1 00:00:03,740 --> 00:00:07,300 We all think we know the story of space... 2 00:00:07,300 --> 00:00:09,740 NEIL ARMSTRONG: OK, I'm going to step off the LEM now. 3 00:00:09,740 --> 00:00:12,660 ..that it was conquered by the Americans. 4 00:00:12,660 --> 00:00:14,860 But that's not the real story. 5 00:00:19,580 --> 00:00:24,340 The actual conquerors of space were a dedicated group of men, and women, 6 00:00:24,340 --> 00:00:27,260 from the other side of the Iron Curtain. 7 00:00:27,260 --> 00:00:29,220 MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION 8 00:00:29,220 --> 00:00:31,620 After decades of secrecy, 9 00:00:31,620 --> 00:00:35,740 they are now free to tell the extraordinary stories 10 00:00:35,740 --> 00:00:41,020 of how they risked everything to take the first steps into space. 11 00:00:41,020 --> 00:00:44,020 TRANSLATION: 12 00:00:58,020 --> 00:01:01,220 A treasure trove of unseen footage from the Russian archives 13 00:01:01,220 --> 00:01:05,140 reveals how, time and again, the Soviets beat 14 00:01:05,140 --> 00:01:09,020 the more sophisticated American programme into second place. 15 00:01:12,500 --> 00:01:17,340 But along with the triumphs, there have also been tragedies 16 00:01:17,340 --> 00:01:21,420 and disasters that have carried on to the present day. 17 00:01:26,620 --> 00:01:29,060 BEEPING 18 00:01:33,180 --> 00:01:36,780 This is the remarkable, and at times terrifying, 19 00:01:36,780 --> 00:01:40,300 story of the Cosmonauts. 20 00:02:20,140 --> 00:02:23,500 TRANSLATION: 21 00:02:36,660 --> 00:02:40,220 On April 12th, 1961, 22 00:02:40,220 --> 00:02:43,860 Yuri Gagarin ushered the human race into the Space Age. 23 00:03:25,020 --> 00:03:29,100 Gagarin's flight was one of the great moments in human history. 24 00:03:31,940 --> 00:03:35,900 For the first time, we had left our home planet 25 00:03:35,900 --> 00:03:37,540 and entered the cosmos. 26 00:03:49,740 --> 00:03:52,340 We saw our world in a completely new light. 27 00:04:13,060 --> 00:04:16,860 Gagarin became the first man to see the Earth from space - 28 00:04:16,860 --> 00:04:20,060 and to marvel at the thin blue line of its atmosphere. 29 00:04:34,780 --> 00:04:39,540 Their Cold War rivals, the Americans, looked on, amazed. 30 00:04:42,140 --> 00:04:44,220 Their own space programme had been developing 31 00:04:44,220 --> 00:04:48,420 under the guidance of the German rocket engineer Wernher von Braun. 32 00:04:51,060 --> 00:04:54,700 They assumed that the first man in space would be an American - 33 00:04:54,700 --> 00:04:56,540 and certainly not Russian. 34 00:04:58,500 --> 00:05:01,100 The ordinary American couldn't understand 35 00:05:01,100 --> 00:05:05,340 how this country which had always been presented as being backward, 36 00:05:05,340 --> 00:05:07,820 you know, a nation of potato-farmers, 37 00:05:07,820 --> 00:05:12,460 um, could do something so astoundingly perfect 38 00:05:12,460 --> 00:05:15,420 in a technological and scientific sense. 39 00:05:15,420 --> 00:05:17,460 CHANTING 40 00:05:17,460 --> 00:05:20,140 But how had they done it? 41 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:22,780 How had this nation of potato farmers 42 00:05:22,780 --> 00:05:24,580 beaten the Americans into space? 43 00:05:34,940 --> 00:05:37,100 The origins of the Soviet Space programme 44 00:05:37,100 --> 00:05:39,980 can be found in the wreckage of the Second World War. 45 00:05:43,780 --> 00:05:48,420 By 1945, the Soviets had lost 25 million men. 46 00:05:51,220 --> 00:05:54,260 Hundreds of cities had been destroyed. 47 00:05:54,260 --> 00:05:56,460 The country was in ruins. 48 00:05:56,460 --> 00:06:00,100 But they had great hopes that, after the war, 49 00:06:00,100 --> 00:06:03,780 their sacrifices would earn them a position of global influence. 50 00:06:06,540 --> 00:06:10,220 That they would be the equal of their great rivals, the Americans. 51 00:06:12,700 --> 00:06:16,980 But those illusions were shattered by a single devastating event. 52 00:06:19,180 --> 00:06:21,780 EXPLOSION 53 00:06:23,860 --> 00:06:27,780 Hiroshima showed that, in the new world order, 54 00:06:27,780 --> 00:06:31,420 power and influence would not be measured in terms of manpower, 55 00:06:31,420 --> 00:06:33,660 but in terms of technology. 56 00:06:33,660 --> 00:06:36,100 And the deployment of the atomic bomb 57 00:06:36,100 --> 00:06:38,820 showed how far ahead the Americans were. 58 00:06:41,460 --> 00:06:44,380 If they were going to compete on the world stage, 59 00:06:44,380 --> 00:06:46,100 the Russians had to catch up. 60 00:06:48,620 --> 00:06:51,180 And they did so, with remarkable speed. 61 00:06:53,180 --> 00:06:54,780 Within just four years, 62 00:06:54,780 --> 00:06:57,140 they had produced an atomic bomb of their own. 63 00:06:59,900 --> 00:07:02,900 But at over five tonnes, the Russian bomb 64 00:07:02,900 --> 00:07:05,900 was more than twice as heavy as the American devices. 65 00:07:08,860 --> 00:07:12,860 It was this massive bomb that would kick-start the space race. 66 00:07:18,940 --> 00:07:20,860 Because the Americans developed 67 00:07:20,860 --> 00:07:22,740 much smaller nuclear weapons 68 00:07:22,740 --> 00:07:24,220 at an earlier stage, 69 00:07:24,220 --> 00:07:26,300 they built smaller rockets. 70 00:07:28,100 --> 00:07:31,500 But because the Soviets' nuclear weapons are so heavy, 71 00:07:31,500 --> 00:07:34,820 they have to develop very powerful rockets 72 00:07:34,820 --> 00:07:37,380 to make them into effective missiles. 73 00:07:39,540 --> 00:07:43,700 And that has an impact on, eventually, their space programme. 74 00:07:45,140 --> 00:07:47,940 To launch their massive bomb all the way to America... 75 00:07:47,940 --> 00:07:50,220 EXPLOSION 76 00:07:50,220 --> 00:07:53,460 ..the Soviets would need the most powerful missile ever built. 77 00:07:59,180 --> 00:08:01,660 The man charged with building that rocket 78 00:08:01,660 --> 00:08:03,700 was Sergei Pavlovich Korolev. 79 00:08:05,220 --> 00:08:07,300 He was so important to the Soviets 80 00:08:07,300 --> 00:08:09,860 that to protect him from the threat of assassination, 81 00:08:09,860 --> 00:08:12,540 his identity was kept secret. 82 00:08:12,540 --> 00:08:15,820 He was known simply as the Chief Designer. 83 00:08:17,180 --> 00:08:19,140 Sergei Korolev was known as the founding father 84 00:08:19,140 --> 00:08:21,060 of the Soviet space programme. 85 00:08:21,060 --> 00:08:23,180 I wouldn't call him necessarily a scientist - 86 00:08:23,180 --> 00:08:25,900 he was really a genius manager. That's what he really was. 87 00:08:25,900 --> 00:08:29,420 He was manager, engineer, inspirational figure, 88 00:08:29,420 --> 00:08:31,860 politician. He knew how to get the job done, 89 00:08:31,860 --> 00:08:33,820 he knew how to work the levers of power. 90 00:08:33,820 --> 00:08:35,980 He was all these things moulded into one. 91 00:08:38,740 --> 00:08:42,060 In many ways, Korolev was an odd choice. 92 00:08:42,060 --> 00:08:46,060 In 1939, Stalin had declared him an enemy of the state... 93 00:08:48,500 --> 00:08:51,820 ..and sent him to the infamous Gulag prison camps, 94 00:08:51,820 --> 00:08:53,580 where he was expected to die. 95 00:08:56,500 --> 00:08:59,580 But as World War II got going, the Soviets realised 96 00:08:59,580 --> 00:09:02,340 that they needed all their engineers, 97 00:09:02,340 --> 00:09:04,340 and he was summoned back to Moscow. 98 00:09:08,620 --> 00:09:11,060 Within just six years, he was in charge 99 00:09:11,060 --> 00:09:13,180 of their entire missile programme. 100 00:09:15,980 --> 00:09:18,740 For a decade after the war, he experimented. 101 00:09:20,340 --> 00:09:24,660 Starting by reconstructing V2 rockets captured from the Germans, 102 00:09:24,660 --> 00:09:28,540 he gradually developed bigger and bigger missiles. 103 00:09:31,100 --> 00:09:35,420 Until, by 1957, he had created his masterpiece - 104 00:09:35,420 --> 00:09:37,260 the R7 Semyorka. 