Wow. What a variety of questions in a single post...

Did Russians go to the moon?
No, AFAIK. There was a project, but it was suspended after Apollo-11 flight.

Why does Russia have such crazy characters in their alphabet?
Because we have some crazy sounds in our speech obviously. :) Byzantine monks Kirill (hence "Cyrillic") and Mefodiy resigned alphabet for Slavs basing it on Greek one, while Western countries use alphabets based on Roman - Latin - alphabet.
There's a theory though that there was some Slavic alphabet before Kirill and Mefodiy named "Bukvitsa"...

What are the 1st thoughts that might come to a Russians mind when they here the word "American"?
Well... lately it's quite distorted due to recent events, but in general it would have been "typical" American products: jeans, McDonald's, Coca-Cola, Hollywood.
If you are asking about people: two contradicting typical images: a fit Schwarzenegger-like movie hero and a comical obese man from Zadornov's (Russian satirist) tales - "I'll have three hamburgers and one diet cola".
Actually there's too many associations at once.

What does Russia export? I never see any products that say "Made in Russia".
We are not very good with consumer's goods as a result of state economy of USSR. Russia exports mostly commodities: oil, natural gas, other raw resources. When we are talking about products of high technological level it's mostly weapons (tanks, fighter jets, surface-to-air missiles, etc.). Also we export liquid-fuel rocket engines - NASA is one of the main buyers.

What do you hate about Russia?
It's quite simple - bureaucracy. It's getting better with time for general population, but for business it's worse with every passing year.

Do you have Buddhists in Russia?
Yes, there are Buddhists in southern regions. When Medvedev was a President he was even proclaimed to be reincarnation of Buddhist deity named White Tara.

Are Russians tolerant of individual spirituality/religions?
For of the time we don't care. All the major confessions are being supported by the state. As I've mentioned previously somewhere on GLP in Moscow you can see mosque, church and a synagogue standing on one plot of land. And Grand Mosque is being built less than a mile from main Armenian Church Cathedral.
As long as your religion doesn't harm anyone and not disturb the public order, you are free do practice it. It does not save from some religious lunatics, but they are a minority.

Was life better for Russians with Czars/Kings?
It depends on how you define better.
Was our life better than life of Europeans under the reign of their kings? Yes. There's a number of evidences.
Was it better before Revolution than after this? Yes, of course. Revolution always a catastrophe.
Was it better then in 30s under Stalin? Can't say for sure. Some lived better, some worse.
Was it better then in 70s? No, it would be ridiculous.
Would have it been better if Russian monarchy was not overthrown and Russia was successfully reformed and modernized without any revolutions? My opinion - yes. But, sadly, it did not happen.