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00:10for decades the Soviet space program was shrouded in secrecy it was a history of public successes
00:21disasters which claimed more than 160 lives it wasn't until the end of the Cold War the collapse
00:30of the Soviet Union in 1991 that the secret history of Soviet space disasters was finally revealed
00:43the Soviet mission to dominate space would ultimately become nothing more than a dusty
00:51drain but during the 1960s two space programs are in full gear with the moon as their goal each
00:59superpower desperately wants to be the first to put a man on the moon to put their cosmonauts on
01:06the moon Russia needs a rocket big enough to get them there and one was a super rocket counterpart
01:13to American Saturn to launch Soviet counterpart to Apollo to the moon by the late 1960s the Saturn 5
01:25has proven itself as NASA's workhorse by early 1969 the Soviets are preparing to launch the N1 unlike
01:33the Saturn it is top-secret while the Saturn 5 uses 11 huge engines in three stages the Soviet N1
01:41relies
01:42on a complicated array of 42 smaller engines there are 30 engines in the first stage alone eight more in
01:51stage two while the third stage has the four final engines but with more engines the risks multiply
02:01there's three huge stages and 30 engines in the in the first stage all built by a manufacturer that was
02:10not
02:10particularly experienced in building rockets it was an aircraft engine builder it was horribly complicated
02:18the gigantic takeoff pad is readied as the launch date for the mammoth rocket draws near
02:28on February 21st 1969 the Soviets launch the unmanned N1 liftoff goes smoothly then 70 seconds into flight the engines
02:40malfunction
02:43the rocket is completely destroyed and so it seems our Soviet hopes of beating America to the moon
02:52but the Soviets still believe the N1 can succeed on July 3rd 1969 two weeks before the Apollo 11 launch
03:01the
03:02Russians send up a second N1 by the time it cleared the tower this launch vehicle had shut down all
03:08of its
03:09engines engines except one which ultimately caused the vehicle to tip over and come down crashing like
03:15that onto the launch facility totally destroying the launch facility and knocking the turning tower
03:20gantry off its turning base and also leveling one of the lightning towers completely it was like a tactical
03:26nuke blast the damage is devastating it is two years before the Soviets will be able to use the rocket
03:36facility again but America is right on schedule on July 16th 1969 Apollo 11 takes off for its historic journey
03:47to the moon for four days the world waits to know its fate
03:53what no one but American intelligence and NASA know is that the Soviets haven't given up three days earlier they've
04:00launched Luna 15 a secret unmanned moon probe in a standard rocket
04:05they were going to go to the moon pick up a bit of dirt take it back and and and
04:11say look look at house how clever we we soviets are we've gone there we brought back some soil without
04:17risking human life at a fraction of the cost and look at how much money the Americans wasted in this
04:23silly political competition with
04:25us if the two rockets perform according to plan they will be in the moon's orbit at the same time
04:32NASA keeps the news from the public but Apollo 11 astronauts Michael Collins Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin are informed
04:39my father never expressed any concern on my part and I think he is a good enough engineer to understand
04:48the probabilities of of there actually being some sort of collision space is a very big place and the prospect
04:55of two spacecraft colliding is pretty unlikely
05:00the next day Buzz Aldrin the next day Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong become the first people in history to
05:06set foot on the moon
05:07Armstrong is the first off the spacecraft
05:20the Apollo 11 mission is a shining achievement for the American space program
05:28the Luna 15 meets a darker and little known fate as it crashes into the lunar surface
05:37the high drama of the moon race has its origins in the V2 missile programs of Nazi Germany by the
05:43end of World War 2 America and Russia are moving into position for the Cold War both countries want Germany's
05:51rocket research the fact that Nazi Germany spent all that money and used all those
05:56people including the slave laborers to build rockets to bombard London
06:04saved the American and Russian missile and space programs a decade or more