105 00:09:40,060 --> 00:09:44,020 34 metres tall, weighing 280 tonnes, 106 00:09:44,020 --> 00:09:47,780 and powered by a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene, 107 00:09:47,780 --> 00:09:51,740 it was nine times more powerful than anything that had been built before. 108 00:09:53,580 --> 00:09:56,100 One of the launch team 109 00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:59,620 was a 26-year-old engineer called Georgi Grechko. 110 00:11:08,540 --> 00:11:12,020 It looked like the R7 would be an expensive failure. 111 00:11:12,020 --> 00:11:17,020 But on August 21st, 1957, a final test was planned. 112 00:11:26,260 --> 00:11:27,780 It was a complete success. 113 00:11:29,420 --> 00:11:32,340 Producing nearly 400 tons of thrust, 114 00:11:32,340 --> 00:11:35,700 the engines lifted the missile from the launch pad, 115 00:11:35,700 --> 00:11:37,860 powering it towards its target, 116 00:11:37,860 --> 00:11:40,780 3,500 miles away in Kamchatka. 117 00:11:45,660 --> 00:11:49,300 It was the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. 118 00:11:49,300 --> 00:11:52,820 With it, Korolev, at a stroke, 119 00:11:52,820 --> 00:11:55,980 had transformed the Russians into a global superpower. 120 00:11:59,020 --> 00:12:02,900 Though the R7's ultimate destiny would not be as a weapon. 121 00:12:02,900 --> 00:12:05,860 GRECHKO: 122 00:12:30,900 --> 00:12:34,580 Korolev had always had other plans for the R7. 123 00:12:34,580 --> 00:12:38,300 Ever since he'd started building rockets in the 1930s, 124 00:12:38,300 --> 00:12:40,940 he'd dreamt of using them to go into space. 125 00:13:22,060 --> 00:13:24,900 Now he had his rocket, he wasted no time. 126 00:13:29,340 --> 00:13:33,340 His engineers were already working on a simple satellite - 127 00:13:33,340 --> 00:13:35,940 nothing more than a radio transmitter 128 00:13:35,940 --> 00:13:37,780 encased in a metal sphere. 129 00:13:37,780 --> 00:13:41,740 Korolev called it Sputnik, or "fellow traveller". 130 00:13:43,260 --> 00:13:44,860 If he could launch it into orbit, 131 00:13:44,860 --> 00:13:49,340 he would be the first to prove that space travel was possible. 132 00:13:51,740 --> 00:13:55,780 Less than six weeks after the R7s first successful test, 133 00:13:55,780 --> 00:13:58,140 he had another rocket on the launch pad, 134 00:13:58,140 --> 00:14:00,300 ready to send Sputnik into orbit. 135 00:14:36,260 --> 00:14:39,700 Calculating the trajectory of an orbital launch was more complicated 136 00:14:39,700 --> 00:14:43,100 than the simple up and down of a ballistic missile launch. 137 00:14:46,820 --> 00:14:48,340 To launch a satellite, 138 00:14:48,340 --> 00:14:50,100 rather than going straight up, 139 00:14:50,100 --> 00:14:51,700 the rocket's trajectory 140 00:14:51,700 --> 00:14:53,340 had to flatten off so that 141 00:14:53,340 --> 00:14:55,500 instead of falling back to Earth 142 00:14:55,500 --> 00:14:57,180 it would fall into orbit. 143 00:15:22,580 --> 00:15:25,420 It seemed that the launch had gone perfectly. 144 00:15:26,940 --> 00:15:30,060 But the only way to know that Sputnik had made it 145 00:15:30,060 --> 00:15:34,140 safely into orbit was to wait for the radio signals 146 00:15:34,140 --> 00:15:36,780 beamed from the tiny satellite. 147 00:15:36,780 --> 00:15:39,580 BEEPING 148 00:16:22,900 --> 00:16:25,780 CHEERFUL MUSIC PLAYS 149 00:16:30,780 --> 00:16:34,820 Around the world, people went Sputnik-crazy. 150 00:16:36,220 --> 00:16:39,420 They queued up to try to catch sight of the Earth's second moon 151 00:16:39,420 --> 00:16:40,860 crossing the sky. 152 00:16:49,260 --> 00:16:52,700 But not everyone was looking up with admiration. 153 00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:58,980 In the United States, the appearance of Sputnik 154 00:16:58,980 --> 00:17:01,020 only fuelled their Cold War paranoia. 155 00:17:04,060 --> 00:17:08,700 America was already consumed by the threat of Communism. 156 00:17:08,700 --> 00:17:11,340 It's a conspiracy to take over our government by force. 157 00:17:11,340 --> 00:17:14,100 If I had my way about it, they'd all be sent back to Russia, 158 00:17:14,100 --> 00:17:16,420 or some other unpleasant place. 159 00:17:18,620 --> 00:17:20,940 Many were convinced that the country had been 160 00:17:20,940 --> 00:17:24,180 infiltrated by Communist spies planning a revolution. 161 00:17:28,700 --> 00:17:31,980 RUSSIAN ACCENT: Americans. They have too many freedoms. 162 00:17:31,980 --> 00:17:35,180 That is another thing you must remember, comrade. 163 00:17:35,180 --> 00:17:37,220 For one day it will be your mission 164 00:17:37,220 --> 00:17:40,100 to destroy those bourgeois capitalist freedoms. 165 00:17:43,260 --> 00:17:47,340 And this new Soviet star flying over their heads 166 00:17:47,340 --> 00:17:50,540 was surely part of that plot. 167 00:17:50,540 --> 00:17:53,300 We should have been the first ones to have it. 168 00:17:53,300 --> 00:17:56,980 Somebody's falling down on the job. Badly. 169 00:17:56,980 --> 00:18:00,220 We fear this. We fear that they have something out there 170 00:18:00,220 --> 00:18:02,660 the majority of people don't know about. 171 00:18:02,660 --> 00:18:06,780 The Americans assumed that the Russians were sinister people. 172 00:18:06,780 --> 00:18:10,980 So they put an enormous amount of effort into trying to decode 173 00:18:10,980 --> 00:18:14,980 this "beep-beep", assuming that it was sending signals 174 00:18:14,980 --> 00:18:18,940 for other missile strikes, or surveillance, or whatever. 175 00:18:18,940 --> 00:18:24,140 They couldn't accept what it was the Sputnik was saying, 176 00:18:24,140 --> 00:18:27,100 which was, simply, "Beep-beep. Beep-beep." 177 00:18:27,100 --> 00:18:29,020 SPUTNIK BEEPS 178 00:18:29,020 --> 00:18:33,740 But for all its simplicity, Sputnik was a brilliant propaganda coup. 179 00:18:35,500 --> 00:18:38,340 And the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev 180 00:18:38,340 --> 00:18:39,940 was desperate for more. 181 00:19:24,580 --> 00:19:26,660 It seemed an impossible task. 182 00:19:26,660 --> 00:19:29,380 Khrushchev had given Korolev just five weeks 183 00:19:29,380 --> 00:19:31,140 to launch another mission. 184 00:19:52,420 --> 00:19:53,940 In his secret headquarters, 185 00:19:53,940 --> 00:19:57,220 Korolev leapt at the chance to demonstrate his plans 186 00:19:57,220 --> 00:19:58,860 for the domination of space. 187 00:20:00,500 --> 00:20:04,300 Within the month, he would launch another satellite - 188 00:20:04,300 --> 00:20:07,300 but this one would carry a passenger. 189 00:20:13,660 --> 00:20:17,220 The first cosmonaut would be a dog called Laika. 190 00:20:19,740 --> 00:20:23,180 She was a stray who'd been found on the streets of Moscow 191 00:20:23,180 --> 00:20:25,220 and chosen for the mission 192 00:20:25,220 --> 00:20:28,060 because of her unmatched ability to sit still. 193 00:20:29,940 --> 00:20:33,180 Now she was loaded into a specially built capsule, 194 00:20:33,180 --> 00:20:35,540 complete with food and water trays. 195 00:20:35,540 --> 00:20:38,700 And for two days she waited patiently 196 00:20:38,700 --> 00:20:40,700 at the top of the rocket 197 00:20:40,700 --> 00:20:43,420 as it was fuelled and readied for lift-off. 198 00:20:59,260 --> 00:21:02,220 Live pictures of Laika sitting comfortably in her canister 199 00:21:02,220 --> 00:21:04,580 were broadcast back to Earth. 200 00:21:04,580 --> 00:21:07,860 It was a massive leap for animalkind. 201 00:21:07,860 --> 00:21:11,340 But for Laika, it would be a one-way trip. 202 00:21:13,700 --> 00:21:16,340 For many years, the Russians claimed 203 00:21:16,340 --> 00:21:18,860 she survived in orbit for several days. 204 00:21:22,700 --> 00:21:25,500 But in 2002, they finally admitted 205 00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:28,420 that the climate controls had failed 206 00:21:28,420 --> 00:21:31,700 and she died of overheating after only six hours. 