After the end of World War II, the two superpowers began an arms race and a struggle for primacy in space. In 1961, the Russians first launched a rocket into orbit with an astronaut on board. 1964 - Russians first release a man in a spacesuit in open space. 1969 - the United States lands a man on the moon, the 80s - the Soviet Union plans to fly to Mars. But, since the 90s, the leadership in space is now Russia is gradually losing.
The Russians occupied a leading place in space exploration for more than a decade, but after the Americans landed on the moon, the USSR began to give up positions. The Soviet Union had an En-1 rocket and a lunar module, which was considered the best in the world. But in 1974, after 4 unsuccessful starts, the lunar program of the USSR was closed. In addition, the newly-born Buran spacecraft, which made only one revolution around the Earth in automatic mode, had to be covered up. And this huge spaceship was the Russian response to the American Shuttle, the Energia rocket launching the Buran into outer space was also decommissioned. In addition, after the liquidation of Buran, the double shuttle "Lightning" was not in demand, which could be put into orbit by plane. The six-seater space rocket launcher Clipper was ruined. He was dubbed the Shuttle Gravedigger in the media.
In 1999, Russia took another step, which finally removed it from outer space. The unique orbital station Mir has been flooded. Amid the colossal crisis that erupted in the country, Russia lost all hope of returning to space soon. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country lost a huge number of specialists - it was a massive brain drain. In the West they paid ten times more for development and ideas than in Russian research institutes. You can understand people, many geniuses had nothing to feed their families. At the enterprises of Roscosmos there was a cessation of financing. After 1991, Russia did not produce anything new in this industry.
When the American spacecraft such as the Shuttle served their due date, the United States offered Russia to lease Russian spacecraft. Russia has lost its leadership in the space arena and since then has only become a carrier of American astronauts into space. Now Russians have only 25% at the international station.
A sociological survey conducted in 2008 among Russians showed that more than 50% of respondents already believe that Russia is no longer a leader in the space industry. Three years earlier, such a study showed a separation of 40 by 60%, with 60% of respondents believing that Russia occupies a leading place in space.
