Reactions to a Soviet Moon Landing

Let us suppose that the Soviet Union, for a POD of your preference (Sergei Korolev does not die? Vasily Mishin is not chosen as his successor? The URSS take the Space race more seriously from the beginning? Choose the one you like more) manages to beat the United States to the moon, forever depriving the United States of their "iconic" victory. Bonus point of the Soviet Moon Landing take place on 4th of July.

What would the reactions have been?

How would the American people, Congress, Nixon and NASA react to this new defeat?

And how could the other nations of the world react?
 
"Laydies and Gentolmen, before the end of this century, the United States will have a man on Mahrs."

-John F. Kennedy {Quotation Altered due to Regional Accent}
 
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Would the US give up? Apollo was very expensive and not too popular. Would Americans want to spend billions more on further ventures in space if there's a good chance the Soviets will still be ahead? Or would Cold War politics and national pride demand the US do something?
 
The US decides to one up the Soviets another way; a colony, a space station, a larger manned mission...

Morale goes down in the US for the short term, but I don't see the Hammer and Sickle flying over the White House (IE, a Soviet Cold War victory). Those seeds have long since been planted and will still take root, maybe even sooner due to the expenditure on the moon landings.
 
Assuming that the US program stayed on its historical time schedule, then the Soviets could not have beaten us there by more than a few months (just as they did with the first human in space). The Apollo 11 landing would have taken place on schedule and there would have been big incentive to build a moon base before the Soviets could. Fear that they would lay claim to the moon (in spite of treaties) and establish a military base there would be a big factor. As long as the race remained neck and neck, the US would have made a maximum effort. In real life it was only the perception that the Soviets had given up that caused the scaling back of the space program.
 
Apollo 11 would have a Moon Buggy quicky added to the mission, similar to the surveyor Missions, but softland one of the earlier, heavier rover prototypes (say the NAA 1000 pound LSSM)to the planned site, which might not be Mare Tranquillitatis, but Oceanus Procellarum from OTL Apollo 12 to be able to inspect Surveyor 1, to do more than just planting a flag and grabbing a few rocks
 
Apollo 11 would have a Moon Buggy quicky added to the mission, similar to the surveyor Missions, but softland one of the earlier, heavier rover prototypes (say the NAA 1000 pound LSSM)to the planned site, which might not be Mare Tranquillitatis, but Oceanus Procellarum from OTL Apollo 12 to be able to inspect Surveyor 1, to do more than just planting a flag and grabbing a few rocks

More than just planting a flag?

But that already happened.

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The problem with this, is that even at the beginning the USSR had serious problems at home:

  1. All their early firsts had been (relatively) inexpensive, with a high PR Value, so securing support for it wasn't terribly difficult
  2. The Soviet Military pretty much held the purse strings, so anything relating to rockets needed their support, and thus practical military benefits were a major need
  3. The R-7 ICBM, while pretty useless as a military tool, was somewhat easy to uprate for Soyuz-sized payloads by kludging in new upper stages, given its sheer overdesign in its early days
  4. The consequence of this is that larger LVs were something they didn't have experience in, IIRC the UR-500 wasn't approved until 1962
  5. So trying to build the 75,000 Kg (later uprated to 95,000 Kg) to LEO N1 was a massive leap, one too much for them
  6. A late start of 1964 vs 1961
  7. Korolev dying on the operating table
  8. Add to this they're only having about 10% of the funding NASA had for Apollo/Saturn, and you begin to see where everything began to fall apart

For me, the only viable POD is 1961, by having the USSR take the US Commitment to Manned Lunar Landing & Return seriously.

From here, there are two basic paths they can take insofar as Launch Vehicles are concerned:

1 - N1. From Korolev's OKB-1. The one that was (eventually) selected IOTL, Three LOX/Kerosene stages to put the Manned Lunar Complex into LEO, either all in one go, or through two or more launches.

2 - UR-700. Chelomei's OKB-52. The only real competitor to the N1 in terms of capability. 151,000 Kg to LEO, utilising a Direct Launch Profile, though relied on UMDH/N2O4 propellant mix. Storable, but toxic.


That said, whichever is chosen will face the same issue, mainly that the scale of such an undertaking would prove too much for just one group to handle. Something Yangel realised far sooner, when he proposed having his, Chelomei's and Korolev's three agencies pool their resources into the effort, by focusing on one specific aspect of the mission. Incidentally, Yangel's Bureau did develop the LK Lander IOTL.


So let us say that OKB-1 develops the N1, but the L3 element is given to OKB-52. Now you have reduced pressure on both groups, and a requirement to cooperate from the Central Command. From here, they now have a realistic chance of achieving a Manned Lunar Landing at all.


That said, the 4th of July 1969 is a poor date for landing IIRC, given Orbital Mechanics means that too much of the Moon's visible side is in night. A day or so ahead of the US? Doable, though still unlikely.


Such a tight margin, would, IMO, be a solid incentive to keep going. At the very least, I can see LESA happening, under the maxim of "We're not going to the Moon to visit. We're going to the Moon to Stay!"


And that's one area where the US's sheer economic power would assure them, IMHO.
 
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