Editing Soviet space program (section)

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{{Short description|Space exploration program conducted by the Soviet Union from 1951 to 1991}}
{{Use American English|date=July 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox space program by country
| name = Soviet space program 
| native_name = 
| native_name_a = {{langx|ru|Космическая программа СССР|Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR}}
| image = Roscosmos First Satellite documentary.ogv
| image_size = 
| caption = Launch of the first successful artificial satellite, [[Sputnik-1]], from [[R-7 Semyorka|R-7 platform]] in 1957
| formed = 1951
| dissolved = December 1, 1991<ref name="zavtra">[http://zavtra.ru/content/view/polveka-bez-korolyova/ Полвека без Королёва], zavtra.ru. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/20160628043911/http://zavtra.ru/content/view/polveka-bez-korolyova/ |date=28 June 2016 }}.</ref><ref>{{Cite wikisource |title=Resolution of the State Council of the Soviet Union of 14 November 1991 No. 13 |wslink=Постановление Государственного Совета СССР от 14.11.1991 № 13 |wslanguage=ru}}</ref>
| manager = {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Sergei Korolev]] (1951–66)
  | [[Vasily Mishin]] (1966–74)
  | [[Valentin Glushko]] (1974–89)
  }}
| key_people = [[OKB|Design Bureaus]]
| spaceport =  {{Unbulleted list
  | [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]]
  | [[Plesetsk Cosmodrome]]
  }}
| firstflight = [[Sputnik 1]]<br />(October 4, 1957) 
| firstcrewed = [[Vostok 1]]<br />(April 12, 1961)
| lastflight = 
| lastcrewed = [[Soyuz TM-13]]<br />(October 2, 1991)
| success = [[#Projects and accomplishments|See accomplishments]]
| failure = [[#Incidents, failures, and setbacks|See failures below]]
| partial = [[#Canceled projects|See partial or cancelled projects]]<br>[[Soviet crewed lunar programs|Soviet lunar program]]
| other_outcome =[[Intercosmos]] 
| landing =
}}
{{Soviet space program sidebar}}
[[File:Yuri_Gagarin_(1961)_-_Restoration.jpg|thumb|Soviet cosmonaut [[Yuri Gagarin]]—the first person in [[outer space]]]]
The '''Soviet space program'''<ref>{{cite book |last1=Reichl |first1=Eugen |title=The Soviet Space Program: The Lunar Mission Years: 1959–1976 |date=2019 |publisher=Schiffer Publishing, Limited |location=Atglen, PA |isbn=978-0-7643-5675-9 |pages=160 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=O-HnuwEACAAJ |access-date=22 May 2022 |language=en}}</ref> ({{langx|ru|Космическая программа СССР|Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR}}) was the state [[space program]] of the [[Soviet Union]], active from 1951 until the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]] in 1991.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/space-race-timeline | title=Space Race Timeline }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rusconstitution.ru/library/constitution/articles/9660/ |title=2 апреля 1955 года «Об образовании общесоюзного Министерства общего машиностроения СССР» |access-date=2016-05-03 |archive-date=2016-06-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610100216/http://www.rusconstitution.ru/library/constitution/articles/9660/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>[http://www.aif.ru/society/science/1313783 Вертикальная структура: как реорганизуется космическая отрасль России], [[Аргументы и факты|АиФ]]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/20160530161535/http://www.aif.ru/society/science/1313783 |date=30 May 2016 }}.</ref> Contrary to its competitors ([[NASA]] in the United States, the [[European Space Agency]] in Western Europe, and the [[Ministry of Aerospace Industry]] in China), which had their programs run under single coordinating agencies, the Soviet space program was divided between several internally competing [[OKB|design bureaus]] led by [[Sergei Korolev|Korolev]], [[Kerim Kerimov|Kerimov]], [[Mstislav Keldysh|Keldysh]], [[Mikhail Yangel|Yangel]], [[Valentin Glushko|Glushko]], [[Vladimir Chelomey|Chelomey]], [[Viktor Makeyev|Makeyev]], [[Boris Chertok|Chertok]] and [[Information Satellite Systems Reshetnev|Reshetnev]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.groundzerobooksltd.com/pages/books/80639/union-of-soviet-socialist-republics/postal-stationery-russia-airmail-envelope-with-depiction-of-the-earth-being-orbited-and-four-gold |title=Postal Stationery Russia Airmail Envelope with Depiction of the Earth Being Orbited and Four Gold Stars  | website=groundzerobooksltd.com|access-date=2021-08-18}}</ref> Several of these bureaus were subordinated to the [[Ministry of General Machine-Building]]. The Soviet space program served as an important marker of claims by the Soviet Union to its [[superpower]] status.<ref name="University of Pittsburgh Press, Siddiqi & Andrews, 2011">{{Cite book|title=Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture|isbn=978-0-8229-7746-9|access-date=2016-01-19|last1=Andrews|first1=James T.|last2=Siddiqi|first2=Asif A.|date=2011|publisher=University of Pittsburgh Press|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W7oRuOZbb8IC|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|1}}