06:10America acts quickly within months of the war's end 100 of the top German rocket men are in the United
06:17States
06:17the press is told they are truck drivers but the Germans know what they will be working on rockets
06:23among them is Werner von Braun the director of the Nazi V2 program and the man who will help lead
06:30America to the moon
06:33as important as the Germans were it was the rockets themselves the V2s which would be the foundation for both
06:40the American and Soviet missile programs
06:46the Soviet missile program is led by an unlikely figure
06:49Sergey Korolev a rocket scientist who'd spent years in a gulag prison a victim of Stalin's purges
06:59in those days it was necessary for just one of your colleagues to say you were disloyal
07:04and a colleague we think made the claim that he wasn't working seriously on the rockets
07:12that were for a military defense program but had these fantasies about space
07:19in any case Korolev gets arrested sent to the gulag almost dies works in the gold mines
07:26was there for it's not clear how long maybe as long as a year
07:34Korolev is rescued because of his mathematical education aeronautical knowledge and personal connections
07:40but mostly because the Soviet military needs him to design planes
07:46out of prison one of Korolev's jobs in the 1950s is to counter the threat of America's strategic air command
07:54America's huge bomber fleet is armed with nuclear warheads and on call 24 hours a day
08:00to the Soviets it's like a dagger pointed at their throat
08:05by 1957 Korolev is ready to test his own creation the R7 intercontinental ballistic missile or ICBM
08:15Korolev's R7 has four strap-on boosters that can power it into interplanetary altitudes
08:22and then exploded into American soil the R7 is revolutionary the first missile that can deliver a nuclear warhead
08:29from one continent to another but Korolev's new engine design is not yet dependable
08:37meanwhile a world away in New Mexico America is having its own struggles with its modified V2
08:49finally on August 21st 1957 Korolev's R7 became the world's first ICBM to fly successfully
08:58disintegrating harmlessly as planned thousands of miles from its launching point
09:04suddenly President Eisenhower is in political trouble
09:07he's put America's resources into its huge arsenal of B-52s instead of missiles
09:12Congress quickly declares that America is in danger on the wrong side of a missile gap
09:20October 4th 1957 another shock for America
09:24the Soviets send Sputnik 1 into space on top of another Korolev R7 rocket
09:29it is the first successful orbit of a man-made satellite and the United States is left reeling
09:35by the unexpected display of Russian rocket know-how
09:41President Eisenhower tries to quell American panic
09:46our satellite program has never been conducted as a race with other nations
09:51I consider our country's satellite program to be well designed and properly scheduled
09:57to achieve the scientific purposes for which it was initiated
10:04just four weeks after Sputnik 1's success the Soviets launch Sputnik 2
10:09this time with a passenger
10:11a dog named Laika meaning Barker
10:16Laika survives for several days in space
10:20Sputnik 2 is another impressive success for the Soviet Union
10:24this is a country that had been marched on
10:27stomped on
10:29and had a long you know years of decades of feudalism
10:33and suddenly in the 50s and 60s they're being told
10:37you are the best and exhibit A is our space program
10:41which is the best in the world
10:42this was the first time that the Russian people had ever believed that they were a superpower
10:52under pressure from the Russians
10:54the United States rushes to get an American satellite into the sky
10:58on December 6, 1957
11:01a Navy designed Vanguard rocket is ready
11:04or so the US thinks
11:05the grapefruit sized satellite it carries is America's answer to Sputnik
11:17it's a humiliating failure for the United States
11:21at the UN Soviet delegates ask if the United States might wish to receive foreign aid
11:27under Moscow's program of technical assistance to backward nations
11:31but there's much Khrushchev is keeping secret
11:35we never saw video footage or TV footage of the Soviet rockets blowing up
11:41because it was done in secrecy
11:42and even the R7 only flew successfully on its fourth attempt
11:47whereas the US program was in the full limelight of the media
11:54on January 31st 1958 America finally gets its first satellite into orbit
12:02it's the Army's Explorer One
12:04and it uses a rocket built under the direction of Wernher von Braun
