What if The US hadn't got to the Moon First ?

[BAYLOR]

The Russians didn't get there for a number reasons technical and political . Frits and for most the founder and head of the Russian Space Program Sergei Korolev had died in 1966 . Without him they were never able to prefect their N1 Booster rocket which was supposed to get them to the moon . Glitches , setbacks and accidents finished of the N1 program . There was also the issue of Russian computer technology which was significantly behind the US . After Korolev, the Russians ultimately abandoned their moon program which allowed the US to be first and so far, only country to land a man on the moon. Korolev's death was by far the biggest blow to the Russian Moon Program , he had a knack for making things work and cutting though the political red tape , getting things done and getting what he wanted. But what if Korolev had lived and had been able to solve the N1 boosters many problems? What if he could have then come up with enough computing tech and power for their launch and moon lander craft? What if it had enable them to beat the US to moon or allowed them to have gotten to the moon at the same time as the US ? What probable impact would this have had on the cold war and world history and the space race ? A lot of what ifs, no question.

Thoughts?

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Technically a "rover" is more sensible and more use on the moon. The Russians did do that first.

Apollo was a technical dead end and in 1973 "manned" exploration ended replaced by probes and rovers.
The space race was only a footnote in the cold war.

It's nice that it was achieved. But ultimately it didn't matter to Cold War or science.

 

[galanx]

The US would have declared going to the Moon is no big deal; it only counts if you can get to Mars- and the Space Race Part Deux would have been on.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

it only counts if you can get to Mars

Werner Von Braun's (and many others) original 1930s plans. Achievable even then!
Just very expensive!

 

[BAYLOR]

Werner Von Braun's (and many others) original 1930s plans. Achievable even then!
Just very expensive!

In the 1930's ? How ? They didn't have anywhere near the tech to build or launch anything into orbit let alone go to the moon or mars.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Amazingly they did. It was a financial and political issue, not a technological issue.
Inertia guidance existed and was used later on V2
The Sputnik used valve (tube) Electronics. Admittedly smaller and 1.2V filaments rather than the 2V of 1930s battery valves, though miniature RCA 1.4V types were released in 1939 and in "personal" radios in USA by 1940. However you can do guidance with a mechanical analogue computer.
They had developed working liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen rocket engine in 1930s
Yes, it might have taken till 1939 to 1942 or so to get it launched. But it could have been a 1933 design and a project started in 1934.

The Germans though started a war in 1938 instead, which became WWII in September 1939.

It wouldn't have been easily and horribly expensive. But certainly possible. During the war, the SS threatened to shoot Werner Von Braun if he continued to work on his Mars project. They wanted the V2.
After the war, the Sputnik was partly successful due to the Germans the Russians took and the success of USA program was partially due to Werner Von Braun and the USA captured Germans. The other projects the USA had were failures.
Sadly a motivating factor of both space programs wasn't the Moon or Mars at all but to replace bombers with ICBMs. Many space launches in 1950s and today use modified ICBMs.

 

[J Riff]

I think they were poised to, but once the US got there, the amount of money needed was ridiculous, so they spent it on something else.