honestly i think this meme is a cope. The US won the propaganda campaign. Not even Russia gives a shit about the USSR's achievements in space anymore. Besides, people are just more impressed by the "personal scale." The USSR or even China could be the first one to make contact with aliens 50 light years away using signals and satellites. All of that becomes irrelevant in culture if some American shakes the hand of an alien and it's broadcasted live on TV. Chalk it up to western individualism, but the truth is that no one gives a shit about some machines, and they're definitely not going to give a shit someone being the first of anything if you can't sell it.

It's why Apple is so successful despite being years, even a decade, behind and failing to implement shit that Android and iOS jailbreak devs have released long ago. Those devs don't get the credit, and Apple reaps the benefits of other people's work thanks to their marketing team. Really, it reminds me of democrats crying about Biden's achievements lol. Let's pretend they do matter - what are they doing to fix people's perceptions that he's doing squat? Nothing. They're just banking on his "achievements" speaking for themselves instead of doing any EFFECTIVE propaganda to showcase their success.