USSR

The **Soviet Union**, officially the **Union of Soviet Socialist Republics** (**USSR**) (also known as the KKKP) was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1987. A flagship communist state, both its government and its economy were highly centralized until its final years. It was a one-party state governed by the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, with the city of Moscow serving as its capital as well as that of its largest and most populous republic: the Russian SFSR.

## USSR

### Official Language(s):

Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Uzbek, Kazakh, Georgian, Azerbaijani, Lithuanian, Moldavian, Latvian, Kyrgyz, Tajik, Armenian, Turkmen, Estonian

## History

*This section only covers events that have taken place within the runtime of RTTF (1969 onwards) meaning it skips out on the early days of the space race, however all of that stayed the same.*

### Moon Shot (1969-1970)

After a shock to the nation of the landing of Selene 4 and Hecate 11 on the surface of the Moon, the USSR launched their N-1 L3 to the Moon on it's first crewed launch, however a guidance error caused an abort, which set the attempt back a year. Subsequently, the ROC landed on the surface of the Moon before the next launch could be achieved, and on January 10th, 1970, Alexei Leonov became the first Soviet on the moon.

The mission was plagued with errors, from a near-abort to a risky rendezvous that included Leonov having to fly himself over to the Soyuz, the N1 program was scrapped and lunar activities put on the backburner.

### Cuban Alliance and European Tensions (1971-1973)

After the cancellation of the N-1 program, the USSR strengthened its ties with the island nation of Cuba, and proposed a deal to build the Santa Marta Cosmodrome on the island, giving easier access to the Moon for the newly-designed Vulkan rocket.

At the same time, tensions between the Netherlands and USSR were at an all-time high, with many fearing the USSR would escalate to war against the Dutch. However, the conflict was de-escalated but many still deemed the Netherlands untrustworthy. This however meant that ties with the US were strengthened, making them, contrary to what would be expected, the USSR's greatest ally.

### War with the European Union (1974)

After threats were made to the Republic of China and allies to remove the SinaSat-3 from above the USSR, the EU stepped in as a global mediator and, even after the USSR declared peace with the ROC, the EU still maintained an aggressive stance towards the USSR. This all came to a boil on November 25th, 1974 when, after a further threat of war against the Dutch after their invasion of Greece, the EU finally declared war against the USSR in order to stop them from warring against the Netherlands. The war culminated within hours, with nuclear strikes across the USSR. Cities such as Moscow, Leningrad, Berlin, Kyiv, Bucharest and Budapest were hit, with the rebuild taking years.

However, after the USSR and EU were left in tatters, a truce was called between the two nations, however they were never allies after.

### Death of Leonid Brezhnev and Lunar Program Rebirth (1975-1976)

In early 1975, the death of Leonid Brezhnev put mounting pressure on an already crippled nation. With the country still rebuilding from the shock of nuclear war, Andrei Kirilenko was put in his place to rule the country.

Kirilenko promised deeper exploration into space, which was achieved by the country, as not long after, the first launch of Vulkan to the surface of the Moon occured, and in 1976, after 2 more successful manned landings using Vulkan, the surface base *Mir* was launched, which would go on to become a major outpost in founding the Gagarin Cosmodrome.

### Discovery of Yatir and Subsequent Events (1977-1983)

After the European Union announced they had discovered alien signals coming from the surface of Mars, the USSR and their now-close ally, the Republic of China, grouped up to make first contact with these aliens. They were discovered to be an intelligent species who had come from Laythe. Over the next year, relations with these people would be strengthened, until the ROC sent a mission to Mars to meet up with the Yatirian strandees. They remained on the surface with them throughout the next year, after which came the Earth-USS War, which the USSR was not majorly involved with.

However, during the war, the global community took advantage of the Jool transfer window in order to launch the Voyager-1 spacecraft, named "Hail Mary" with a crew, which arrived at Laythe in 1983, well after the war had passed.

### Lunar Activities and Decline of the Union (1983-1987)

During the time between the launch and arrival of Voyager-1, the USSR had made great strives in space. Consistent lunar surface operations culminated in the construction of the Gagarin Cosmodrome, a complex on the Moon for the launch and landing of craft.

Even after this, though, the Union was fraying, with many still angry over the lack of support after the war and the focus that Kirilenko had on other projects rather than the people, so, in 1987, a rogue terrorist group assassinated Andrei Kirilenko in a large attack in Sevastopol, Ukraine, which meant that Mikhail Gorbachev would come into power soon after. However, just a week after the first attack, major sites around the Union and most notably the Kremlin were attacked, with mass riots breaking out all over.

The riots ended with Mikhail Gorbachev's announcement on December 24th, 1987, which formally ended the USSR and replaced it with the Eurasian Union of Democratic Republics.￼