Regardless of what you think about their leadership, or how their government is run, the guys who fly these things are just a bunch of gutsy pilots doing their jobs. I also rooted for the Soviet cosmonauts and their space probes, and was angry about the loss of the Mir space station.

I'm glad we beat the Soviets to the Moon, but the rocket engineer in me could not feel anything but sympathy for the terrible failures of their Moon rocket. And if their guys HAD gotten to the Moon first, my fingers would still have been crossed for their safe return.

Heck, how many famous and courageous explorers in Earth history had crappy governments and political systems supporting them?