How come the USA was not "first" in space?

Question

April 12th, 1961 the Soviet Union ( Now Russia ) put a man in space. How could the USA not be the first?

Answer 1

Part of the reason was that the Soviet Union had less concern for the safety of the cosmonauts than the United States did for its astronauts. The USSR did not know for sure that they could ever bring Yuri Gagarin back to Earth, but they sent him into space anyway. The Soviet space program had numerous failures that were kept secret from the public. By deliberately sacraficing safety and engineering integrity, the USSR was able to push its space program to greater levels of apparent success by recklessly rushing to more advanced technology and concealing all of the associated failures.

Answer 2

The answer is: Because the Soviets abducted more German scientists than did the United States at the end of WWII .

Neither the Soviets or America are responsible for putting a man in space, rather it is virtually product of German ingenuity.

The space race could then be reduced to a competition between Germans.

Deutschland uber Alles!! Yes mein Fuhrer, heil Hitler!
Uh, sorry, am watching Dr. Strangelove right now.

The props belong to the Krauts.

Answer 3

German scientists who worked at developing the V-2 rocket during World War 2 were the foremost authorities on the design and developement of liquid fueled rockets. Many of these men were captured by the Soviets at the end of the war. Some of these men(most notably Werner Von Braun who would design the Saturn 5 moon rocket ) ,were also captured by the U.S. and relocated to Alabama. During the period from 1945-1950 the Soviets used their German scientists to develope the large boosters that would give them an early edge in the"space race". It wasn't until the start of the Korean war(1950) that the U.S. goverment began using their captured German scientists to develope rockets like the Redstone for military purposes. Additionally, the Eisenhower administration(for political reasons) attempted in the late 50's to use a non-military American scientist designed rocket (Vanguard) for the space program. It failed and further delayed our manned space program.Eventually, under President Kennedy it was the German designed Redstone that launched the first American(Alan Shepard) into space.

Answer 4

Yes, yes, yes, both Soviet and American space programs benifited greatly from the German scientist that worked on the V2 rockets during WWII.

Yes, the Soviets were the first to put a man into space.

Yes, the Soviets were the first to put an artifical satilite into space (Sputnik)..

However, it not the person (team, country) who is first at the beinning who wins the race, but the person (team, country) who is first when the race is over.

Answer 5

Russians had better space technology at the time. but once the war was over America put more into there space tech. and we we're first to the moon/

Answer 6

Complacency.
Or just apathy.
There is a lot of apathy. I frequently hear (and read, on this forum) how NASA is a waste of money and we should give it up to spend the money on saving the environment or whatever. People just don't care. It is why we don't go to the Moon any more.