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F. Kennedy gave a speech which set a specific goal for the American space
program. This goal was for men to land on the moon before the end of the
1960s.
This goal became
firmly established
when John Glenn orbited the
Earth in 1962. At this time, the space race became a race to the moon.
In
contrast to the United States, the Soviet moon program was secret.
Its
target date
for reaching the Moon was 1967 or 68. However, the Soviet
program began to have problems. Early designs of the N-1, a more powerful
rocket, failed frequently. Many exploded after launch. Then in 1966, Sergei P.
Korolev died during a medical operation. This was a great loss,
since few people
could replace Korolev. Even so, the Soviets continued their efforts. In 1967, the
astronaut Vladimir Komarov, testing a possible moon vehicle, died when his
capsule
crashed. Two more rockets failed that year.
The biggest shock of all
came in 1968, when Yuri Gagarin, the hero of the Soviet space program, died in
a plane crash.
The Soviets began
to
abandon
the idea of going to
the moon. However, in 1968 a
robotic probe circled the moon
and took pictures of it. This
would have been a bright
moment,
except that the probe
crashed when it returned. In
1969, two more N-1 rockets
exploded. It became clear that
the Soviet Union would not only
fail to beat the United States
but fail to reach the moon
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