Hacker News with Generative AI: Soviet Union

Cosmic Propaganda: The Soviet Space program in stamps (worldhistory.substack.com)
On July 21, 1969, astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin prepared to lift off from Tranquility Base on the surface of the Moon. Their journey was the culmination of years of work and billions of dollars in spending. The astronauts’ journey had captivated the world and would be trumpeted as a triumph of American ingenuity, capitalism, and democracy.

Space Exploration, History, Cold War, Soviet Union, Propaganda

6 points by crescit_eundo 5 days ago | 0 comments

Old Soviet Venus descent craft nearing Earth reentry (leonarddavid.com)
That soon-to-reenter Cosmos 482 is getting increased attention by satellite trackers – and new imagery provides some interesting details.

Space Exploration, Soviet Union, Space Debris

406 points by Wingman4l7 7 days ago | 279 comments

Leningrad-1: a 44-IC Soviet style ZX-Spectrum clone (alex-j-lowry.github.io)
When Sinclair released the original ZX Spectrum in 1982, it was designed with a chip called the ULA, short for 'uncommitted logic array'. This chip combined a large amount of logic functions into a single custom-made package, significantly lowering the component count and cost.

Retro Computing, Hardware, ZX Spectrum, Soviet Union, DIY Projects

13 points by threeme3 60 days ago | 0 comments

From Reform to Ruin in the USSR (cogitations.co)
“A nation so poorly prepared to act independently could not attempt total reform without total destruction. An absolute monarch would have been a less dangerous innovator.” – Alexis de Tocqueville

History, Soviet Union, Political Analysis, Social Commentary

81 points by waldohatesyou 72 days ago | 92 comments

The Soviet Collapse: Grain and Oil by Yegor Gaidar [pdf] (2007) (tamilnation.org)

Soviet Union, History, Economics, Political Science

24 points by MrBuddyCasino 119 days ago | 14 comments

Alexey and Henk, the friends who took Tetris out of the Soviet Union (elpais.com)
One man invented a video game that has sold more than 520 million copies. The other fought to obtain the rights to it during the Soviet era, got the game’s designer out from behind the iron curtain, and made it possible for half of humanity to dream of colored blocks just as the Berlin Wall was collapsing.

Video Games, History, Soviet Union, Entrepreneurship

5 points by PaulHoule 124 days ago | 0 comments

Could the Soviet Union have survived? (historytoday.com)
We ask four historians of the Cold War whether the demise of the USSR was as inevitable as it now seems.

History, Cold War, Soviet Union

31 points by pepys 127 days ago | 98 comments

2.01 (Buran-Class Spacecraft) (wikipedia.org)
2.01 (GRAU index serial number 11F35 3K) is the designation of the third Buran-class orbiter to be produced as part of the Soviet/Russian Buran programme.

Spacecraft, Soviet Union, Russia

7 points by doener 128 days ago | 0 comments

A Legendary Exposé of the Brutality of the Soviet Union (smithsonianmag.com)
Published on this day in 1973, “The Gulag Archipelago” drew on Russian writer Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s experiences as a political dissident in a prison camp, but it left him deported and stateless for the next two decades

History, Soviet Union, Literature, Political Dissidents

47 points by eadmund 128 days ago | 80 comments

Rockets and People: A Four-Volume Memoir by Boris Chertok (NASA History Series) (nasa.gov)
Much has been written in the West on the history of the Soviet space program but few Westerners have read direct first-hand accounts of the men and women who were behind the many Russian accomplishments in exploring space.

Space Exploration, History, Memoirs, Soviet Union

4 points by mepian 133 days ago | 0 comments

Soviet Russia's Merciless War for Grain [video] (youtube.com)

Soviet Union, History, War, Agriculture

3 points by creer 186 days ago | 0 comments

Kronos: Soviet Processor Family for High-Level Languages (2006) [pdf] (hal.science)

Computer Architecture, Soviet Union, Programming Languages, History, Processors

61 points by mepian 198 days ago | 14 comments

The Globus INK: a mechanical navigation computer for Soviet spaceflight (2023) (righto.com)
The Soviet space program used completely different controls and instruments from American spacecraft.

Spaceflight, History, Soviet Union, Technology

193 points by dangle1 216 days ago | 25 comments

Teeth as time capsules: Soviet secrets and my dentist grandmother (theguardian.com)

History, Personal Stories, Soviet Union, Dentistry

63 points by Petiver 217 days ago | 38 comments

Debugging Behind the Iron Curtain (2010) (jakepoz.com)
Sergei is a veteran of the early days of the computing industry as it was developing in the Soviet Union. I had the pleasure of working and learning from him over the past year, and in that time I picked up more important lessons about both life and embedded programming than any amount of school could ever teach.

Debugging, History, Programming, Soviet Union, Embedded Systems

66 points by edward 232 days ago | 21 comments

Arvo Pärt's Journey (plough.com)
In this excerpt from Between Two Sounds, we see the moment when the Estonian composer begins to run afoul of the Soviet regime.

Music, Estonia, Soviet Union, Biography, Composers

135 points by motohagiography 241 days ago | 33 comments

DRAKON (wikipedia.org)

Programming Languages, Open Source, History, Visual Programming, Soviet Union

213 points by instagraham 263 days ago | 59 comments

The first mass-produced DRAM of the Soviet Union (cpushack.com)

Soviet Union, History, Technology, Computing, DRAM

70 points by segasaturn 266 days ago | 30 comments

The Powers of Soviet Puppetry (historytoday.com)

Soviet Union, History, Puppetry, Cold War

50 points by prismatic 275 days ago | 15 comments

Soviet Frigate Storozhevoy (wikipedia.org)