I mean technically they were the first to put a satellite AND a person into orbit AND land probes with cameras on Venus. We were just the first to the moon, but they were the first in space.
The space programs are nice though, because they're basically a neutral territory and a worldwide friendly competition. We're often working with each other to help advance things, even conflicting nations, thus we have things like the ISS and the EHT.
Caption this Meme
