What If America Had Beaten the Soviets into Space?

MarkWhittington writes: "April 12 is the 50th anniversary of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin’s first space flight. Coming less than four years after Sputnik, Gagarin orbital space voyage galvanized the United States and led to President Kennedy announcing the race to the Moon six week later. The question arises, what if America had beaten the Soviet Union into space instead?"