Soviet scientists believed that the Americans would keep their plans secret until after they had succeeded in launching a satellite, so all our efforts were put into beating the Americans to the launch.
Les scientifiques soviétiques pensaient que les Américains ne diraient rien de leurs projets tant qu’ils ne seraient pas effectivement parvenus à lancer un satellite, et tous leurs efforts ne tendaient qu’à un but : battre les Américains au poteau.