207 00:21:36,180 --> 00:21:38,660 But Laika's sacrifice provided the Russians 208 00:21:38,660 --> 00:21:41,060 with a second precious propaganda victory. 209 00:21:43,460 --> 00:21:46,300 For the Americans, it was another kick in the teeth. 210 00:21:47,820 --> 00:21:50,940 They're still reeling from what Sputnik says, 211 00:21:50,940 --> 00:21:54,260 but suddenly the programme has been taken in a completely different 212 00:21:54,260 --> 00:21:55,860 and unexpected direction. 213 00:21:55,860 --> 00:21:59,700 It's not about satellites any more, it's about space travel. 214 00:21:59,700 --> 00:22:05,260 Because...if the Russians are able to put a living being, 215 00:22:05,260 --> 00:22:09,820 a dog, into a space capsule, and launch them into orbit, 216 00:22:09,820 --> 00:22:13,380 that also suggests that they'll be able shortly to do so 217 00:22:13,380 --> 00:22:17,940 with a human being. So this again underlines to the Americans 218 00:22:17,940 --> 00:22:20,420 just how far behind the Russians they are. 219 00:22:25,940 --> 00:22:29,660 It was now the Americans' turn to play catch-up. 220 00:22:29,660 --> 00:22:31,820 At the beginning of December 1957, 221 00:22:31,820 --> 00:22:34,540 they were ready to launch their first satellite. 222 00:22:36,260 --> 00:22:40,500 Millions tuned in to live pictures of the Vanguard rocket lifting off. 223 00:22:47,180 --> 00:22:48,740 It was a total humiliation. 224 00:22:51,420 --> 00:22:54,420 It underlined just how comprehensively the Soviets 225 00:22:54,420 --> 00:22:56,900 had won the first stage of the Space Race. 226 00:23:05,020 --> 00:23:06,740 The next stage of the contest 227 00:23:06,740 --> 00:23:09,980 would be to see who could put the first man into orbit. 228 00:23:12,180 --> 00:23:15,140 By the early 1960s, 20 potential cosmonauts 229 00:23:15,140 --> 00:23:18,820 were training in total secrecy in the Russian countryside. 230 00:23:18,820 --> 00:23:22,900 Among them was a young airman called Alexei Leonov. 231 00:23:25,420 --> 00:23:29,060 LEONOV, TRANSLATION: 232 00:23:58,340 --> 00:24:00,580 But as well as extreme fitness, 233 00:24:00,580 --> 00:24:06,700 the cosmonauts also had to train for the rigours of space. 234 00:24:06,700 --> 00:24:10,900 No-one knew what to expect, so they prepared for everything. 235 00:24:13,980 --> 00:24:16,380 They had to be able to withstand the high G-forces 236 00:24:16,380 --> 00:24:18,220 expected on take-off and landing. 237 00:24:23,020 --> 00:24:26,140 They were locked in soundproof rooms for days at a time 238 00:24:26,140 --> 00:24:29,700 to train them for the psychological isolation of space. 239 00:24:38,540 --> 00:24:42,460 And, worst of all, they had to prepare for the possibility 240 00:24:42,460 --> 00:24:45,780 of being trapped inside a wildly spinning capsule. 241 00:25:15,860 --> 00:25:17,980 On the other side of the Iron Curtain, 242 00:25:17,980 --> 00:25:22,780 the Americans were also feverishly working to send a man into space. 243 00:25:26,660 --> 00:25:30,380 And they'd been rapidly catching up with the Soviets. 244 00:25:33,300 --> 00:25:36,580 So much so that astronaut Alan Shepard 245 00:25:36,580 --> 00:25:41,340 was scheduled to become the first man in space on March 6th, 1961. 246 00:25:42,860 --> 00:25:46,980 Alan B Shepard, from East Derry, New Hampshire. 247 00:25:46,980 --> 00:25:49,340 I don't think there's any question 248 00:25:49,340 --> 00:25:52,260 that we are on the threshold of space travel. 249 00:25:53,700 --> 00:25:55,660 But before they launched a human, 250 00:25:55,660 --> 00:25:59,900 they planned one final test flight carrying a chimp called Ham. 251 00:26:02,340 --> 00:26:04,580 But the mission did not go as well as expected. 252 00:26:08,220 --> 00:26:10,340 A mistake in the navigation system 253 00:26:10,340 --> 00:26:12,860 sent the rocket on to the wrong trajectory - 254 00:26:12,860 --> 00:26:17,620 and the capsule splashed down in the ocean, 100 miles off-target. 255 00:26:20,220 --> 00:26:22,860 By the time the retrieval vessel reached the capsule, 256 00:26:22,860 --> 00:26:24,940 Ham had almost drowned. 257 00:26:26,660 --> 00:26:29,620 In response, Shepard's flight was postponed. 258 00:26:33,900 --> 00:26:37,580 And that delay gave the Russians a crucial opportunity. 259 00:26:39,900 --> 00:26:44,020 Within weeks, Korolev went to meet the cosmonauts for the first time. 260 00:26:48,860 --> 00:26:52,180 Most people thought the competition to be the first Soviet in space 261 00:26:52,180 --> 00:26:55,140 had come down to two candidates - 262 00:26:55,140 --> 00:26:56,580 Yuri Gagarin... 263 00:26:58,900 --> 00:27:00,860 ..and Gherman Titov. 264 00:27:02,380 --> 00:27:05,460 And now Korolev would make his choice. 265 00:28:35,980 --> 00:28:38,820 Korolev knew that if he succeeded, 266 00:28:38,820 --> 00:28:42,700 Gagarin's face would be on the front of every newspaper in the world. 267 00:28:45,340 --> 00:28:48,740 But they had no time to lose if they were going to beat the Americans. 268 00:28:54,340 --> 00:28:59,340 Just four days after that first meeting, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin 269 00:28:59,340 --> 00:29:01,780 was suited up and taken to the launch pad 270 00:29:01,780 --> 00:29:04,140 to be strapped into the Vostok capsule. 271 00:29:06,860 --> 00:29:09,580 Of the seven unmanned test flights of Vostok, 272 00:29:09,580 --> 00:29:11,980 only two had returned to Earth safely. 273 00:29:14,220 --> 00:29:17,580 Some feared they were rushing to launch before they were ready. 274 00:29:20,100 --> 00:29:22,100 They were taking an incredible risk 275 00:29:22,100 --> 00:29:25,820 launching Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961. 276 00:29:25,820 --> 00:29:28,860 It was an extremely risky mission. 277 00:29:28,860 --> 00:29:31,260 Rockets were constantly exploding - 278 00:29:31,260 --> 00:29:35,220 there was a fair-to-good chance that he might not survive that launch. 279 00:29:58,500 --> 00:30:01,700 MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION IN RUSSIAN 280 00:30:07,860 --> 00:30:10,660 On that morning in 1961, 281 00:30:10,660 --> 00:30:14,540 Yuri Gagarin went where no man had gone before. 282 00:30:18,540 --> 00:30:22,220 To everyone's relief, the rocket delivered him safely into orbit. 283 00:30:22,220 --> 00:30:24,020 MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION 284 00:30:25,500 --> 00:30:28,860 It would take him an hour and a quarter to circle the planet. 285 00:30:30,460 --> 00:30:33,620 Cocooned within Vostok, this was in many ways 286 00:30:33,620 --> 00:30:35,940 the easiest part of the mission. 287 00:30:39,100 --> 00:30:42,540 The real challenge was to return him safely to Earth. 288 00:30:44,260 --> 00:30:47,660 The flight of Yuri Gagarin was a very dramatic flight, 289 00:30:47,660 --> 00:30:50,580 and there were many points where things certainly went wrong, 290 00:30:50,580 --> 00:30:53,100 and that could have ended the flight in disaster, 291 00:30:53,100 --> 00:30:55,140 including, most significantly, the re-entry. 292 00:30:56,980 --> 00:31:00,420 At 10:25, as he passed over West Africa, 293 00:31:00,420 --> 00:31:03,660 with 8,000km still to go, 294 00:31:03,660 --> 00:31:08,340 Vostok's retro-rockets fired, slowing the capsule down 295 00:31:08,340 --> 00:31:10,420 and sending it back towards the Earth. 296 00:31:12,820 --> 00:31:15,660 In order to safely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, 297 00:31:15,660 --> 00:31:18,340 the spherical landing capsule had to separate 298 00:31:18,340 --> 00:31:20,300 from the rest of the spacecraft. 299 00:31:20,300 --> 00:31:22,860 But the straps didn't release... 300 00:31:26,260 --> 00:31:29,580 ..and the whole craft started spinning dangerously 301 00:31:29,580 --> 00:31:30,820 towards the Earth. 