LOL, Veronika Zhilina looks like to be shaping up in a Trusova Mk II, but obviously still has 4 years of development growth ahead of her, before being able to step into Sasha's place on the launchpad into greatness.
Reminds me of one of my favourite movies, The Right Stuff, about the 1950's race to launch a man into space. The movie made it seem the USSR was most successful, as the USA leaders complained 'our rockets always explode' ...
Slightly off-topic 
As indeed they were. It was only at the end of the 10-year long Apollo programme that the Americans were not playing catch-up.
USSR achievements in early space exploration
***
First satellite launched into earth orbit - Sputnik I 1957, orbited for 3 months
*** First creature to travel in space (Laika, died :sad4
then Belka and Strelka (survived and lived to ripe old age)
*** First to fly by the moon - Luna I 1956-57
***
First to land on the moon - Luna II 1959
*** First behind the moon - Luna III 1959
*** First soft landing on the moon, and first hi-res pics - Luna X 1966
*** First accident on the moon
- Luna XV 1969
*** First unmanned collection and return of lunar soil to the earth - Luna XVI - 1970
*** First remote-controlled rover - Lunakhod - 1970, roved for a year
***
First human being in space - Yuri Gagarin 1961
***
First woman in space - Valentina Tereshkova 1963
*** First multi-man spacecraft
*** First multi-man space flight - Voskhod I 1964
***
First person to walk in space - Alexei Leonov Voskhod II 1966
*** First to land on another planet - Venera VII, Venus, 1970
*** First space station - MIR 1986, orbited until 2001
:thumbsup:
First to orbit the earth under her own power - Alexandra Trusova :scard7:
The costume coordination deserving of +5000 goe!
)
