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I've been looking back at old threads as to the consequences of Molotov and Co managing to topple Krushchev in 1957. Something I haven't seen discussed in detail and something I'm very interested in is what would have happened to the Soviet Space Programme. IIRC Khrushchev was initially skeptical about it but he agreed to let Korolev try and launch Sputnik 1, when he saw the reaction to it, he realized how much of a propaganda coup it was and made the USSR appear more powerful than it really was so he threw additional resources at it leading to Gagarin and the unmanned Lunik, Mars and Venera probes. When he was eventually deposed in 1964, support for the space programme was never the same from Brezhnev.

So what happens if the earlier coup is a success? Would Molotov and his henchmen be prepared to let Korolev get on with Sputnik or would they view it as part of the ancien regime and close it down? Even if work is delayed by a few months while Korolev tries to persuade the new government that the programme is worth it the Americans manage to get Vanguard or Explorer into orbit and they get the kudos?

Any thoughts?
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