What if the Soviets Landed on the Moon First?

The United States sent men to the moon in 1969. But what if in an alternate timeline, the Soviet Union beat them to the punch? Here is one scenario.

Music by Sam Kuzel and Cadre Crimson:

[Quasihamster]

"Mr. President, the Russians just landed on the Moon and have begun painting it red!"
"So what. We'll just fly there after they're finished and then we'll write Coca-Cola on it."

[jpitt]

But North Korea landed a man on the sun so they won the space race

[familygash]

What if The U.K. got to The Moon first, and made it a new colony of The British Empire?

[primalrage]

- Mr. President, Soviets landed on the Moon!
- Prepeare mission to the Sun then!
- But we'll burne!
- Nope! You fly at night.

[starwarsstudio]

In Soviet Russia. The moon lands on you.

[Todd_Coward]

_BREAKING NEWS! FIRST WORDS FROM MAN ON VENUS_



_BREAKING NEWS! FIRST MAN ON VENUS HAS DIED!_

[someoneontheinternet]

Fun fact: A sputnik is satellite in Russian. In other words, we call satellites "Sputniks" because we were first.

[thecosmodrome]

"I was so good at Kerbal though..."

[atticuskhalif]

I love the part where the american is like "Did you use commie witchcraft".

[danpowton]

If the Soviets landed on the moon first, two certanties would occur:

1. The Clangers would adopt communism.

2. The USSR would dominate the global cheese industry.

[noobiu]

We are not gonna send you to the moon, we are going to send us to the moon





the entirety of Russia flies off into space

[simplylight]

"I'm a Level 89 Mage in Freedom"
~America, 1969

[Randomdude-dmwb]

"I was so good at Kerbels though."

[adammetzger]

The N1 got off the ground. The problem is it kept coming back down.

[SomeGuy-lrms]

What will the Soviets say though like a cool quote
"that's one small step for *US* but a giant leap for *OUR* Union"

[vhuyjgvyj]

In Russia you don't go to the moon, the moon goes to you.

[UkraineWarAwareness]

Some interesting points in our timeline:
- The designers of Sputnik 1 later (50 years later on anniversary) said that they had hoped that a Space Race would start from that launch.
- Sergei Korolev was the chief engineer of Soviet Space Rocket Development. He died in 1966, so before the N1 rocket was completed. Many analysts consider had he not died, the Soviet Lunar Lander, which was also already designed, would be successfully launched by a successfully modified / working N1 rocket.
- Isn't it funny that the "Space Race" is considered to be the ending after the Lunar landing? It in fact continued much later on, such as the Soviets constructing Mir Space Station, the American's designing Freedom Space Station to compete against it. Soviet Mir-2 plans and US Freedom Station plans were later combined to be what today is the ISS.
- If JFK wasn't assassinated, he proposed plans, which the Soviet's didn't object to, have a joint lunar landing (like Apollo-Soyuz, but would've been earlier and much more cooperative on a larger scale).
- The Soviet's monitored the Apollo mission, and thus sent a Luna mission so that (thinking if they can't land a man first, at least they can..) bring back Lunar rocks first, which they did. The US and the USSR later exchanged those Lunar rocks with each other, the one's grabbed by Luna and Apollo.

[shuhratkessikbayev]

USSR: *Launches Sputnik 1*
USA: *Scared freedom noises*
USSR: *Sends a man, woman, doggo and a space station*
USA: *Hyperventilates in cheeseburger*
USSR: *Lands on moon*
USA: *Does Epstein*

[thelitbrit]

Who wants to see a video, what if the USSR never collapsed

[Straw]

What if the Soviets Landed on the Moon First? Well, they would land on the moon first..