Don’t look up: US scientists fear Russians edging ahead in space race

The Post reported on the continuing tension between the US and Russia during the space race in 1960.

“Professor Bernard Lovell, director of Jodrell Bank Radio Astronomy Station, said yesterday that he had no hard information on whether Russia had put a man into space,” it read as the two nations attempted to win the battle to put a man in space and, eventually, on the moon. “‘On the other

hand, if my phone rang tonight to say the Russians had done such a thing, I would not be surprised,’ he said.

“He said that the Russians must be on the verge of staging some dramatic space enterprise. ‘I have said before that I would not be surprised if before the end of this year the Russians did attempt a man in space around the Earth.’

“Last night some Western scientists were coming to the conclusion

that this age-old dream of man has become a reality at last. They believe that, at this very moment, a pioneer cosmonaut – as the Reds like to call their fully-trained space pilots – may be orbiting the world.”

The Americans were right to be concerned but it wasn’t until April of the following year that the Soviets put cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in space. The US would have the last laugh by landing a man on the Moon on July 20, 1969.