Editing Space Race (section)

=== "Winner" of the Space Race ===
The question of who won the Space Race has sparked considerable debate among historians and analysts. The United States is widely seen as the victor due to the Apollo crewed landing and moonwalk missions, which achieved President John F. Kennedy's ambitious goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth by the end of the 1960s. This achievement, completed in July 1969, marked the pinnacle of U.S. space exploration efforts of the time and was regarded by most observers as the culmination of the Space Race. Political scientist Richard J. Samuels describes Apollo 11 as a "decisive American victory."<ref name="NatSecEncyclopedia" />

The Moon race is often analyzed as a microcosm of the Space Race's broader dynamics. Historians such as Jennifer Frost argue that if the Space Race is measured in terms of overall spaceflight capability, the Soviet Union "won it hands down."<ref name="Frost">{{cite web |last1=Frost |first1=Jennifer |date=July 18, 2019 |title=Who really won the US-Soviet space race? |url=https://newsroom.co.nz/2019/07/18/who-really-won-the-us-soviet-space-race/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=newsroom.co.nz}}</ref> Asif A. Siddiqi, a noted space historian, provides a more nuanced view, emphasizing the Soviet Union's dominance in smaller aspects of the race to the moon, yet critical, benchmarks such as the first lunar impact, first photos of the Moon's far side, first soft lunar landing, and first lunar orbit.<ref name="AAS">{{cite web |date=29 June 2023 |title=Calls For a New Way of Thinking About the Global Space Race - SPACE & DEFENSE |url=https://spaceanddefense.io/calls-for-a-new-way-of-thinking-about-the-global-space-race/ |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=spaceanddefense.io}}</ref> These accomplishments laid the groundwork for lunar exploration, though they are often overshadowed by the Apollo 11 mission.<blockquote>Before that landing [Apollo 11], there was an enormous amount of investment in the robotic exploration of the Moon, both by the Soviets and the US, in terms of all sorts of smaller benchmarks like the first lunar impact, the first pictures of the far side of the Moon, the first soft lunar landing, and the first lunar orbit. We forget, but in those little races, the Soviet Union dominated almost every benchmark, but it is forgotten as the United States won the big one.</blockquote>