12:11Eisenhower makes a decision that will change America's space program forever
12:15he unifies all research into one department
12:18in October of 1958
12:20a new National Aeronautics and Space Administration
12:23NASA takes over the job
12:27NASA's first step is to choose seven pilots
12:30who will be America's first men in space
12:32to the country they are more than astronauts
12:35they are a nation's hope to restore its technological self-esteem
12:39we went for military test pilots who were all in their 30s
12:44in fact John Glenn was 40
12:46who had degrees or a lot of experience in engineering
12:49whereas the Russians got a bunch of younger men
12:53who were not remotely well educated by the mercury standards
12:58they didn't need to be very experienced
13:00they just sort of needed to be healthy and trainable
13:05Sergei Korolev, seen here next to his wife
13:08would lead this group into the frontier of space
13:11six would become Russia's first cosmonauts
13:15one would become Russia's first casualty
13:19these cosmonauts would be the Soviets answer to NASA's Mercury 7
13:45but no amount of training can eliminate human error
13:49in March 1961 Valentin Bondarienko becomes the first casualty
13:54of the Soviet program
13:55Valentin Bondarienko was the youngest member of the first group of 20 Soviet cosmonauts
14:01and he made a very forgivable human error
14:05he literally removed an electrode
14:07and used an alcohol-soaked cotton swab
14:11to clean the place where the electrode or probe had been on his skin
14:15and just flicked it toward a table
14:17and fortunately it landed on a hot plate
14:19that he had to cook food during this test
14:22and it just sparked
14:25and the pure oxygen environment
14:27that anything that was in it caught on fire
14:29and they could not get him out in time
14:36inside the Soviet missile program
14:38competition between rival divisions is fierce
14:41one key player is Marshal Mitrofan Nedelin
14:45a man of great bravery and even greater arrogance
14:48he is so determined to develop a rocket
14:51that can replace Korolev's R-7 as Russia's ICBM
14:54that he fuels his new rocket with a volatile mixture so dangerous
14:59it's known as Devil's Venom
15:00Marshal Nedelin wanted to be present at a very close distance
15:06he instructed his team to bring a chair to places just next to the rocket
15:13so everyone understood that it was a violation of the rules
15:17but he was a big boss
15:19so he was sitting there
15:21and every rocket scientist, every engineer thought
15:25should I stay behind the walls
15:30or should I go to sit next to the Marshal
15:34otherwise I would be considered as a covert
15:37and dozens of people moved close to Marshal Nedelin
15:46and then unfortunately there was a big accident
15:50there was a huge explosion
15:53and everyone including Marshal Nedelin was killed
15:59the fire burns for hours
16:01fed by millions of pounds of kerosene and liquid oxygen
16:05those not burned outright by the flames
16:07are splashed with the corrosive acids of the rocket fuel
16:11few escape
16:13in all
16:13more than 150 people die in the gruesome accident
16:21the Soviet ICBM program is set back by the disaster
16:25but Korolev continues to forge ahead with his plans
16:28to send a cosmonaut into orbit
16:31his answer to NASA's Mercury is the Vostok
16:34a huge craft that weighs nearly five tons
16:39NASA is just as determined
16:41they plan to jump ahead of the Soviets
16:43by putting an American into space
16:45in May 1961
16:49astronaut Alan Shepard is chosen to pilot
16:52the first manned Mercury rocket
16:54nobody is sure if Shepard's rocket
16:56or Shepard can survive the flight
17:00but the Soviets surprise NASA
17:02at the last minute they announced
17:04that they will launch a man into orbit
17:06on April 12th 1961
17:08one full month before NASA's launch
17:11the cosmonaut chosen is Yuri Gagarin
17:14handpicked by Sergei Korolev
17:17he liked the idea that Gagarin was a simple
17:20son of a peasant family
17:23big smile on his face
17:25and I think the reaction was really very very chemical
17:29you know personal
17:32on April 12th the 27 year old Yuri Gagarin sets out to make history
17:37a Vostok capsule powered by Korolev's R7 rocket
17:42is the vehicle that will take the first man into orbit around the earth
18:08Gagarin makes one earth orbit in Vostok 1
18:14the flight goes flawlessly
18:16but there is an important secret
18:19the Soviets are keeping
18:20we didn't hear it officially from
18:22the Soviets at the time because
18:24they were
18:26presenting the fiction that
18:30he had landed in his spacecraft
