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upplemental Reading
T
he Soviet and American space programs were very different. In the
United States, a government agency called the National Advisory
Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) had existed since 1915. This agency
was involved with the development of flight in the US. In 1958, the name was
changed to NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration). NASA was
a government agency, but it did not depend completely on government support.
The American space program was only about 50 percent military. It was
operated primarily by civilians.
The Soviet military was strongly involved with the
space program. About 95 percent of the program was
related to the military in some way. Many of the Soviet
space projects tested military applications. Also, the
technical operations, like launching and mission control,
were handled by the military.
One of the biggest differences between the Soviet
and American space efforts was how each was presented to the media. The
Soviet space program was very secret. The Soviet government only publicized its
program’s successes. For example, in 1960, a rocket exploded on its launch pad,
killing one hundred people, but this was not revealed until much later. Even the
name of the “Grand Designer,” Sergei P. Korolev, was not announced until he
died in 1966. However, almost all of NASA’s actions were reported not just to
Americans but to the whole world. NASA’s failures were just as clear as its
successes.
