Cosmonaut Artyom Isayev, stands near the newly planted Soviet Flag on the moon.
On July 20, 1969, millions were watching as Apollo 11 was set to land on the moon, the first manned lander to do so. The Soviet Moonshot program was nearing collapse, as the program was facing extreme funding cuts due to the Americans building a successful lander long before their moon rocket could even work.
At 8:15 PM GMT, Commander Neil Armstrong reported that the lander was going too fast. Struggling to control the lander, the world watched in horror, as the lander crashed onto the lunar surface. The television camera cut. Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, presumably died on impact. The cause of the problem was determined as faulty wiring in the steering systems.
President Nixon, facing the dangers of lunar exploration, puts the Apollo program on indefinite hold, not restarting until 1978.
The Soviet Moonshot program now, with the American program halted, did not receive funding cuts, seeing the new chance. The N1 Rocket was now being funded and tested regularly, being improved on until finally, in 1972, the Soyuz 7K-LOK, the LK 1, and the N1 Rocket, were built, tested for safety, and deemed ready to launch.
On April 22, 1973, the anniversary of Lenin's birth, the Soyuz 7K-LOK was launched, to audiences across the USSR. In the United States, few watched, not wanting to see another horror. On April 26, the LK 1 successfully landed on the lunar surface, near the Sea of Showers on the near side of the moon. The crew of the LK 1, Commander Artyom Isayev, Command Module Pilot Leo Kasputin, and Lunar Module Pilot Sergey Baranov, became the first three men on the moon.
After this successful flight, the Apollo program was urged to be restarted by members of congress and many across the nation. Richard Nixon pledged that he would "consider it", but his presidency was stopped short by the Watergate Scandal. The new president, Gerald Ford, wanted nothing to do with the Apollo program, considering it a "failed idea" and a "lost cause", among other statements. Only a few bills ever relating to NASA ever passed through the executive branch.
Gerald Ford proved to be extremely unpopular with Americans. He lost to Jimmy Carter at the end of his first term. Jimmy Carter, campaigned on restarting the Apollo program, and passed many of the bills that were going through congress that related to NASA and Apollo. By 1979, the Apollo Program was restarted, and production on Apollo 12 began. On July 27, 1980, Apollo 12 launched from Cape Canaveral, and landed on the moon successfully near the Sea of Tranquility. By this time, the Soviets had landed three more landers, and were in the process of securing funding for a huge plan.
Soviet astronomers had concluded that there was a massive abundance of Helium-3 on the lunar surface, and since the Soviet Space Program had advanced so much ahead of the Americans, that they should take advantage of this opportunity while they could.
During the landing of LK 4 in 1983, a temporary encampment with limited supplies was set up to mine Helium-3. When LK 4 returned to Earth with a supply of Helium-3, small fusion reactors (mostly limited to secondary urban areas like Novosibirsk) that had been under construction before LK 3 (1978), were put into power.
With new sustainable, safe, energy, the economy of the USSR improved greatly, steadily increasing to this day.
With each new lunar lander, the mining stations expanded, which also necessitated further development of fusion reactors. Helium-3 was also a highly profitable export to fusion reactor-savvy countries like the United States and China.
In 1986, one year after LK 5, the Chernobyl incident occurred. In the OTL, the recovery costs devastated the Soviet economy, but in the ATL, the economy was moderately affected, while still being a major setback.
In 1991, the December Coup, did not receive the popular support the conspirators hoped it would get. With the economy soaring as it did and the New Union treaty ready to be put in place, the December Coup's after effects were never realized, and the USSR survives to this day.
As of 2000, the Union of the Soviet Sovereign Republics is a symbol of economic development. There are plans to put a small fusion reactor in Moscow by 2010, and fusion reactors are set to be constructed in United States, China, and the UK. A colony of 200 people is set to be drawn up in 2020, with an American mining settlement being set up in 2010.