[[Soviet rocketry|Soviet investigations into rocketry]] began with the formation of the [[Gas Dynamics Laboratory]] in 1921, and these endeavors expanded during the 1930s and 1940s.{{sfn|Chertok|2005|pp=9–10, 164–165 Vol 1}}{{sfn|Siddiqi|2000|pp=6–14}} In the years following [[World War II]], both the Soviet and [[United States space program]]s utilised German technology in their early efforts at space programs. In the 1950s, the Soviet program was formalized under the management of [[Sergei Korolev]], who led the program based on unique concepts derived from [[Konstantin Tsiolkovsky]], sometimes known as the father of theoretical [[astronautics]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aiaa.org/index.cfm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120104012817/http://www.aiaa.org/index.cfm|url-status=dead|title=Home &#124; AIAA|archive-date=January 4, 2012}}</ref>

Competing in the [[Space Race]] [[NASA|with the United States]] and later [[European Space Agency|with the European Union]] and [[Ministry of Aerospace Industry|with China]], the Soviet space program was notable in setting many records in space exploration, including the first intercontinental missile ([[R-7 Semyorka]]) that launched the first satellite ([[Sputnik 1]]) and sent the first animal ([[Laika]]) into [[Geocentric orbit|Earth orbit]] in 1957, and placed the first human in space in 1961, [[Yuri Gagarin]]. In addition, the Soviet program also saw the first woman in space, [[Valentina Tereshkova]], in 1963 and the [[List of spacewalks and moonwalks 1965–1999|first spacewalk]] in 1965. Other milestones included [[Cybernetics in the Soviet Union|computerized robotic]] missions [[Luna programme|exploring the Moon]] starting in 1959: being the first to [[Moon landing|reach the surface of the Moon]], recording the first image of the [[far side of the Moon]], and achieving the first soft landing on the Moon. The Soviet program also achieved the first space rover deployment with the [[Lunokhod programme]] in 1966, and sent the first robotic probe that automatically extracted a sample of [[lunar soil]] and brought it to Earth in 1970, [[Luna 16]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2012/11/26/world/gallery/space-firsts/index.html |title=Famous firsts in space 
 |website=CNN| publisher = Cable News Network | date=2021-04-09 | access-date=2022-05-13}}</ref><ref>[https://wayback.archive-it.org/all/20201020233802/http://www.astronautix.com/r/r-7.html Article title]</ref> The Soviet program was also responsible for leading the first [[interplanetary probe]]s to [[Venera|Venus]] and [[Mars program|Mars]] and made successful soft landings on these planets in the 1960s and 1970s.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://astronomy.com/news/2020/08/interplanetary-probes-from-behind-the-iron-curtain-the-soviet-venera-program|title=Behind the Iron Curtain: The Soviet Venera program|date=August 26, 2020 }}</ref> It put the first [[space station]], [[Salyut 1]], into [[low Earth orbit]] in 1971, and the first modular space station, [[Mir]], in 1986.<ref>{{cite web|author=Brian Dunbar |url=https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-launch-of-salyut-the-world-s-first-space-station |title=50 Years Ago: Launch of Salyut, the World's First Space Station |website=NASA.gov | publisher = National Aeronautics and Space Administration| date=2021-04-19 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331115352/https://www.nasa.gov/feature/50-years-ago-launch-of-salyut-the-world-s-first-space-station  | archive-date=2022-03-31  | access-date=2022-05-13}}</ref> Its [[Interkosmos]] program was also notable for sending the first citizen of a country other than the United States or Soviet Union into space.<ref name="Sheehan">{{cite book|last=Sheehan|first=Michael|title=The international politics of space|year=2007|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-39917-3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=V-Z0kfqPHy8C|location=London|pages=59–61}}</ref><ref name="Burgess">{{cite book|last1=Burgess|first1=Colin |last2=Hall|first2=Rex |title=The first Soviet cosmonaut team: their lives, legacy, and historical impact|year=2008|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-387-84823-5|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrdVPtCNL9AC|location=Berlin|page=331}}</ref>

The primary spaceport, [[Baikonur Cosmodrome]], is now in [[Kazakhstan]], which leases the facility to Russia.<ref>http://www.roscosmos.ru/index.asp?Lang=ENG {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081019125808/http://www.roscosmos.ru/index.asp?Lang=ENG|date=October 19, 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Russian Right Stuff DVD Set Space Program Secret History 2 Discs |url=https://www.mediaoutlet.com/outer-space-dvds-c-1_3_24/russian-right-stuff-dvd-set-space-program-secret-history-2-discs-p-1331.html |access-date=2021-08-18 |website=mediaoutlet.com}}</ref>