Early Russian-Soviet efforts
The theory of space exploration had a solid basis in the Russian Empire before the First World War with the writings of the Russian and Soviet … See more

Unlike the American space program, which had NASA as a single coordinating structure directed by its administrator, James Webb through most of the 1960s, the USSR's program was split between several competing design groups. Despite the remarkable … See more

The Soviet space program had withheld information on its projects predating the success of Sputnik, the world's first artificial satellite. In fact, when the Sputnik project was first … See more

Accidents and cover-ups
The Soviet space program experienced a number of fatal incidents and failures.
The first official cosmonaut fatality during training occurred … See more

The Soviet space program was tied to the USSR's Five-Year Plans and from the start was reliant on support from the Soviet military. Although he … See more

Korolev died in January 1966, following a routine operation that uncovered colon cancer, from complications of heart disease and severe … See more

Completed projects
The Soviet space program's projects include:
• See more