It was the true climax of the Moon race. The Soviets could have beaten the Americans to the manned flight around the Moon. Their launch window opened on December 7, 1968. But the failure of Zond 6 thwarted this possibility. Even the Proton was not yet considered safe. But the Americans didn’t know this, and US warships entered the Black Sea to keep watch on Yevpatoria, and Baikonur was monitored daily by CORONA spy satellites. The Soviets considered Apollo 8 a huge gamble on the part of the US. After its success, admiration for the mission spread. The Soviet belief that they could now surpass the Americans began to wane. On January 8, 1969, a joint meeting of the Communist Party and Ministers decided to continue with L-1, LK, and N-1 (even though both had now been surpassed by the Apollo program), and to accelerate the automatic missions to Mars and Venus, and the space station.
