How Africa Almost Won The Space Race

Did you know about the other country that wanted to win the Space Race? Apart from the Soviet Union and the US, the small African nation of Zambia - under the leadership of Edward Mukuka Nkoloso - had launched their very own Space Program. In light of the recent private spaceflights that have been launched by Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin) and Richard Branson (Virgin Atlantic) this video illustrates that the ambition to build one’s own spaceships and out-compete NASA has been around for a long time. The difference between Jeff Bezos going to space and the Zambian Space Program are of course innumerable. The Zambians may have operated at a fraction of the cost of Bezos space flight, but they have shown great ingenuity and perseverance in their own right. The Zambian Space Program may have had less space flight time than Bezos, Branson, NASA and your average 4th of July Firework - but they may have inspired Elon Musk (SpaceX) and other privateers to join in on the endeavor into space. — If you want to support me and have your name be the next in the credits of all of this channel’s videos forever, become one of my first 100 subscribers on PATREON: FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER FOLLOW ME ON TIKTOK @howistoast — Chapters: 00:00 - Introduction 00:26 - 1960 - Edward Mukuka Nkoloso founds Zambia’s Space Academy 01:45 - The Space Race Begins 03:11 - 1961 - First Major Breakthroughs 04:01 - 1962 - The Quest For More Funding 04:48 - The Afronauts 06:30 - 1964 - Further Technological Breakthrough 07:41 - The Great Announcement 08:26 - Independence Day 09:11 - One Small Step For A Man; One Giant Leap for Mankind 09:41 - Epilogue: Why Did it Fail? 10:56 - Other Theories 11:28 - Was it all A Troll? 12:03 - Outro