Following WWII the race to space lasted for 12 years, with one infamous failure and rocket disaster after another. During the space race there was a lot of pressure for the US to get a satellite, and therefore ICBMs, into orbit, by all levels of public and government. It was the next step of defense and nuclearization, which would establish a country as a super power.
Don't you think it's a coincidence that despite the many years of hardships to get to space, that within three months of the USSR claiming to have launched Sputnik into orbit, the US claimed to put a satellite into orbit as well?
Isn't it unlikely that, with all these different countries that dislike eachother that all went to space, they all agree to keep a secret by the US government?
You would be assuming that they actually have substantial space programs and are not simply outsourcing to NASA's contractors for space activities, like putting up satellites. SpaceX says that they put up satellites for Argentina, Canada, etc. Some countries or companies may 'design' what they want in space, and claim that those facilities are part of their 'space program', but there are really only a few places where rockets are launched from on Earth, and which are controlled by governmental organizations. There are also UN oversight organizations that were specifically set up during the space race era to help developing countries with their space programs. They had already known beforehand that countries wanted to go to space.
Also, some of the bigger countries like Japan who would perform more extensive activities like sending probes to orbit the Moon and such would usually always have a disclaimer in their information "*in joint collaboration with NASA." It is possible that it is different now, but it was that way for a long time.
Tom,
It's a fallacy to use coincidences and the workings together of nations in collaborative manners to achieve goals as a reason for a conspiracy or a hoax to exist. It goes against the very grain of how the Wiki talks about scientific observation and knowing as the basis for critical thought.
First, nations collaborate and partner in many different ways all the time to achieve goals. Airbus is an aircraft partnership amongst many different European Nations. It doesn't mean that travel on an Airbus is CGI or a hoax. This is just one example.
Second, there used to be a race in the 1960's towards being the first to offer supersonic transport to passengers. European countries were developing the Concorde. USA was developing the SST. And Russia did a sort of copy job on the Concorde, calling theirs the Concordia. The SST never panned out due to things like cost. Russia did complete their Concordia but abandoned the project due to catastrophic failures. And lastly, you had the Concorde which continued to fly up through the new millennia, but ultimately cancelled due to cost. Does this supersonic race to the sky mean that the Concorde / supersonic passenger travel was a hoax? No.
Third, you seem to also be saying that because there were many failures with rocket launches but then suddenly success is a reason to doubt space travel. This is both lazy science and a lazy argument. The Wright Brothers failed and tweaked airplane design many times before they got it right. In the early days when the Wright Brothers used to demonstrate their powered Wright Flyers to the US army, citizens would often laugh in disbelief, many also thinking it was a hoax until they saw it with their own eyes. And what about Thomas Edisons work to perfect the light bulb. Many many prototype trials and failures before getting it right. It doesnt mean that the light bulb is some sort of hoax.
Technological breakthroughs happen because of failures, learnings from failures, and then improvements that are made. This is technical evolution or technology evolving to become better, more reliable. Again, it's a lazy argument to attibute failures and then sudden technological success as the basis for a hoax.
Your arguments of coincidences, sudden breakthroughs, and nations collaborating as a reason to believe in the space travel conspiracy is why the Flat Earth conspiracy belief is so lacking in credibility.