302 00:31:32,100 --> 00:31:33,940 As it re-entered the atmosphere, 303 00:31:33,940 --> 00:31:36,420 the friction of the air tore at the capsule. 304 00:31:38,420 --> 00:31:42,060 Gagarin reported seeing flames pass the windows 305 00:31:42,060 --> 00:31:44,380 and a burning smell in the cabin. 306 00:31:48,740 --> 00:31:50,860 Finally, the straps melted, 307 00:31:50,860 --> 00:31:54,180 freeing the landing capsule, allowing it to stabilise. 308 00:31:58,260 --> 00:32:01,460 At an altitude of 7,000m, 309 00:32:01,460 --> 00:32:04,420 Gagarin ejected and parachuted to the ground. 310 00:32:09,020 --> 00:32:11,340 He landed several hundred kilometres off-course 311 00:32:11,340 --> 00:32:13,540 in a field near the Volga River. 312 00:32:18,700 --> 00:32:21,460 Gagarin was given a hero's welcome. 313 00:32:21,460 --> 00:32:25,340 BAND PLAYS, PEOPLE SING 314 00:32:30,580 --> 00:32:32,900 He had been promoted while still in space. 315 00:32:37,180 --> 00:32:39,660 And wearing a borrowed Major's jacket, 316 00:32:39,660 --> 00:32:43,180 he was greeted at the airport by Nikita Khrushchev himself. 317 00:32:47,740 --> 00:32:50,540 My father gave him a big hug 318 00:32:50,540 --> 00:32:53,820 and accompanied him to the door of his open limo 319 00:32:53,820 --> 00:32:57,860 and told him, "You're the hero and I will follow you." 320 00:32:57,860 --> 00:33:00,420 And Gagarin said, "No, no, Comrade Khrushchev, 321 00:33:00,420 --> 00:33:03,420 "it was your achievement too. Please join us." 322 00:33:03,420 --> 00:33:07,700 So it was the biggest celebration of the Soviet Union, 323 00:33:07,700 --> 00:33:10,580 as big as the victory in 1945. 324 00:33:41,460 --> 00:33:44,900 SINGING, TRANSLATED: 325 00:33:52,780 --> 00:33:54,580 He toured the world. 326 00:33:56,380 --> 00:34:00,140 The first man OFF the planet became the most famous man ON it. 327 00:34:07,540 --> 00:34:10,540 The symbol of the Soviets' unchallenged mastery of space. 328 00:34:28,620 --> 00:34:31,780 The world was captivated as it waited to see 329 00:34:31,780 --> 00:34:34,980 where the next battle in the Space Race would be fought. 330 00:34:38,300 --> 00:34:43,660 This is OK. Rate of descent is reading about 35 feet a second. 331 00:34:43,660 --> 00:34:48,420 Alan Shepard became the second man in space just four weeks later. 332 00:34:48,420 --> 00:34:51,300 My condition is still good, I'm getting ready for impact. 333 00:34:56,460 --> 00:34:59,100 But his 15-minute sub-orbital flight 334 00:34:59,100 --> 00:35:02,140 was a damp squib compared to Gagarin's triumph. 335 00:35:06,420 --> 00:35:09,500 Even though they had made it into space less than a month 336 00:35:09,500 --> 00:35:13,060 after the Soviets, it was yet another embarrassing defeat. 337 00:35:18,780 --> 00:35:21,540 President Kennedy desperately needed to find a way 338 00:35:21,540 --> 00:35:25,660 to beat the Russians and restore his country's battered prestige. 339 00:35:27,900 --> 00:35:30,140 We choose to go to the moon! 340 00:35:30,140 --> 00:35:32,420 We choose to go to the moon... 341 00:35:33,900 --> 00:35:36,860 We choose to go to the moon in this decade 342 00:35:36,860 --> 00:35:39,940 and do the other things, not because they are easy, 343 00:35:39,940 --> 00:35:41,620 but because they are hard. 344 00:35:43,220 --> 00:35:46,420 Going to the moon was certainly going to be hard. 345 00:35:46,420 --> 00:35:49,260 The furthest any mission had flown so far 346 00:35:49,260 --> 00:35:52,260 was just 200 miles above the Earth's surface. 347 00:35:53,740 --> 00:35:57,660 The moon was a quarter of a million miles away, 348 00:35:57,660 --> 00:36:01,340 and getting there was going to be expensive. 349 00:36:01,340 --> 00:36:06,860 Swing into the orbit of more than 2.5 million families right now, 350 00:36:06,860 --> 00:36:09,420 with the happy-go-spending, 351 00:36:09,420 --> 00:36:13,220 buy-it-now young adults of today. 352 00:36:13,220 --> 00:36:17,060 With their booming economy, the Americans were able 353 00:36:17,060 --> 00:36:20,340 to immediately commit huge amounts of money 354 00:36:20,340 --> 00:36:24,180 to developing a lunar programme that could venture so far from the Earth. 355 00:36:27,420 --> 00:36:31,540 Korolev had also drawn up plans for a moon mission. 356 00:36:31,540 --> 00:36:35,060 But his political masters were unwilling to bankroll 357 00:36:35,060 --> 00:36:37,740 such an expensive venture. 358 00:36:37,740 --> 00:36:41,300 Korolev said, "We have to build the new launcher, 359 00:36:41,300 --> 00:36:43,820 "and it will be expensive." 360 00:36:43,820 --> 00:36:47,580 And my father asked how much. 361 00:36:47,580 --> 00:36:51,740 And Korolev told, "I don't know, but it is not important." 362 00:36:51,740 --> 00:36:54,300 My father said, "It is not important for you, 363 00:36:54,300 --> 00:36:56,700 "but it's very important for me. 364 00:36:56,700 --> 00:37:00,780 "And we, in this Soviet Union, have other priorities. 365 00:37:00,780 --> 00:37:04,420 "We need to increase production of food. 366 00:37:04,420 --> 00:37:06,620 "Still we have shortages. 367 00:37:06,620 --> 00:37:08,980 "We need to build more and more homes. 368 00:37:08,980 --> 00:37:12,140 "And I don't want to spend all this money 369 00:37:12,140 --> 00:37:15,940 "only to beat Americans on the race to the moon." 370 00:37:18,260 --> 00:37:22,860 Instead, Korolev continued with his much cheaper R7 rocket, 371 00:37:22,860 --> 00:37:26,300 launching a string of missions into low Earth orbit, 372 00:37:26,300 --> 00:37:28,900 each of which scored a new propaganda victory. 373 00:37:31,020 --> 00:37:33,700 MUSIC PLAYS 374 00:37:36,100 --> 00:37:39,140 In August 1961, Gherman Titov 375 00:37:39,140 --> 00:37:42,220 became the first person to spend more than a day in orbit. 376 00:37:46,820 --> 00:37:51,700 A few months later, Korolev launched two spacecraft - 377 00:37:51,700 --> 00:37:53,420 Vostok 3 and 4 - 378 00:37:53,420 --> 00:37:56,620 that orbited the planet simultaneously. 379 00:37:57,980 --> 00:38:00,900 In June 1963, Valery Bykovsky 380 00:38:00,900 --> 00:38:03,540 orbited the Earth for nearly five days - 381 00:38:03,540 --> 00:38:05,340 still the longest solo flight. 382 00:38:07,420 --> 00:38:10,460 And just two days later he was joined in orbit 383 00:38:10,460 --> 00:38:14,860 by Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space. 384 00:38:14,860 --> 00:38:17,940 CHEERING 385 00:38:51,420 --> 00:38:53,780 I think it's simply marvellous. 386 00:38:53,780 --> 00:38:57,140 I never thought I should live to see such a thing in my lifetime. 387 00:38:57,140 --> 00:38:59,340 I think it's a wonderful achievement, 388 00:38:59,340 --> 00:39:01,340 and I think we might be able to persuade the wife 389 00:39:01,340 --> 00:39:03,660 it would be a good idea, if I could, to get her to go up there. 390 00:39:06,300 --> 00:39:09,460 But by now, the outside world was beginning to notice 391 00:39:09,460 --> 00:39:12,060 that despite the noisy propaganda, 392 00:39:12,060 --> 00:39:15,300 there was a remarkable similarity between all the Soviet missions. 393 00:39:16,660 --> 00:39:20,980 The Russians had a big rocket, they put a capsule on this rocket, 394 00:39:20,980 --> 00:39:23,580 and then they put a man in the capsule. 395 00:39:23,580 --> 00:39:25,260 And that was their stunt. 396 00:39:25,260 --> 00:39:28,140 And they repeated that stunt in different ways. 397 00:39:28,140 --> 00:39:32,180 The idea was to give the impression to the Americans 398 00:39:32,180 --> 00:39:35,140 that they were actually moving forward, that they were way ahead, 399 00:39:35,140 --> 00:39:38,780 when in fact they were doing the same thing over and over again. 400 00:39:41,900 --> 00:39:44,860 Finally, Khrushchev relented. 401 00:39:44,860 --> 00:39:48,260 In one of his last acts as Premier, he signed the decree 402 00:39:48,260 --> 00:39:51,020 authorising the development of a moon programme. 