1066?

[RichieB16]

Actually, the Soviets had (and the Russian's continue to have) a very successiful manned space program.  They also had the first space walk, first mulit-manned crew, and have logged many more days in space than their American counterparts.  Also, during this time-they have lost far less men than the American's (the U.S. have lost 14 during space flights while the Russian's have lost only 4).  The only great feat they did not have in space was a manned moon landing, they were first in almost everything else.

... and the first space station ...

Interestingly, the crew lost on June 29, 1971, was their first space station crew (the first station crew in history).  The Soyuz 11 crew was the first and only of the space station Salyut 1.

[BFMF]

[quote]Interestingly, the crew lost on June 29, 1971, was their first space station crew (the first station crew in history).

[Felix/FFDS]

EEP - action movies are not necessarily themost accurate historical depictions....  (but they are fun)

If you ever watched the movie 'Armegedon' with Bruce Willis and Ben Aflek, you'll get an idea why

[ATI_7500]

Actually, the Soviets had (and the Russian's continue to have) a very successiful manned space program.

...but the unmanned space program wasn't very successful.

[Felix/FFDS]

? Isn't this a contradiction in terms?  

#1 - How do the space stations get resupplied?  Mostly by unmanned supply capsules

#2 - How many Russian satellites are still "up there" ..

Granted, Western commercial and military uses of unmanned satellites are much more publicized, but I wouldn't call the Soviet/Russian unmanned program "unsuccessful" ...  I'd rather say that the Western space programs have, in general, been "more productive"...

...but the unmanned space program wasn't very successful.

[ATI_7500]

okay,my fault. i'm talking about the mars and lunar probes.okay?

[Felix/FFDS]

The ones that go "splat" ?

Even then, the Russian probes were better - they made bigger craters  ;>

okay,my fault. i'm talking about the mars and lunar probes.okay?

[SilverFox441]

I'm not sure I'd take the Soviet numbers for granted...there have been persistant rumours of as many as 30-40 others killed during flight operations.

As for probes...many Soviet firsts exist in the probe field. Take a look at the Luna probe series and the Venus explorations. Not all ground-breaking Soviet probes actually broke the ground.

[RichieB16]

okay,my fault. i'm talking about the mars and lunar probes.okay?

It's true that the Russian's have had some problems with probes in the past but they have also had some great success.  For example, in the mid-1970s the Russian's made several very successiful unmanned lunar landings which resulted in sample returns.  These missions were extremely successiful in accomplished virturally every objective they had.  Overall, I can't say that their unmanned programs were any less successiful than that of the United States.

[ATI_7500]

wasn't there a bad ground accident with a soviet rocket?? i think,it killed over 200people when it exploded.

[Felix/FFDS]

There have been several - most notably in the early '60s when testing of the (then) largest ICBM prototype went seriously worng and wiped out a large number of people, including the head of the Strategic Rocket Forces (I may have the title wrong)

Usually US/Western rocket unmanned rocket failures have not caused (significant numbers of) casualties.

wasn't there a bad ground accident with a soviet rocket?? i think,it killed over 200people when it exploded.