18:32because the international aeronautical rules required
18:38that a pilot had to take off in his aircraft
18:41and land to set a new record
18:43and they were treating this as a new world record
18:45of the first space flight
18:47so they just flat out lied about it
18:49the genius of the original design was
18:51well let's just punch him out of there
18:53and let him parachute down
18:54it's like it's too hard for him to land in the spacecraft
18:57let's get him out of the spacecraft
18:58at 20,000 feet
19:00and that's what they did
19:02they just fired him out of there
19:06Gagarin is hailed as a conquering hero
19:08around the world
19:09the Soviet Union has upstaged America
19:12once again
19:17between 1961 and 1963
19:20the Russian star shines brighter than ever
19:23as each Vostok flight
19:24confirms the Soviets' mastery of space
19:28Valentina Tereshkova
19:30is out to achieve
19:31another first for the Soviets
19:32as the first woman in space
19:34she is to pilot Vostok 6
19:36into history
19:39Tereshkova takes off
19:41on June 16th 1963
19:43in another blow to American pride
19:45she logs in more flight time
19:4748 orbits
19:48than all the male Mercury astronauts
19:51combined
19:53with Tereshkova's safe return
19:55the Vostok series
19:56comes to a triumphant end
19:58and emphasizes the Soviets' lead
20:01in the space race
20:05America's Mercury flights
20:07end in 1963
20:08having failed to overtake the Soviets
20:11in the space race
20:13the next U.S. space program
20:15Gemini is gearing up
20:17for its first launch in March 1965
20:20it will put not one
20:22but two men in space
20:23and provide practice
20:24in docking maneuvers crucial
20:26to the success of a moon landing
20:30the Russians feel pressured by Gemini
20:34Khrushchev orders Korolev
20:35to beat the Americans into space
20:37with not two men but three
20:39inside a capsule with a pressurized interior
20:43three can be crammed
20:44into the new Voskod spacecraft
20:46but not safely
20:48there were three cosmonauts sent up
20:50in a Voskod capsule
20:51which is basically just a modified Vostok
20:55and now the Vostok
20:56should only carry one person
20:57to squeeze three people in
20:59it meant you had to take away the pressure suits
21:01and there was no escape system
21:04so if the rocket blew up
21:05or something went wrong during the launch
21:07the three men just fried
21:09October 12th 1964
21:11it is the first Voskod launch
21:13and for the first time the Soviets
21:15will not be using an ejection seat
21:18the cosmonauts will return to earth
21:20inside their capsule
21:22retro rockets and parachutes
21:23slow their descent
21:24and the three man crew
21:26lands safely deep in Russia
21:27the Americans have been beaten
21:30into space again
21:32in the spring of 1965
21:34the Soviets are readying
21:36a second Voskod mission
21:37for another space age first
21:41Pavel Balyev
21:42and Alexei Leonov
21:44are the crew
21:45their mission the first walk in space
21:48there is no third cosmonaut on this trip
21:51the extra space is needed
21:52for their spacesuits
21:54Leonov trains hard on earth
21:56but in space there are dangers
21:58no one anticipates
22:01on March 18th 1965
22:03Leonov begins
22:05his historic space walk
22:08Leonov was really a guinea pig
22:11he was trying out something
22:12that had never been done before
22:13his spacesuit was pressurized
22:16obviously because space is a vacuum
22:18so if you didn't wear a spacesuit
22:20your blood would boil
22:21and you'd die very quickly
22:23unfortunately while he was out in space
22:25the air inside his suit
22:27pushed it out was rather like a balloon
22:29so he was much bigger
22:31than he would normally have been
22:32and when he tried to squeeze
22:33back into the airlock entrance
22:35he couldn't fit
22:36so he therefore kept
22:38gradually dropping the pressure
22:39hoping that it would become small enough
22:41so that he could fit in
22:43and eventually he had to drop it
22:44below the permitted safety limit
22:46in fact
22:47before he could just about squeeze in
22:49feet first
22:50but it was a real struggle
22:53Leonov's problems aren't over
22:55he and Beliaev land off course
22:57and spend a cold night alone
22:59in the Russian wilderness
23:00before being rescued
23:01the world is told nothing
23:03of the flight's flaws
23:06for Korolev the mission is another success
23:08and the last of the Voskhod series
23:11he can concentrate now on the spaceship
23:13that will take his cosmonauts to the moon
23:16the Soyuz
23:17the Soyuz has been in development
23:19since Sputnik
23:20nearly seven years