403 00:39:52,780 --> 00:39:55,940 They had given the Americans a three-year head start, 404 00:39:55,940 --> 00:39:59,380 and now it was a question of whether the Soviets could catch up. 405 00:40:05,860 --> 00:40:08,500 Korolev knew the Americans were already preparing 406 00:40:08,500 --> 00:40:11,100 to launch their first two-man missions. 407 00:40:12,980 --> 00:40:17,100 Determined not to be upstaged, he'd planned another spectacular first. 408 00:40:19,900 --> 00:40:24,940 On March 18th, 1965, on a freezing morning in Kazakhstan, 409 00:40:24,940 --> 00:40:27,620 another R7 was being prepared for launch. 410 00:40:30,660 --> 00:40:33,780 Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov 411 00:40:33,780 --> 00:40:36,180 would both have to squeeze into the tiny capsule, 412 00:40:36,180 --> 00:40:39,340 which had been renamed Voskhod. 413 00:40:41,740 --> 00:40:45,380 The plan was that, once the capsule reached orbit, 414 00:40:45,380 --> 00:40:48,460 the crew would extend an inflatable canvas airlock, 415 00:40:48,460 --> 00:40:51,300 and Leonov would crawl through that airlock 416 00:40:51,300 --> 00:40:54,780 to become the first man to walk in space. 417 00:41:00,060 --> 00:41:03,100 Leonov had started preparing for the mission two years earlier. 418 00:42:31,780 --> 00:42:33,940 By the time they reached orbit, 419 00:42:33,940 --> 00:42:37,260 the crew should have been prepared for anything. 420 00:43:16,060 --> 00:43:18,780 As Leonov pushed himself through the airlock 421 00:43:18,780 --> 00:43:21,620 he became the first man to drift free in space... 422 00:43:24,180 --> 00:43:26,580 ..nearly 500km up. 423 00:43:26,580 --> 00:43:28,980 It was the furthest and most isolated 424 00:43:28,980 --> 00:43:32,140 any human had ever been from the surface of the Earth. 425 00:44:27,020 --> 00:44:30,140 As he drifted in the vacuum of space, 426 00:44:30,140 --> 00:44:33,940 the greater air pressure inside his suit was causing it to expand 427 00:44:33,940 --> 00:44:35,420 like a balloon. 428 00:45:23,420 --> 00:45:26,580 But as Leonov tried to deflate his suit, 429 00:45:26,580 --> 00:45:28,940 he ran the risk of starving himself of oxygen. 430 00:46:41,340 --> 00:46:43,220 As Leonov recovered, 431 00:46:43,220 --> 00:46:46,180 they noticed that the oxygen pressure inside the capsule 432 00:46:46,180 --> 00:46:48,220 was steadily rising, 433 00:46:48,220 --> 00:46:51,300 until the whole atmosphere became dangerously inflammable. 434 00:46:53,540 --> 00:46:57,380 Four years earlier, cosmonaut trainee Valentin Bondarenko 435 00:46:57,380 --> 00:47:01,700 had burned alive in a training accident in an oxygen-rich chamber. 436 00:47:04,460 --> 00:47:07,540 Two years later, the crew of Apollo 1 437 00:47:07,540 --> 00:47:10,220 would die in a similar training accident. 438 00:47:39,420 --> 00:47:41,260 But worse was to come. 439 00:47:41,260 --> 00:47:44,540 When the time came to return to Earth, 440 00:47:44,540 --> 00:47:46,740 their automatic re-entry system failed. 441 00:47:48,380 --> 00:47:51,260 They would have to fire the retro rockets manually. 442 00:47:52,620 --> 00:47:55,220 But they would have little control over where they landed. 443 00:47:56,740 --> 00:47:59,500 So they needed to find a huge uninhabited area 444 00:47:59,500 --> 00:48:01,220 that they could aim for. 445 00:48:33,740 --> 00:48:37,900 The Taiga is a vast, almost uninhabited area of forest 446 00:48:37,900 --> 00:48:39,380 in Russia's frozen north. 447 00:48:41,660 --> 00:48:43,980 Although they touched down safely, 448 00:48:43,980 --> 00:48:46,900 the two spacemen were now stranded on Earth. 449 00:48:48,900 --> 00:48:52,780 No-one in mission control knew where they were or if they were alive. 450 00:49:06,820 --> 00:49:08,620 HE MIMICS RADIO BLEEPS 451 00:50:44,420 --> 00:50:47,380 For eight years, the Russian's had blazed a trail 452 00:50:47,380 --> 00:50:49,700 through the Space Race. 453 00:50:49,700 --> 00:50:52,740 But Leonov's spacewalk marked the end of the first 454 00:50:52,740 --> 00:50:55,380 golden age of the Soviet space programme. 455 00:51:00,900 --> 00:51:04,540 The Americans' lavish spending on their moon programme was paying off. 456 00:51:12,780 --> 00:51:16,340 Within days, they would welcome back the first manned mission 457 00:51:16,340 --> 00:51:17,820 of their Gemini Program. 458 00:51:19,540 --> 00:51:21,380 And many more would soon follow. 459 00:51:24,460 --> 00:51:26,940 Their astronauts were oozing confidence. 460 00:51:31,460 --> 00:51:34,500 But while the Americans' space programme prospered, 461 00:51:34,500 --> 00:51:37,660 things were about to go horribly wrong for the Russians. 462 00:51:41,540 --> 00:51:44,340 Sergei Korolev had been the driving force 463 00:51:44,340 --> 00:51:46,660 behind the entire Soviet space programme. 464 00:51:48,140 --> 00:51:52,300 An inspirational leader to an army of engineers and cosmonauts. 465 00:51:53,900 --> 00:51:55,820 In January 1966, 466 00:51:55,820 --> 00:51:58,180 two days after his 59th birthday, 467 00:51:58,180 --> 00:52:01,860 he was admitted to hospital for a routine operation. 468 00:52:01,860 --> 00:52:05,460 Three days later, he'd still not regained consciousness. 469 00:52:29,660 --> 00:52:34,660 His funeral was the first time he received any public recognition. 470 00:52:34,660 --> 00:52:39,660 Throughout his career, even his name had been a closely guarded secret. 471 00:52:39,660 --> 00:52:43,340 FEMALE INTERVIEWEE: 472 00:53:16,060 --> 00:53:19,860 With Korolev gone, his deputy, Valery Mishin, 473 00:53:19,860 --> 00:53:23,540 was appointed to replace him as Chief Designer. 474 00:53:23,540 --> 00:53:27,100 But he lacked Korolev's vision and management skills. 475 00:54:08,940 --> 00:54:13,300 Mishin's first job in charge was to oversee the new Soyuz spacecraft 476 00:54:13,300 --> 00:54:15,940 that would take a crew to the moon. 477 00:54:15,940 --> 00:54:18,260 But it's development had been a disaster... 478 00:54:20,780 --> 00:54:24,780 ..beset by delays and a catalogue of testing failures. 479 00:54:24,780 --> 00:54:28,340 The parachute system alone had failed on two of its seven tests. 480 00:54:31,980 --> 00:54:35,980 The cosmonauts due to fly in the craft were understandably concerned. 481 00:54:39,180 --> 00:54:42,060 The ship is clearly not ready because 482 00:54:42,060 --> 00:54:44,940 it's had three failed missions in a robotic mode. 483 00:54:44,940 --> 00:54:47,780 But they still went ahead and put a human being on board. 484 00:54:47,780 --> 00:54:49,220 You have to understand 485 00:54:49,220 --> 00:54:50,980 that the Americans, NASA, 486 00:54:50,980 --> 00:54:52,300 had just flown ten highly 487 00:54:52,300 --> 00:54:54,100 successful Gemini missions, 488 00:54:54,100 --> 00:54:57,700 during which period the Russians had flown not a single mission. 489 00:54:57,700 --> 00:54:59,100 So there's a lot of pressure 490 00:54:59,100 --> 00:55:01,980 and the engineers internally felt that pressure. 491 00:55:01,980 --> 00:55:06,220 But there was nobody who could stand up and say, "We shouldn't do this." 492 00:55:06,220 --> 00:55:09,700 With his political masters demanding results, 493 00:55:09,700 --> 00:55:13,740 Mishin reluctantly agreed that the first manned launch should go ahead. 494 00:55:25,660 --> 00:55:28,620 On April 23rd, 1967, 495 00:55:28,620 --> 00:55:32,380 Vladimir Komarov, a highly respected engineer and test pilot, 496 00:55:32,380 --> 00:55:34,540 prepared for launch. 497 00:55:40,820 --> 00:55:44,180 He was about to become the first cosmonaut to go into space twice. 498 00:55:52,180 --> 00:55:55,300 To everyone's relief, the launch was a total success. 499 00:56:02,980 --> 00:56:06,420 And Komarov sent out a message to the Soviet people from orbit. 500 00:56:18,900 --> 00:56:22,140 But then things began to go wrong. 501 00:56:22,140 --> 00:56:25,740 One of the solar panels didn't deploy, so they had power problems. 