is moving the flag, it's the cloth itself.

New stuff added March 1, 2001: Many HBs show a picture of an astronaut standing to one side of the flag, which still has a ripple in it (for example, see this famous image). The astronaut is not touching the flag, so how can it wave?

The answer is, it isn't waving. It looks like that because of the way the flag was deployed. The flag hangs from a horizontal rod which telescopes out from the vertical one. In Apollo 11, they couldn't get the rod to extend completely, so the flag didn't get stretched fully. It has a ripple in it, like a curtain that is not fully closed. In later flights, the astronauts didn't fully deploy it on purpose because they liked the way it looked. In other words, the flag looks like it is waving because the astronauts wanted it to look that way. Ironically, they did their job too well. It appears to have fooled a lot of people into thinking it waved.

This explanation comes from NASA's wonderful spaceflight web page. For those of you who are conspiracy minded, of course, this doesn't help because it comes from a NASA site. But it does explain why the flag looks as it does, and you will be hard pressed to find a video of the flag waving. And if it was a mistake caused by a breeze on the set where they faked this whole thing, don't you think the director would have tried for a second take? With all the money going to the hoax, they could afford the film!

Note added March 28, 2001: One more thing. Several readers have pointed out that if the flag is blowing in a breeze, why don't we see dust blowing around too? Somehow, the HBs' argument gets weaker the more you think about it.

[Andres]

Look, everyone knows the United States made up the whole " landing on the moon " simple video facts show, the flag waved when there is no air in space.

Ah, the smell of idiocy is so refreshing.
[/quote]

[R_G]

The radar they used to confirm the landings on the moon was radar only capable of use on earth.

[ZBrisk]

For the record, I don't associate myself with Soviet_Guy or any other Apollo hoax conspiracy theorists, and neither do the other reds on this forum (I hope.)

[Boondock Saint]

the flag waved when there is no air in space

Of course there is air. It may not be breathable but there is most certainly air in space.

Space is not a complete vacuum.

[Russkie]

The Astronaunts should of opened their helmets while they were on the moon to breathe the fresh air.

I would love to see their heads explode from being depressurized.