Sergei Korolev Forced Space Approval

In the 1950s, Soviet rocket engineer Sergei Korolev wanted approval for a Soviet space program, but the Communist Party rejected the idea. He planted newspaper articles falsely suggesting that the USSR had already approved one, and American President Dwight D. Eisenhower responded by backing a US space program. That move embarrassed Soviet leaders into approving the very space program they had previously denied.

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