Viewing profile — throwaway123098

Also, Explorer 1 had scientific payload (which discovered the Van-Allen belts), unlike Sputnik

But we were not _really_ behind. We were about a year behind (if not less), and much was due to other American advantages: we didn't need huge rockets (which would launch humans in…

The Western world isn't falling behind. It's just not so push-over ahead. What China is doing right now, the USSR did in the 1960s, and the US did in the 70s (it had a ten year det…