Cold War (1970–1980) (Space Race Didn't End)

During this time the cold war started to change its focus from a mostly Arms Race to one that focused on space exploration. After the successful landing on the moon by the United States and the Soviet Union first launch of a super-heavy rocket booster. The Soviet Union had started to intensify their own space efforts years earlier with the collaboration of Sergei Pavlovich Korolev and Vladimir Chelomey but it was not untill 1969 that there was a major budgetary change. The Nixon Administration out of fear of a all-out Soviet space effort would leave the United States behind, started to call on congress to increase America's Space budget.

The Soviet Plan -Space for socialism
The Soviet under the Brezhnev had just years earlier saw the Brezhnev Doctrine outlined as a foriegn policy and it stated: When forces that are hostile to socialism try to turn the development of some socialist country towards capitalism it becomes not only a problem of the country concerned, but a common problem and concern of all socialist countries. The policy was used to justified the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968 and to put down the Hungarian uprisings in 1956. However, the decision to engage the United States in an attempt to become a space power required a re-evaluation of this policy. Brezhnev which continued to allow Korolyov to speed up development of the Soviet space progam, had become under internal scutiny for what seemed as abandonment of the Revolution. The Soviet had up this point show space as a military area and for its propaganda value. But Brehnev gambled that by refocusing the Cold War from an expensive Arms Race that had little promise for the future of solialism but war with the United States; to the Space Race in which they were a leader in, would allow them to show-off their abilities and therefore spread solialism. By reducing arms spending Brezhnev made many new enemies that had strong interests in the military. However, he made even more new allies who believed it was time to slow down the building of nuclear warheads now that the Soviet had roughly parody with the Americans. It was these individuals that knew the toll that the Arms Race was having on the economy and the enviroment, but untill now could not or would not speak up out of fear of reprisal.

One of the loudest new voices was a young Mikhail Gorbachev was at this time First Party Secretary of the Stavropol Kraikom and was one of the youngest provincial party leaders in the Soviet Union. He was using the position to helped reorganise the collective farms, improve workers' living conditions, expand the size of their private gardening plots, and gave them a greater voice in local planning. He was also aware of the damage to the environment the arms race was having. This first hand knowledge and bravery gave Gorbachev an advantage over many others and got him noticed by Brezhnev. Who brought him to Moscow in the hope of using Gorbachev to continue to stress the need to change.

Brezhnev used Sergei Korolev, the chief engineer who developed the N-1 rocket that put a Soviet on the moon. In his new role he consolidated rocket and space sciences under one planning chief. The Soviets quickly put together an international plan that would start to train non-Russian cosmonauts and in later years citizens of countries that are sympathetic toward socialism.

America's Reponse- We can not fall in behind in space again
Leonid brehnev early 1969, "the American think of this Space Race as if it is a foot race... one moon, one destination... but we see a moon, the asteroid belt and 8 other planets, therefore, it is not a foot race but a Decathlon and we will win the race!!", It has been said that this statement more then anything else affected President Nixon in his concern with the Soviets in regards to the space race.

Arms Race
President Nixon initiates a policy of Detente with the Soviet Union. It quickly leads to the SALT I Treaty to reduce nuclear warheads.

The USSR starts to scrap some of its ICBM's for parts in support of it various space operations. The move seen by many as desperation is, by many others, seen as brilliant as it saves them billions in maintenance costs from these idle rockets. The USA copies this move and will rely on its bomber or submarine force if a war were to break out

Vietnam
America contined to Vietnamese the war