23:22the huge spacecraft
23:23weighs almost seven and a half tons
23:26one and a half times the mass
23:28of its predecessor
23:28the Voskhod
23:29however
23:30the first Soyuz manned flight
23:32is still two years off
23:34Gemini 12
23:36Gemini 12
23:37the Americans meanwhile
23:38continue flying Gemini missions
23:40between 1965 and 1966
23:43Gemini amasses almost 1,000 hours
23:46in space
23:47the Russians Voskhod only 26
23:51America has caught up
23:52in the space race
23:54the testing of Korolev's Soyuz spacecraft
23:57moves forward under pressure
23:59from the Soviet leadership
24:02it is at this crucial point
24:04that Korolev the master
24:05of the Soviet space program
24:07is hospitalized for routine surgery
24:09he goes into the hospital
24:11for what was supposed to have been
24:12a simple operation
24:13and he thought he was going to be
24:15in over the weekend
24:16and back to work on Monday morning
24:17the surgeon discovers
24:19he's got a huge malignant tumor
24:22the size of a fist
24:23he issues an emergency call
24:26to get help
24:26they can't find help
24:27it was over the weekend
24:29they tried to fit an oxygen mask on him
24:32and because he had his jaw broken
24:33in the gulag
24:34they couldn't fit it properly
24:36the operation fails
24:38and Korolev is given a state funeral
24:40ironically he is honored in death
24:42as he could not be in life
24:44for 50 years
24:48the world to know Korolev's name
24:52the new chief designer is Vasily Mishin
24:55Korolev's former second in charge
24:57although a talented engineer
24:59he lacks Korolev's organizational skills
25:01political connections
25:03and sheer bullying power
25:05the loss of Korolev will haunt
25:08the Soviet space program
25:09for years to come
25:13NASA is under pressure too
25:15to get a
25:33on January 27th 1967
25:37during a routine training mission in the Apollo 1 command module
25:41a fire breaks out
25:43it quickly flares out of control
25:45in the oxygen rich atmosphere
25:48inside the capsule
25:49within 16 seconds
25:51the three astronauts are dead
25:54the disaster is horrifyingly predictable
25:58and preventable
25:59the cause
26:00bad wires
26:02faulty installation
26:03and poor quality control
26:05in a spacecraft
26:06packed with flammable materials
26:08the Apollo disaster
26:10might have been avoided
26:11had the Soviets told the truth
26:13about Valentin Bondarenko's death
26:15in 1961
26:17that too involved a fire
26:18in an oxygen rich atmosphere
26:24it will be two years
26:26before NASA's next manned flight
26:29the American disaster
26:31provides the Soviets
26:32with an irresistible opportunity
26:34to retake the lead
26:36in the space race
26:37they rush the Soyuz
26:38into readiness
26:39for a launch
26:40in the spring of 1967
26:44cosmonaut
26:45Vladimir Komarov
26:46is scheduled
26:47to pilot
26:47the new Soyuz
26:48spacecraft
26:51it was clear
26:52that the
26:53the administration
26:58along with another Soyuz
27:00in which there would be
27:01a rendezvous
27:02if not a docking maneuver
27:04and this was all going to happen
27:06at the 40th anniversary
27:08of the glorious
27:09October Socialist Revolution
27:10Soyuz engineers
27:12ask Brezhnev
27:13for more time
27:14to perfect Soyuz 1
27:15but Brezhnev refuses
27:17they must launch on time
27:19it seems likely
27:20that
27:21that the Soyuz 1
27:23was a fundamentally
27:24flawed spacecraft
27:25and that
27:26the cosmonauts
27:28the designers
27:29those people that really
27:30understood the program
27:32believed that they were likely
27:33to have a very big problem
27:34with it
27:34on April 23rd
27:361967
27:38Soyuz 1
27:38with cosmonaut
27:40Vladimir Komarov
27:41is launched
27:42the mission
27:43gets off
27:44to an ominous start
27:47Soyuz 1
27:48unfortunately
27:49lost
27:50a solar panel
27:51and therefore
27:52didn't have enough power
27:53to stay up
27:54long enough
27:55for Soyuz 2
27:56to come and rendezvous
27:57with it
27:58so they decided
27:59to take Komarov
28:00back down again
28:06Komarov was having
28:07just a difficult time
28:08orienting the spacecraft
28:09getting it to do
28:11what he wanted
28:16the real problem was
28:17that the parachute system
28:20just suffered
28:21a series of failures
28:23the first one
28:24the first chute
28:25did not deploy properly
28:26and then did not
28:27separate properly
28:28the emergency chute
28:30fouled with that
28:31and the spacecraft
28:32never slowed down
28:33it just hit the earth
28:34at however many
28:36250 miles an hour
28:43Komarov has no chance
28:45the crash is so thunderous
28:47recovery teams
28:48cannot even distinguish
