> The mission was rushed, politically motivated, and a failure. Polyus was, yes. Energia performed well. > After the 60s the USSR space program was a mess of

> The mission was rushed, politically motivated, and a failure. Polyus was, yes. Energia performed well. > After the 60s the USSR space program was a mess of failures and catching up to NASA. You mean after the end of the moon landings? When NASA was, essentially, dicking around and trying to figure out what to do with their expensive new toy, while doing a handful (quite PR effective) probe launches? Roskosmos, meanwhile, launched six Saljut stations, Mir, and about as many planetary missions as the rest of the world combined, including the first extraplanetary rovers. > Considering the massive bodycount of the USSR space program (Soyuz 1, Nedelin catastrophe, Soyuz 11, etc) "Etc."? That's it. NASA has a higher body count between Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia, Ignoring the Nedelin catastrophe, which was completely unrelated to the space program – ICBM accidents hardly count, or we could add a lot more fatalities on both sides, e.g. close to sixty alone from Titan II accidents in the USA.