Failures:
During and after the Space Race there was a major failure for the Soviet Union and also a horrible failure for Americans. The Soviet Union was really close to being the first ever people to land on the moon first. They spent millions of dollars on shuttles and training, and surprisingly they were farther in advances and sending things up into space then the Americas. But they still didnt make it to finish line becuase the Americans still got there before they did.
This is what cosmonaunt Alexei Leonov had to say about the Soviets reaction to the Space Race, "Our people were convinced that we would be the first to land on the moon because they were used to the fact that we were always the first, the first, the first. Only we, the cosmonauts, and especially the moon crew, understood that this was not going to happen. It was not character; it was funding that played a role here. We knew that the U.S. had invested $25 billion. We had invested 2.5 billion rubles in the entire space program, for both manned and unmanned flights. This was ten times less. The moon crew understood that we had a capability to circumnavigate the moon six months earlier than Frank Borman, but we knew that we would not be able to land on the moon ahead of the astronauts."
The Americans then had a horrible disaster on January 28,1986, when the Challenger space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into flight. It leading into killing 7 crew members. Disintegration of the whole entire vechicle began after and O-ring sedal in its right solid rocket booster failed to work. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter. It was a very sad day for very many people.
This is what cosmonaunt Alexei Leonov had to say about the Soviets reaction to the Space Race, "Our people were convinced that we would be the first to land on the moon because they were used to the fact that we were always the first, the first, the first. Only we, the cosmonauts, and especially the moon crew, understood that this was not going to happen. It was not character; it was funding that played a role here. We knew that the U.S. had invested $25 billion. We had invested 2.5 billion rubles in the entire space program, for both manned and unmanned flights. This was ten times less. The moon crew understood that we had a capability to circumnavigate the moon six months earlier than Frank Borman, but we knew that we would not be able to land on the moon ahead of the astronauts."
The Americans then had a horrible disaster on January 28,1986, when the Challenger space shuttle broke apart 73 seconds into flight. It leading into killing 7 crew members. Disintegration of the whole entire vechicle began after and O-ring sedal in its right solid rocket booster failed to work. The O-ring failure caused a breach in the SRB joint it sealed, allowing pressurized hot gas from within the solid rocket motor to reach the outside and impinge upon the adjacent SRB attachment hardware and external fuel tank. This led to the separation of the right-hand SRB's aft attachment and the structural failure of the external tank. Aerodynamic forces promptly broke up the orbiter. It was a very sad day for very many people.
Space Shuttle Challenger's smoke plume
after in-flight breakup.
after in-flight breakup.