502 00:56:25,740 --> 00:56:28,260 Other systems on the ship didn't work, so they said, 503 00:56:28,260 --> 00:56:29,780 "Just bring Komarov back." 504 00:56:29,780 --> 00:56:32,700 Of course, bringing him back proved to be very difficult 505 00:56:32,700 --> 00:56:35,260 because there was so many problems on the ship, 506 00:56:35,260 --> 00:56:38,180 including the automated attitude-control system 507 00:56:38,180 --> 00:56:40,740 that positioned the ship properly for re-entry. 508 00:56:40,740 --> 00:56:43,700 So he had to do all this manually, which he didn't train for, 509 00:56:43,700 --> 00:56:45,180 but he did it very well. 510 00:56:46,460 --> 00:56:48,940 But as the Soyuz re-entered the atmosphere, 511 00:56:48,940 --> 00:56:50,900 a final, fatal error emerged. 512 00:56:53,540 --> 00:56:56,180 Once again, the parachute system failed. 513 00:56:59,180 --> 00:57:02,660 The Soyuz was heading towards the ground at 700mph 514 00:57:02,660 --> 00:57:04,940 with nothing to slow it down. 515 00:57:19,220 --> 00:57:23,060 Komarov was killed instantly, as the capsule hit the ground. 516 00:57:23,060 --> 00:57:26,620 The remaining fuel on board set fire to the wreckage. 517 00:57:31,300 --> 00:57:34,460 Mishin's first flight in charge had ended in catastrophe. 518 00:57:50,260 --> 00:57:52,660 NEW SPEAKER: 519 00:58:18,220 --> 00:58:20,660 But worse was to follow. 520 00:58:20,660 --> 00:58:22,420 In March 1968, 521 00:58:22,420 --> 00:58:26,140 a routine training flight crashed in these woods outside Moscow... 522 00:58:28,180 --> 00:58:29,780 ..killing Yuri Gagarin... 523 00:58:33,100 --> 00:58:36,300 ..the smiling symbol of the Soviet's mastery of space. 524 00:59:04,100 --> 00:59:06,020 In just a couple of years, 525 00:59:06,020 --> 00:59:08,700 the space programme had lost its iconic hero... 526 00:59:10,420 --> 00:59:12,340 ..one of its finest cosmonauts... 527 00:59:15,420 --> 00:59:19,380 ..and its inspirational leader, Korolev. 528 00:59:20,820 --> 00:59:23,740 All three were buried with full military honours 529 00:59:23,740 --> 00:59:25,300 in the Kremlin Wall. 530 00:59:26,700 --> 00:59:30,860 WOMAN SINGS IN RUSSIAN: 531 01:00:01,940 --> 01:00:05,460 MUSIC: Destination Moon by Nat King Cole 532 01:00:08,060 --> 01:00:11,580 # Come and take a trip in my rocket ship... # 533 01:00:11,580 --> 01:00:15,820 But despite these losses, the race to the moon was still on. 534 01:00:15,820 --> 01:00:18,860 The American programme was going from strength to strength. 535 01:00:18,860 --> 01:00:21,980 # ..Destination moon... # 536 01:00:21,980 --> 01:00:25,180 During the Gemini missions, they had perfected 537 01:00:25,180 --> 01:00:29,260 in-flight docking manoeuvres and spacewalks. 538 01:00:29,260 --> 01:00:32,740 RADIO: This the greatest experience. It's just tremendous. 539 01:00:32,740 --> 01:00:34,580 And now they were preparing 540 01:00:34,580 --> 01:00:37,860 to launch the first manned Apollo missions - 541 01:00:37,860 --> 01:00:40,660 the missions that would take them to the moon. 542 01:00:40,660 --> 01:00:45,500 # ..Destination moon! # 543 01:00:53,860 --> 01:00:58,540 The Soviets were also preparing for their moon landing. 544 01:00:58,540 --> 01:01:02,140 MAN SINGS IN RUSSIAN: 545 01:01:07,660 --> 01:01:11,580 The cosmonauts were learning how to use the spacesuit that had 546 01:01:11,580 --> 01:01:13,660 been designed to walk on the moon. 547 01:01:16,500 --> 01:01:20,180 This bizarre test rig was built to mimic the one-sixth gravity 548 01:01:20,180 --> 01:01:22,340 felt on the moon's surface. 549 01:01:39,380 --> 01:01:42,140 And they were already working on the lander 550 01:01:42,140 --> 01:01:45,860 that would deliver a single cosmonaut onto the moon's surface. 551 01:02:49,860 --> 01:02:54,220 But a successful lunar mission needed one more crucial element... 552 01:02:56,220 --> 01:03:00,220 ..a rocket powerful enough to carry a crew all the way to the moon. 553 01:03:04,660 --> 01:03:07,900 The Americans answer was their vast Saturn V, 554 01:03:07,900 --> 01:03:10,620 still the most powerful rocket ever built. 555 01:03:15,860 --> 01:03:18,900 And the Russians were also working on a behemoth. 556 01:03:21,140 --> 01:03:22,740 The N1. 557 01:03:23,940 --> 01:03:26,580 With 30 separate engines, 558 01:03:26,580 --> 01:03:30,300 it would be 16 times more powerful than the R-7. 559 01:03:33,140 --> 01:03:35,980 It had been designed by Korolev, 560 01:03:35,980 --> 01:03:39,460 but starved of funding and beset by political in-fighting, 561 01:03:39,460 --> 01:03:43,060 it took years to get from the drawing board to the launch pad. 562 01:03:46,260 --> 01:03:49,180 The hopes of the entire Soviet space programme 563 01:03:49,180 --> 01:03:51,580 were resting on the success of this rocket. 564 01:04:19,500 --> 01:04:22,500 The explosion destroyed the entire launch complex. 565 01:04:25,540 --> 01:04:27,580 Without a rocket or launch pad, 566 01:04:27,580 --> 01:04:30,660 the Soviets had no way of getting a crew to the moon. 567 01:04:34,220 --> 01:04:37,020 After several more failed tests, 568 01:04:37,020 --> 01:04:40,100 the giant rocket built by this nation of potato farmers 569 01:04:40,100 --> 01:04:42,660 ended up housing their pigs. 570 01:04:49,420 --> 01:04:51,740 With the Russians out of the race, 571 01:04:51,740 --> 01:04:55,180 the Americans now had a clear run at the moon. 572 01:04:55,180 --> 01:04:58,580 Less that three weeks after the N1 explosion, 573 01:04:58,580 --> 01:05:01,500 on July 20th, 1969, 574 01:05:01,500 --> 01:05:04,980 Apollo 11 made its final approach to the moon's surface. 575 01:05:04,980 --> 01:05:07,860 'We copy you down, Eagle. 576 01:05:07,860 --> 01:05:11,180 'That's one small step for man, 577 01:05:11,180 --> 01:05:14,740 'one giant leap for mankind.' 578 01:05:14,740 --> 01:05:20,940 # Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins 579 01:05:20,940 --> 01:05:27,900 # Were launched away in space 580 01:05:27,900 --> 01:05:34,900 # Millions of hearts were lifted 581 01:05:34,900 --> 01:05:41,140 # Proud of the human race... # 582 01:05:41,140 --> 01:05:45,420 The cosmonauts could only watch and admire. 583 01:06:14,300 --> 01:06:18,100 NEW SPEAKER: 584 01:06:32,220 --> 01:06:34,980 The moon race was perhaps the greatest period 585 01:06:34,980 --> 01:06:37,220 of international competition in space. 586 01:06:38,900 --> 01:06:41,140 But it's what happened next that would define 587 01:06:41,140 --> 01:06:43,220 the future of space exploration 588 01:06:43,220 --> 01:06:45,140 right up to the present day. 589 01:06:48,020 --> 01:06:49,740 Over the next few years, 590 01:06:49,740 --> 01:06:52,860 the Americans landed five more missions on the moon. 591 01:06:52,860 --> 01:06:56,140 But as they drove around the moon's surface, 592 01:06:56,140 --> 01:06:58,260 and even played a bit of golf, 593 01:06:58,260 --> 01:07:00,860 they seemed to have lost their purpose. 594 01:07:03,380 --> 01:07:06,140 When the Americans landed on the moon, 595 01:07:06,140 --> 01:07:09,260 it causes a great crisis for NASA, 596 01:07:09,260 --> 01:07:13,340 because the moon has always been a race, space was a race, 597 01:07:13,340 --> 01:07:16,180 and the thing about a race is that it has a finishing line, 598 01:07:16,180 --> 01:07:18,300 and a finishing line implies an end. 599 01:07:18,300 --> 01:07:21,380 And that's really the way the American people saw it, too. 600 01:07:21,380 --> 01:07:25,500 And so, from that day forward, NASA's been a bit lost in space. 601 01:07:25,500 --> 01:07:30,140 It's not really had a purpose that has been able to inspire 602 01:07:30,140 --> 01:07:32,380 the American people in the same way. 603 01:07:38,900 --> 01:07:42,580 In contrast, the Soviets quickly forgot about the moon 604 01:07:42,580 --> 01:07:47,020 and found a new purpose that would resurrect their space programme - 605 01:07:47,020 --> 01:07:49,260 colonisation. 