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| - The lunar lander and the massive "N-1" rocket finish being designed and are scheduled for tests in 1968.
* 1968: Final testing of the "N-1" lunar rocket is finished and "Soyuz-10" and "Soyuz-11" finish testing of the "LK" landing vehicle in Earth orbit by December 1968. America has its first tragedy in space in March 1968 as the crew of "Gemini-8" (Charles Conrad, Jr. and Richard F. Gordon, Jr.) die as a result of a faulty thruster, causing them to pass out from excessive G-force. Their spacecraft remains active for almost two more weeks before the fuel cells run out. Conrad and Gordon's bodies are never recovered. Gemini is put on hold for six months and discussion centers on whether to drop the program and move on to the "Helios Moon Program" spacecraft on the drawing board.
* 1969: May 15th, "LOK/LK-12" orbits the Moon and its lander descends to less than 20 km above the lunar surface. Meanwhile the American program finally man-rates the "Helios-3" spacecraft with a seven-day mission by Neil Armstrong, Tom Stafford and Rusty Schweickart.
* July 20, 1969: Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov steps off the ladder of "LK-13" onto the surface of the Ocean of Storms on the Moon. He proclaims "One small step for a socialist, one giant leap for the Revolution!". The Soviets have won the "Space Race". Four months later, Vasili Lazarev lands on the Sea of Tranquility. Meanwhile at the same moment, "Helios-5" with James Lovell, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins orbits overhead as America has its first lunar orbital mission. Passing "LK/LOK-14" at a distance of less than 20 miles at one point, Lovell, Aldrin, and Collins look down at the second Soviet lunar landing. Press reaction in the United States and the West is depressing and filled with a sense of futility. Over the next four years, the Soviets land 7 men on the Moon. Expansion of Soviet prestige allows for more countries to join in economic trade treaties with the USSR, boosting its economy. By 1975, the first "Salyut" space station is developed, and becomes a "refueling station" for expanded Soviet lunar missions. In 1979, "Lunagrad", a manned base is established with a dozen inhabitants. Svetlana Savitskaya joins the crew of "Lunagrad" in 1982, becoming the first woman on the Moon. Continuing success and technological advances forestall the break-up of the Soviet Union. Economic booms in the CoMEcon (Council for Mutual Economic Assistance) countries dampen support for Solidarity in Poland and the Afghanistan War never emerges. When Mikhail Gorbachev becomes Secretary of the Party in 1984, he finds a Soviet bloc prosperous with only "minor" reforms necessary. On March 5th, 1997, Leonid Kadeniuk, Vladimir Vasyutin, Boris Morukov and Mikhail Tyurin land on the Utopia Planetia region of Mars in "MK-Mars-1" and declare the "Red Planet is red!" Meanwhile, despite being less than 6 months away from their first lunar orbital test of the "Lunar Excursion Module", the American moon program is shelved by President Nixon in January 1971. Failure to reach the Moon only highlights a growing sense of despondence in the US (along with the disastrous Vietnam War). Nixon approves the "Skylab" Program, but won't entertain any further attempts at reaching the Moon. American prestige continues to suffer into the 80s. Reagan's election in 1984 boosts patriotism in the US and his "commitment to the future of America in space" gives some hope for a resurgence in American space exploration with the creation of a "Space Shuttle" in the late 80s, as a replacement for the aging "Helios-II" capsules.
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