On January 2, 1959, the Luna-1 lunar probe was successfully launched from the Baikonur launch site in the Soviet Union and immediately left the Earth's orbit. Two days later, it passed the moon at close range from 5,995 km away. In September 1959, Luna-2 successfully hit the moon. In October of the same year, Luna-3 flew to the far side of the moon and took the world's first photo of the far side of the moon. In 1961, the former Soviet Union also launched the first Venus probe of mankind - "Venera" 1. These were all commanded by Sergei Korolev.
At the same time, von Braun, who was far away in the United States, began to worry about the mysterious power behind the former Soviet Union, which was so powerful. Von Braun was puzzled. Because no one knew about Sergei Korolev at that time, the former Soviet Union kept everything else strictly secret, except for the great achievements made public. Von Braun began to struggle with his position. At that time, NASA was mediating with the US Army in the hope that the Army Ballistic Missile Agency would be transferred to NASA.
In July 1 9 6 0, the newly established U.S. N A S A smoothly sailed, Eisenhower transferred the U.S. Army Ballistic Missile Agency to the NASA of the United States, and at the same time established the Marshall Space Flight Center, and von Braun served as the director of the center for 10 years. However, as long as there was Sergei Korolev, von Braun would not have gone well. Sergei Korolev finalized the cosmonauts of the former Soviet Union and developed the spacecraft of the former Soviet Union. On April 12, 1961, he personally sent Gagarin, the first human cosmonaut, into space. For a time, the world was in an uproar. NASA and John F. Kennedy were forced to make the decision to go to the moon in order to defeat the Soviet Union. Von Braun was commissioned to design a high-thrust rocket for the moon.
Sergei Korolev still does not give the Americans any respite. In 1962, the former Soviet Union launched the first Mars rover - "Mars" 1. Although the first Soviet exploration of Mars ended in failure, it opened the prelude to the exploration of other planets in the solar system. Next, Sergei Korolev directed the first human spacewalk, the space journey of the first female cosmonaut, and the preparation of the first human space station ......Sergei Korolev has fulfilled his dreams and maintained the proud achievements of the former Soviet Union in the field of outer space. Sergei Korolev felt that the day was not far from the day when he would travel to outer space with a "union recuperation card"!
Of course, Sergey Korolev did not give himself a respite in the process. As a result of overwork, the root of the disease he had left over from his hard labor in the Gulag began to flare up - his heart began to be overwhelmed. In addition, as a result of his long and hard work, he developed an intestinal tumor that looked like hemorrhoids. In January 1966, at the age of 60, Sergei Korolev died suddenly in the hospital, and the official theory was that Sergei Korolev had a cancer tumor in his intestines. However, according to a friend of Sergei Korolev's, Sergei Korolev died in vain due to a drunken doctor's mistake while undergoing hemorrhoid surgery, and even Sergei Korolev's subordinates could not believe that he would die because of this operation. They think it's simply "**."
Scientist-cosmonaut Dr. Feoktystov once praised Sergei Korolev:
His greatest characteristic is that he has an unusually high level of energy. He uses this power to infect those around him. He was a resolute man, and many times very strict. Sergei Korolev is an alloy of indifference, rationality, pressure and illusions. After Sergei Korolev's death, the Soviet Union's space program was in turmoil, while the advantages of the American NASA began to blossom, and von Braun began to have a chance to catch up. Von Braun began to set god-like records, and he led the design of rockets, which basically didn't have a major accident.
In 1967, NASA's "Mercury" program and "Gemini" program were successfully completed, the "Apollo" moon landing program was implemented, and von Braun's "Saturn" series of high-thrust rockets were also successfully developed. On July 2 1, 1 9 6 9, the Apollo 11 astronaut successfully landed on the moon, realizing von Braun's dream, the dream of the Americans, and the dream of Sergei Korolev.
After the successful moon landing, von Braun began to think about supporting a manned landing on Mars. However, in the eyes of politicians at the time, this was quite unreliable, especially after Nixon approved the "Space Shuttle" program in the United States, and the manned landing on Mars program was completely hopeless. Von Braun was depressed. In 1 9 7 2, von Braun was disheartened and left NASA on the grounds that there was no new world to conquer and that he was of little use to himself. In June 1977, von Braun also died of bowel cancer in Virginia, USA. The war between 2 rivals living in different superpowers is over.
In a sense, the entire space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was a war between Sergei Korolev and von Braun. Today, the Vostok series of rockets developed by Sergei Korolev is still in use, but the Saturn rocket developed by von Braun is in museums, and even the design drawings are lost.