WI: Dual Role Space Programs

Delta Force

Banned
Space program crews, launch facilities, and rockets were mostly military in origin, especially during the Space Race. What if the United States, Soviet Union, and other countries hadn't established a distinction between their civilian and military space programs? Could being strongly associated with military rocketry and nuclear warfare lead to the public turning against the space program to the extent that they turned against civilian nuclear technology?
 
Space program crews, launch facilities, and rockets were mostly military in origin, especially during the Space Race. What if the United States, Soviet Union, and other countries hadn't established a distinction between their civilian and military space programs? Could being strongly associated with military rocketry and nuclear warfare lead to the public turning against the space program to the extent that they turned against civilian nuclear technology?

Civilian space program was only a very small offshoot of Soviet military program. For example, the Vostok spacecraft was essentially a side development of Zenit reconnaissance satellites.

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/zenit.htm

As for US, I don't know the percentage of effort what was civilian and what was military space effort during the Cold War, but strictly speaking only moon flights and deep space observation and exploration could be said to be of only civilian nature. All the rest, such as weather satellites, communications etc. had direct military applications.

How about launch numbers of US? How many were civilian satellites (even if by name only) how many were military ones?
 

Delta Force

Banned
Civilian space program was only a very small offshoot of Soviet military program. For example, the Vostok spacecraft was essentially a side development of Zenit reconnaissance satellites.

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/zenit.htm

As for US, I don't know the percentage of effort what was civilian and what was military space effort during the Cold War, but strictly speaking only moon flights and deep space observation and exploration could be said to be of only civilian nature. All the rest, such as weather satellites, communications etc. had direct military applications.

How about launch numbers of US? How many were civilian satellites (even if by name only) how many were military ones?

There were hundreds of military launches for the National Reconnaissance Office.
 
For a PoD, don't have Eisenhower be president, and the military is likely to run the US space program. As noted, the Soviet program wasn't purely civilian at all.
 
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