USSR Space Program
Government Space Agency
- Full Name: Union of Soviet Socialist Republics Space Program (Космическая программа СССР)
- Affiliation: USSR
- Countries: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan
- Focus Areas: Astrobotany Research
- Type: Ground Control, Spaceflight
- Accolades:
- First to coin “astrobotany” in 1945
- First Department of Astrobotany in 1947
- First plant habitat in space in 1971 (Oasis 1)
- First space-grown plant to be consumed by humans in space in 1975 (onions)
- Grew the first plant to flower and produce seeds in space in 1982 (Arabidopsis thaliana)
Summary
The USSR Space Program was a powerful, efficient, and groundbreaking arm of the USSR that took a largely agrarian society and turned it into a spacefaring superpower in a matter of decades. Many of the earliest astrobotany concepts, experiments, and research tools were first created by the USSR Space Program. Although NASA and its affiliates also explored astrobotany during the height of the Space Race, the USSR chalked up a solid majority of astrobotany “firsts”. The many achievements of the USSR Space Program laid the foundation for modern astrobotany. The USSR formally ceased to exist in 1991, but Russia and many other former USSR countries continue spaceflight research to this day.