In the last two posts I have discussed the space exploration and rocket development contributions of Wernher von Braun for the Americans and Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov for the Soviets. Each man is considered the person who led these respective countries into space. Sending humans to the moon and returning them safely, and indeed exploring beyond the moon was the dream of von Braun and Korolyov. Korolyov, who knew about von Braun and his work at the German designer of the V-2, and the American rockets, followed everying that von Braun did. von Braun, however, never knew of the existence of Korolyov personally, as Korolyov’s identity was kept secret until he died in 1966, three years before the Americans landed on the moon.

The history of the moon race is interesting, and you might want to visit Anatoly Zok’s website, and in particular scroll through his detailed moon race chart comparing Soviet and American chronologies.