606 01:07:49,260 --> 01:07:52,500 They would find a way not just to visit space 607 01:07:52,500 --> 01:07:54,420 but to live and work there. 608 01:08:02,060 --> 01:08:05,460 It was thought rapidly spinning spacecraft could produce 609 01:08:05,460 --> 01:08:09,140 a form of artificial gravity through centrifugal force... 610 01:08:09,140 --> 01:08:13,620 if only the cosmonauts could cope with the disorienting effects. 611 01:08:17,500 --> 01:08:20,900 But experiments on the ground can only tell you so much. 612 01:08:20,900 --> 01:08:23,540 What was needed was the ability to perform 613 01:08:23,540 --> 01:08:26,020 long-term experiments in space. 614 01:08:28,980 --> 01:08:31,700 CLICKING 615 01:08:36,580 --> 01:08:39,060 In April 1971, 616 01:08:39,060 --> 01:08:43,380 the world's first space station, Salyut 1, was launched into orbit. 617 01:08:48,300 --> 01:08:51,020 On June 6th, Georgi Dobrovolski, 618 01:08:51,020 --> 01:08:53,060 Vladislav Volkov 619 01:08:53,060 --> 01:08:56,780 and Viktor Patsayev were sent to become its first occupants. 620 01:09:11,620 --> 01:09:14,500 For three weeks, they lived and worked in orbit, 621 01:09:14,500 --> 01:09:17,700 performing experiments that were broadcast nightly 622 01:09:17,700 --> 01:09:19,300 to an audience of millions. 623 01:09:21,220 --> 01:09:24,900 It was the longest anyone had ever been in space 624 01:09:24,900 --> 01:09:26,980 and the crew became national heroes. 625 01:09:35,460 --> 01:09:39,100 On June 29th, they re-boarded their Soyuz for the journey home. 626 01:09:42,260 --> 01:09:45,820 Their capsule parachuted down to Earth exactly as planned. 627 01:09:55,900 --> 01:09:57,580 But when it was opened, 628 01:09:57,580 --> 01:10:01,500 the three crew members were found dead in their seats, 629 01:10:01,500 --> 01:10:04,940 suffocated when a faulty valve caused the capsule 630 01:10:04,940 --> 01:10:06,980 to catastrophically depressurise. 631 01:10:14,060 --> 01:10:18,060 Alexei Leonov had been due to command the mission, 632 01:10:18,060 --> 01:10:21,060 but the day before liftoff, illness had forced his crew 633 01:10:21,060 --> 01:10:23,140 to be replaced by their backups. 634 01:11:05,700 --> 01:11:09,100 Despite the tragedy, it was still a triumph for the Soviets. 635 01:11:10,700 --> 01:11:13,980 They'd shown that it was possible to live and work in space. 636 01:11:19,980 --> 01:11:24,140 For the rest of the 1970s, the Russians continued to send crews 637 01:11:24,140 --> 01:11:28,060 to a series of Salyut space stations on longer and longer missions. 638 01:11:29,740 --> 01:11:34,340 And these extended flights finally gave engineers like Georgi Grechko 639 01:11:34,340 --> 01:11:36,460 the chance to go into space. 640 01:12:17,140 --> 01:12:20,540 Grechko and the other cosmonauts on these long-term missions 641 01:12:20,540 --> 01:12:23,900 were the guinea pigs who would learn what it took to live in space 642 01:12:23,900 --> 01:12:25,460 for extended periods. 643 01:12:29,020 --> 01:12:31,220 By the mid-1980s, 644 01:12:31,220 --> 01:12:34,020 while the Americans were still concentrating on 645 01:12:34,020 --> 01:12:36,700 short-duration flights in their Space Shuttle... 646 01:12:39,540 --> 01:12:43,500 ..the Russians were ready to take their next step - 647 01:12:43,500 --> 01:12:46,620 the first permanent orbital space station. 648 01:12:50,020 --> 01:12:51,460 Mir. 649 01:12:52,940 --> 01:12:56,900 Over the years, it would become a vast orbiting laboratory, 650 01:12:56,900 --> 01:13:01,500 with separate modules for astrophysics, material science, 651 01:13:01,500 --> 01:13:03,900 and, as it reached full size, 652 01:13:03,900 --> 01:13:06,580 a section dedicated to studying the Earth. 653 01:13:06,580 --> 01:13:09,860 It was beyond anything that had ever been conceived. 654 01:13:18,900 --> 01:13:22,900 Teams of cosmonauts would visit the station for up to a year at a time. 655 01:13:25,900 --> 01:13:29,060 While they worked, crew members like Alexander Laveikin 656 01:13:29,060 --> 01:13:32,020 gained a new perspective on the planet beneath them. 657 01:14:46,860 --> 01:14:50,380 But just as the cosmonauts had finally mastered life in orbit, 658 01:14:50,380 --> 01:14:53,980 it would all go wrong for them...again. 659 01:15:00,180 --> 01:15:04,740 In 1991, as Mir orbited silently overhead, 660 01:15:04,740 --> 01:15:07,260 the Soviet Union fell apart. 661 01:15:09,180 --> 01:15:12,980 And the political turmoil on the Earth was soon felt in space. 662 01:15:16,740 --> 01:15:21,220 The Soviet space programme became the Russian space programme. 663 01:15:21,220 --> 01:15:25,860 But it was so short of funding that its very existence was threatened. 664 01:15:29,740 --> 01:15:33,380 It was a prospect that terrified the Americans. 665 01:15:33,380 --> 01:15:35,740 Their worst fear was that it would leave 666 01:15:35,740 --> 01:15:37,900 an army of rocket engineers jobless 667 01:15:37,900 --> 01:15:41,900 and they would go to work for Iran or North Korea. 668 01:15:44,180 --> 01:15:47,980 So, instead, the American government offered to go into partnership 669 01:15:47,980 --> 01:15:49,820 with the Russians. 670 01:15:49,820 --> 01:15:52,100 This is an historic moment and I'm just very excited. 671 01:15:52,100 --> 01:15:54,020 Mr Kopchev, I want to give you a hug. 672 01:15:54,020 --> 01:15:57,260 LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE 673 01:15:59,100 --> 01:16:02,420 After decades of rivalry, the two space super-powers 674 01:16:02,420 --> 01:16:03,860 would become partners. 675 01:16:03,860 --> 01:16:07,860 It was a relationship that should have suited both sides. 676 01:16:11,100 --> 01:16:13,540 The Americans would benefit from sharing the Russians' 677 01:16:13,540 --> 01:16:15,700 experience of long-term space flight. 678 01:16:16,980 --> 01:16:20,300 And the Russians would be kept afloat by the Americans' cash. 679 01:16:25,340 --> 01:16:27,900 The first step was that American astronauts, 680 01:16:27,900 --> 01:16:31,900 like British-born Michael Foale, would go to live and work on Mir. 681 01:16:37,460 --> 01:16:39,420 To be really honest, I don't think Americans 682 01:16:39,420 --> 01:16:41,300 were really keen to be involved in Mir. 683 01:16:41,300 --> 01:16:43,340 They were told to be involved by the White House. 684 01:16:45,300 --> 01:16:47,300 I look back on it and it was a very positive thing, 685 01:16:47,300 --> 01:16:48,700 but I had to be told. 686 01:16:48,700 --> 01:16:51,820 And the general feeling amongst American engineers was, 687 01:16:51,820 --> 01:16:54,580 "Why's the money going to Russia? It should come to our company 688 01:16:54,580 --> 01:16:56,860 "so that we can build the Space Station on our own. 689 01:16:56,860 --> 01:16:58,300 "We don't need the Russians." 690 01:16:59,700 --> 01:17:04,580 In May 1997, six years after the break up of the Soviet Union, 691 01:17:04,580 --> 01:17:07,940 Michael Foale travelled on the Space Shuttle to dock with Mir. 692 01:17:11,020 --> 01:17:14,380 The plan was that he would spend six months on the station 693 01:17:14,380 --> 01:17:16,340 with its Russian crew - 694 01:17:16,340 --> 01:17:19,820 Alexander Lazutkin 695 01:17:19,820 --> 01:17:21,420 and Vasily Tsibalyev. 696 01:17:24,180 --> 01:17:27,340 I had already had three flights, I'd done a spacewalk... 697 01:17:27,340 --> 01:17:29,660 Very excited about those flights. 698 01:17:29,660 --> 01:17:32,660 But going to this fairly unknown can in space - 699 01:17:32,660 --> 01:17:35,900 cluttered, crowded, with 13 years of equipment, 700 01:17:35,900 --> 01:17:38,900 with two guys on board, who I didn't know well, 701 01:17:38,900 --> 01:17:41,460 and had not trained with, Vasily and Sasha... 702 01:17:41,460 --> 01:17:44,180 I was very apprehensive. 703 01:17:44,180 --> 01:17:46,420 I thought of this worse than boarding school. 