Dr Thomas Ellis

Dr Thomas Ellis is a cultural and diplomatic historian whose research interests centre on US-Russian relations, and a teaching fellow in American history at the University of Birmingham. He is currently writing a book about US perceptions of the Soviet space programme

Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, seen in 1975, would have been the leading candidate to be the first person to step on the Moon had the Soviets landed before the US (Photo by Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

What if...The Soviets had landed on the Moon first and won the Space Race?. This is a premium piece of content available to subscribed users.