Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by jandrese 458 days ago
> Then the Soviets pulled ahead with capabilities in LEO, which showed they also probably had "better" ICBMs.

In the US the story is that because Soviet nukes were more crude than the US versions, which made them heavier and bulkier so the Soviets had to build their rockets bigger to have enough range. When the focus shifted to putting a man in orbit having a larger rocket to start with was an advantage and allowed the Soviets to achieve a number of firsts.

I do agree that declaring the race suddenly over with a man on the moon was a case of taking the ball and going home.

1 comments

> I do agree that declaring the race suddenly over with a man on the moon was a case of taking the ball and going home.

See, I would characterize this differently-- after the US reached the Moon, Russia pretty much gave up-- gave up on the N1, Zond, etc.

They kept working on the N1 until 1974. Last crewed landing on the moon was 1972.