They were not the only ones. We forget how the Soviets were the ones to first popularise and develop these ideas of humanity as a space faring race, with the stars the natural habitat of New Soviet Man. The Nazis stole and twisted them to further their Fascist Imperialism.

Tsiolkovsky invented technological space travel, and Korolev and Glushko were his direct apprentices. Soviet rockets put men in space. Soviets made the first probes and the first long term habitats. While the USA wasted its time and money on grandstanding spectacle the Soviet Union was pioneering long term habitation of space.

We should not cede this arena to Musk and his ilk.