Editing Soviet space program (section)

=== After Korolev ===
[[Image:Proton Zvezda crop.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Launch of a [[Proton-K]]]]

Korolev died in January 1966 from complications of heart disease and severe hemorrhaging following a routine operation that uncovered [[colon cancer]]. [[Kerim Kerimov]],<ref>{{cite web|url= http://space.hobby.ru/baykonur/kerimov.html|title=Йепхл Юкхебхв Йепхлнб|language=ru|website=Space.hobby.ru|access-date=2016-01-19}}</ref> who had previously served as the head of the [[Strategic Rocket Forces]] and had participated in the State Commission for [[Vostok programme|Vostok]] as part of his duties,<ref>{{cite book|page=94|author=[[Asif Azam Siddiqi]]|title=Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945–1974|isbn=9780160613050|year=2000|publisher=[[NASA]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5pQ9AQAAMAAJ}}</ref> was appointed Chairman of the State Commission on Piloted Flights and headed it for the next 25 years (1966–1991). He supervised every stage of development and operation of both crewed space complexes as well as uncrewed interplanetary stations for the former Soviet Union. One of Kerimov's greatest achievements was the launch of [[Mir]] in 1986.{{Citation needed|date=November 2024}}

The leadership of the OKB-1 design bureau was given to [[Vasily Mishin]], who had [[Soviet crewed lunar programs|the task of sending a human around the Moon in 1967 and landing a human on it in 1968]]. Mishin lacked Korolev's political authority and still faced competition from other chief designers. {{Citation needed|date=November 2024}} Under pressure, Mishin approved the launch of the [[Soyuz 1]] flight in 1967, even though the craft had never been successfully tested on an uncrewed flight. The mission launched with known design problems and ended with the vehicle crashing to the ground, killing [[Vladimir Komarov]]. This was the first in-flight fatality of any space program.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/komarov.html | title=NASA – Vladimir Komarov and Soyuz 1 | access-date=February 5, 2023 | archive-date=November 12, 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201112042927/https://www.nasa.gov/topics/history/features/komarov.html | url-status=dead }}</ref>

[[File:Portrait of ASTP crews - restoration.jpg|thumb|The American and Soviet crews of the [[Apollo–Soyuz]] mission]]

The Soviets were beaten in sending the first crewed flight around the Moon in 1968 by [[Apollo 8]], but Mishin pressed ahead with development of the flawed super heavy [[N1 (rocket)|N1]], in the hope that the Americans would have a setback, leaving enough time to make the N1 workable and land a man on the Moon first. There was a success with the joint flight of [[Soyuz 4]] and [[Soyuz 5]] in January 1969 that tested the rendezvous, docking, and crew transfer techniques that would be used for the landing, and the [[LK (spacecraft)|LK lander]] was tested successfully in earth orbit. But after four uncrewed test launches of the N1 ended in failure, the program was suspended for two years and then cancelled, removing any chance of the Soviets landing men on the Moon before the United States.<ref name="moon">{{cite web|author=Nicholas L. Johnson |url=https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/sovietReach/index.pdf |title=The Soviet Reach for The Moon |website=usra.edu | publisher = USRA | date=1995 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210216223026/https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/books/sovietReach/index.pdf  | archive-date=2021-02-16  | access-date=2022-05-13}}</ref>

Besides the crewed landings, the abandoned Soviet Moon program included the multipurpose moon base [[Zvezda (moonbase)|Zvezda]], first detailed with developed mockups of expedition vehicles<ref>{{cite web |url=http://astronautix.com/craft/lekmplex.htm |title=LEK Lunar Expeditionary Complex|website=Astronautix.com|access-date=2016-01-19|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131208200041/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/lekmplex.htm|archive-date=2013-12-08}}</ref> and surface modules.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://astronautix.com/craft/dlbodule.htm|title=DLB Module|website=Astronautix.com|access-date=2016-01-19|url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140107164731/http://www.astronautix.com/craft/dlbodule.htm |archive-date=2014-01-07}}</ref>

Following this setback, Chelomey convinced Ustinov to approve a program in 1970 to advance his [[Almaz]] military space station as a means of beating the US's announced [[Skylab]]. Mishin remained in control of the project that became [[Salyut]] but the decision backed by Mishin to fly a three-man crew without pressure suits rather than a two-man crew with suits to [[Salyut 1]] in 1971 proved fatal when the re-entry capsule depressurized killing the crew on their return to Earth. Mishin was removed from many projects, with Chelomey regaining control of Salyut. After working with [[NASA]] on the [[Apollo–Soyuz]], the Soviet leadership decided a new management approach was needed, and in 1974 the N1 was canceled and Mishin was out of office. The design bureau was renamed [[NPO Energia]] with Glushko as chief designer.<ref name="moon" />

In contrast with the difficulty faced in its early crewed lunar programs, the USSR found significant success with its remote moon operations, achieving two historical firsts with the automatic [[Lunokhod]] and the Luna [[sample return mission]]s. The [[Mars program|Mars probe program]] was also continued with some success, while the explorations of Venus and then of the Halley comet by the [[Venera]] and [[Vega program|Vega]] probe programs were more effective.<ref name="moon" />