As Neil Armstrong planted the Stars and Stripes on the moon on July 20, 1969, the United States of America won the space race, defeating Russia and declaring global military, innovation and capitalistic dominance. Or so it still claims. The Soviets were in fact the hands-down winners. The US had previously failed to launch the first satellite into orbit. It failed to land the first spacecraft on the moon. It failed to launch the first man (Gagarin) into space, as well as the first woman (Tereshkova). It failed to conduct the first spacewalk. It’s no wonder that, when the US…

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