704 01:17:49,820 --> 01:17:52,100 The ageing station was showing the strain 705 01:17:52,100 --> 01:17:53,820 the Russian space programme was under. 706 01:17:56,060 --> 01:17:59,660 Just three months before, there had been a near disastrous fire. 707 01:18:01,020 --> 01:18:03,100 And the Russians were still looking 708 01:18:03,100 --> 01:18:05,180 for ways to cut corners and save money. 709 01:18:08,460 --> 01:18:12,500 Every few months, Mir received supplies on an unmanned cargo ship. 710 01:18:13,900 --> 01:18:17,020 It was guided by an automated but expensive system, 711 01:18:17,020 --> 01:18:19,340 provided by a Ukrainian company. 712 01:18:20,940 --> 01:18:25,020 About $2 million was being paid, each flight, to the Ukrainians, 713 01:18:25,020 --> 01:18:28,420 and the Russian government didn't want to pay this. 714 01:18:28,420 --> 01:18:31,300 And so they had come up with an idea, a bad idea, 715 01:18:31,300 --> 01:18:35,980 to try and do this experiment where they would put the cargo ship 716 01:18:35,980 --> 01:18:40,180 five kilometres away, and then fly it in using a cosmonaut, 717 01:18:40,180 --> 01:18:43,180 remote control, looking through a TV camera. 718 01:18:45,700 --> 01:18:47,620 The new system was like a computer game. 719 01:18:49,180 --> 01:18:51,260 Tsibalyev, the station commander, 720 01:18:51,260 --> 01:18:54,460 used a camera on the cargo ship to guide it towards the station. 721 01:18:55,900 --> 01:18:59,180 He had trained with a simulator on Earth. 722 01:18:59,180 --> 01:19:02,820 But in orbit, he and his flight engineer, Sasha Lazutkin, 723 01:19:02,820 --> 01:19:05,940 were having difficulty even locating the cargo vessel. 724 01:19:11,260 --> 01:19:14,180 MAN SPEAKING RUSSIAN: 725 01:19:36,060 --> 01:19:37,500 I asked what I could do to help. 726 01:19:37,500 --> 01:19:41,620 And so they sent me with a laser range finder to the docking port. 727 01:19:41,620 --> 01:19:44,220 I looked out of this tiny little hole, and I couldn't see it. 728 01:20:37,700 --> 01:20:41,180 You could see the space station getting bigger and bigger in the camera's view. 729 01:20:49,620 --> 01:20:53,060 At which point, Sasha said, "Go to the Soyuz..." 730 01:20:53,060 --> 01:20:56,140 That's our life boat... "..to get it ready to return home." 731 01:21:05,900 --> 01:21:07,740 CRASHING SOUND 732 01:21:17,260 --> 01:21:21,380 The walls of the Space Station Mir are only 3mm thick aluminium. 733 01:21:22,740 --> 01:21:25,580 I heard a crunch and I waited to see the walls separate 734 01:21:25,580 --> 01:21:27,260 and just see the depths of space. 735 01:21:27,260 --> 01:21:29,260 And I thought, "I've got to breathe out 736 01:21:29,260 --> 01:21:31,900 "so I don't have an embolism and die from an embolism." 737 01:21:31,900 --> 01:21:33,420 Not really considering the fact 738 01:21:33,420 --> 01:21:36,460 that I would die ten seconds later anyway from no air. 739 01:21:36,460 --> 01:21:39,660 ALARM BEEPS 740 01:21:56,100 --> 01:21:58,580 BEEPING CONTINUES 741 01:22:07,460 --> 01:22:09,860 The rate at which the pressure was dropping, 742 01:22:09,860 --> 01:22:12,060 the air was leaving the station, gave us less 743 01:22:12,060 --> 01:22:14,140 than 30 minutes of what we call reserve time, 744 01:22:14,140 --> 01:22:15,620 which is time to be conscious. 745 01:22:15,620 --> 01:22:18,620 So I started to look at my fingernails to see if they were going to go blue. 746 01:22:18,620 --> 01:22:20,620 Cos if you're going to die from anoxia, 747 01:22:20,620 --> 01:22:23,180 the first thing that happens before you lose consciousness 748 01:22:23,180 --> 01:22:24,500 is your fingers go blue. 749 01:22:26,580 --> 01:22:29,460 The cargo ship had struck the Spektr power module. 750 01:22:32,460 --> 01:22:35,100 If the crew were to survive, they had to seal it off. 751 01:22:36,900 --> 01:22:38,660 Sasha knew there was a hole in there. 752 01:22:38,660 --> 01:22:41,500 And he said, "It's hissing in there." 753 01:22:41,500 --> 01:22:45,260 So Sasha, feverishly, started to try and take away cables that 754 01:22:45,260 --> 01:22:49,540 were preventing a hatch to close on the Spektr module. 755 01:22:49,540 --> 01:22:51,380 ALARM CONTINUES BEEPING 756 01:22:56,860 --> 01:22:59,460 But though they successfully sealed the hatch, 757 01:22:59,460 --> 01:23:01,700 they now faced another problem. 758 01:23:01,700 --> 01:23:03,940 The impact had knocked the station out of alignment 759 01:23:03,940 --> 01:23:08,060 and the damaged solar panels were no longer pointed towards the sun. 760 01:24:16,020 --> 01:24:19,220 I remember the three of us looking out at the Galaxy. 761 01:24:19,220 --> 01:24:20,900 It's utterly beautiful. 762 01:24:20,900 --> 01:24:22,740 You have the centre of the Galaxy - 763 01:24:22,740 --> 01:24:25,580 maybe there's a million civilisations there. 764 01:24:25,580 --> 01:24:28,580 And I remember saying to Vasily, "This is a beautiful sight." 765 01:24:28,580 --> 01:24:31,140 And he goes, "Yes, but it's been a terrible day." 766 01:24:34,900 --> 01:24:38,660 For 24 hours, they drifted silently around the planet, 767 01:24:38,660 --> 01:24:41,500 while the crew devised a plan to save the crippled station. 768 01:24:44,220 --> 01:24:46,940 Using the thrusters on the Soyuz escape craft, 769 01:24:46,940 --> 01:24:49,380 they painstakingly realigned the station 770 01:24:49,380 --> 01:24:52,500 so the solar panels once again caught the sun's rays. 771 01:24:55,460 --> 01:24:59,300 Mir was back online, but the station's days were numbered. 772 01:25:02,380 --> 01:25:05,420 Just six months later, it was announced that Mir would be 773 01:25:05,420 --> 01:25:08,700 decommissioned and eventually brought down from orbit. 774 01:25:50,860 --> 01:25:53,980 As Mir fell back to Earth, it was torn apart 775 01:25:53,980 --> 01:25:57,580 in the upper atmosphere as it made its final fiery farewell. 776 01:26:09,340 --> 01:26:12,780 The death of Mir marked an end for the Russian space programme. 777 01:26:14,140 --> 01:26:16,260 But it also signalled a new beginning. 778 01:26:17,580 --> 01:26:20,740 Mir's replacement, the International Space Station, 779 01:26:20,740 --> 01:26:23,220 was already taking shape in orbit. 780 01:26:24,980 --> 01:26:27,780 The first truly international venture in space. 781 01:26:29,220 --> 01:26:33,300 A collaboration between 15 different space agencies 782 01:26:33,300 --> 01:26:35,820 to build a station four times bigger than Mir. 783 01:26:37,260 --> 01:26:40,460 Though not everyone regarded it as a positive development. 784 01:27:22,900 --> 01:27:26,860 But in reality, the ISS is the greatest testament 785 01:27:26,860 --> 01:27:30,020 to the achievements of the mighty Soviet space programme. 786 01:27:33,020 --> 01:27:36,580 Its very existence depends on technology and expertise 787 01:27:36,580 --> 01:27:40,820 built up by the Soviets and Russians over 50 years of space exploration. 788 01:27:49,540 --> 01:27:51,860 The station's crucial life support systems 789 01:27:51,860 --> 01:27:54,500 are based on those developed on Salyut and Mir. 790 01:27:58,180 --> 01:28:00,820 The spacesuits they use are Russian-made - 791 01:28:00,820 --> 01:28:04,380 descendants of the suit Leonov wore on the first space-walk... 792 01:28:06,180 --> 01:28:08,380 ..and those designed to walk on the moon. 793 01:28:10,780 --> 01:28:14,940 And, since 2011, the only way to get to the station 794 01:28:14,940 --> 01:28:18,540 has been in a Soyuz capsule mounted on the top of an R7 rocket... 795 01:28:20,780 --> 01:28:23,020 ..updated versions of the originals 796 01:28:23,020 --> 01:28:25,740 designed by Sergei Korolev half a century ago. 797 01:28:29,060 --> 01:28:32,020 The Soviets may have lost the race to the moon, 798 01:28:32,020 --> 01:28:35,940 but our continued presence in orbit owes everything 799 01:28:35,940 --> 01:28:39,140 to the Russians' determination to conquer space.