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Comment by michaelhoffman | Hacker News Reader

The launch of Sputnik 1 by the USSR was the single most important driver of U.S. developing its own space activities. Makes sense to commemorate that.

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Thank you for not saying "by the Russians". It's a pet peeve of mine when Russia is used as a proxy for the USSR while the USSR was still intact.

Why? The USSR was, practically speaking, a Russian empire.

Having grown up in the USSR (not that this fact necessarily gives me any special points in this discussion), I simply look at it like this: a lot more nationalities contributed to accomplishments and failures of the USSR than Russians. For example, it's not just the Russians that helped defeat Germany in WWII, and it's not just the Russians that made Chernobyl (in Ukraine, BTW) the disaster that it became.

If Russia != USSR, then Germany != nazis/the axis

The difference is that the USSR covered a much wider geographical net than it's successor states. Giving Russia credit as if it were the USSR is like giving sole credit for a team's work to the loudest programmer in the group.

The Axis included Japan and Italy. Without Japan, the US wasn't likely to fight in the war and lead to the outcome we got (or atleast at that speed).

> Why? The USSR was, practically speaking, a Russian empire.

Stalin, one of the most well-known leaders of the USSR, wasn't even Russia: he was born in what is now Georgia.

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