USSR

The Soviet Union, officially known as the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, was a federal sovereign state in northern Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. Nominally a union of multiple national Soviet republics, in practice its government and economy were highly centralized. The country was a one-party state, governed by the Communist Party with Moscow as its capital in its largest republic, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Other major urban centers were Leningrad, Kiev, Minsk, Tashkent, Alma-Ata, and Novosibirsk. It spanned over 10,000 kilometers east to west across 11 time zones, and over 7,200 kilometers north to south. Its territory included much of Eastern Europe, as well as part of Northern Europe and all of Northern and Central Asia. It had five climate zones: tundra, taiga, steppes, desert and mountains.

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Only the US, China, and Russia/USSR have launched astronauts to orbit. But India is now close to joining this exclusive group of spacefaring nations. In February India unveiled their first Gaganyaan mission astronauts, now slated to launch on an Indian capsule from an Indian rocket in 2025.

AI analysis of historical satellite images show USSR collapse in 1990s increased methane emissions, despite lower oil and gas production

Neil Armstrong while in the USSR collected a handful of soil from outside a Ukrainian man's house in Siberia to acknowledge that man's contribution to Apollo-11 Moon Mission

Lunokhod 1, the Unsung Hero Rover of the USSR, Drove on the Moon Before Americans Did It

A comical, 3D animated short film I made recounting the events of the space race that took place between the USA and the USSR from 1955 until 1969. A bit silly, and not 100% scientific, but I hope it is fun to watch!

Russian cosmonauts unfurled the ‘USSR Victory flag’ during yesterdays spacewalk outside the International Space Station

On this day, October 4, 1957 - The space age began when the USSR launched the planet’s first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1.

6 June 1971: the USSR launched the world's first space station. Soyuz 11 transported cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Vokov, and Viktor Patsayev to Salyut 1, where they successfully docked with the station and set a new space endurance record

In 1968, the USSR developed the FM-2 Phantom Mannequin to study the effects of cosmic radiation on the human body. The sculptors used the likeness of Yuri Gagarin, the first human to fly to space, for the robot's face. FM-2 flew around the moon during the Zond-7 mission in 1969.

Russian space agency Roscosmos begins design of the ‘Venera-D’ orbital station, which will be Moscow’s first mission to Venus since the USSR era

Declassified spacecrafts and orbital weapons of the USSR – Russia