Space is the Place! Writing About Soviet Space Exploration

Abstract

In historical research on Soviet space exploration particular attention has been paid to the aspects of competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, the associated (nuclear) arms race during the Cold War and the technological history of space travel. However, the societal impact, the utopian aspects and the cosmic enthusiasm of the populace about the Soviet successes in space have, to a large extent, gone unnoticed. Yet in some socialist countries, such as the USSR or the GDR, a real cosmos and space fever broke out. A powerful utopia, capable of exciting the masses, developed out of this phenomenon — perhaps because it provided an escape and an alternative to the burdensome and colourless daily life. Research on the history of Soviet space exploration took three main directions: (i) a history of science and technology; (ii) a political history of the Cold War in which the space race is seen as a sub-chapter of the military arms race and the competition between the superpowers, the US and the USSR; and (iii) as part of the social and cultural history of Russia and the Soviet Union.