While Apollo 11 Was on the Moon, a Secret Soviet Probe Was Racing to Grab Moon Rocks and Beat the Astronauts Home

While Apollo 11 Was on the Moon, a Secret Soviet Probe Was Racing to Grab Moon Rocks and Beat the Astronauts Home

By July 1969, the Soviet Union understood that it had effectively lost the race to land humans on the moon. Their massive N1 Moon rocket had suffered repeated catastrophic failures, making a crewed lunar landing impossible in time to compete with Apollo 11. Saturn 5 Rocket. Image from NASA Kennedy Space Center, taken on 6/28/2026. Taken by Harry J. Kazianis for 19FortyFive.com So, Soviet planners wanted to gain some acclaim–and enhance their own…