28:49human remains
28:50from the wreckage
28:51details of the disaster
28:53are a closely guarded secret
28:57Komarov will be remembered
28:59however
29:00he is the first person
29:01to die
29:02during a mission
29:03to space
29:09by 1968
29:11America's Apollo program
29:12is back on track
29:14after the Apollo 1 disaster
29:15that same year
29:17the Russians struggle
29:18to iron out the problems
29:19of Soyuz
29:20and the Soviets do
29:22just that
29:23on October 30th 1968
29:26Soyuz 2 and 3
29:27returned successfully
29:28from a joint mission
29:30in space
29:31for the first time
29:33a Soyuz spacecraft
29:34has returned to earth
29:35with its cosmonaut alive
29:39two months later
29:40on December 21st 1968
29:42Apollo 8
29:44takes Frank Borman
29:45Jim Lovell
29:46and William Anders
29:46around the moon
29:48the Soviets must respond
29:50if they are to stay
29:51in the race
29:52the Russians answer
29:53the challenge
29:54on January 14th 1969
29:56when Soyuz 4 and 5
29:58make the world's
29:59first link-up
30:00between manned spacecraft
30:01the Soviet dream
30:03of reaching the moon
30:04is tantalizingly close
30:08but to get there
30:09they need the massive
30:10N-1 rocket
30:11it is the only Soviet rocket
30:14powerful enough
30:14to reach the moon
30:16first envisaged
30:17by Korolev in 1961
30:19the N-1 is finally ready
30:21for its first test launch
30:22eight years later
30:23on February 21st 1960
30:26in 1969
30:26the N-1 finally
30:28takes off
30:30it performs beautifully
30:32for approximately
30:3470 seconds
30:38with the N-1 disaster
30:40the Soviets lose
30:41all hope of winning
30:42the moon race
30:43but they still have
30:45hopes the N-1
30:46will get there
30:46before the end
30:47of the decade
30:49five months later
30:51they launch
30:51another N-1
30:56and the Soviet dream
30:57of reaching the moon
30:58goes up in flames
31:04on July 20th 1969
31:07the race to the moon
31:08ends in triumph
31:09for America
31:10the mysterious surface
31:12that has fascinated humanity
31:14for so long
31:15finally is conquered
31:19that's one small step
31:21for man
31:24that's one small step
31:26one giant leap
31:26for mankind
31:34however the Soviets
31:36do not give up
31:37their dreams of glory
31:38in space
31:39instead they simply
31:40exchange moon landings
31:42for space stations
31:43the construction of the
31:44Salyut space stations
31:46during the 1970s
31:47becomes the burning focus
31:49of the Soviet space program
31:53the first of Russia's
31:55space stations
31:55is the Salyut 1
31:58this Soviet animation
32:00shows that Salyut 1
32:01has four cylinders
32:02of differing diameters
32:04and lengths
32:04three of them
32:05are pressurized
32:06the fourth
32:07which houses the
32:08propulsion unit
32:09is open to space
32:10the Soviets
32:12plan to launch
32:13the Salyut space station
32:14unmanned
32:15later
32:16a three-man crew
32:17flying separately
32:18aboard a spacecraft
32:19will dock with the station
32:21in April 1971
32:26the world's
32:27first space station
32:29is successfully
32:30put into orbit
32:42having reached orbit
32:43successfully
32:44the station is ready
32:45for its first occupants
32:48Vladislav Volkov
32:50Georgi Dobrovolski
32:51and Viktor Patsayev
32:53will be the Salyut 1's
32:54first visitors
32:56in order for all three
32:58to fit into the Soyuz 11
32:59they must leave behind
33:01their pressurized suits
33:02the Soviets have been
33:03sending cosmonauts
33:04into space this way
33:05since Voskot 1
33:07it's a big risk
33:08but they're out
33:10to make history
33:12on June 6
33:141971
33:14the three cosmonauts
33:16are launched
33:17in Soyuz 11
33:18from the Baikonur
33:19Cosmodrome
33:33Soyuz 11
33:34docks successfully
33:35with the Salyut station
33:38this mission was the first
33:39time the Russians
33:40had had a space station
33:41up there
33:41the whole country
33:43from Kyiv
33:44to Vladivostok
33:45had been thrilled
33:46to watch these guys
33:48on television
33:49for weeks
33:51they came to know them
33:52they knew each of them
33:55after an unprecedented
33:5623 days in space
33:58it is time for the three cosmonauts
34:00to come home
34:01they had contact
34:03up until the
34:03basically the moment of retro fire
34:05the valve that was supposed to open
34:07in the lower atmosphere
34:08to let fresh air in
34:10opened earlier
34:12and let the life-sustaining air
34:14out
34:15the air
34:17whistled out of that spacecraft
34:18in the space of about
34:1930 or 40 seconds
34:20and as a result
34:21the capsule was depressurized
34:23Patsayev actually got out of his seat
34:25and recognized what the problem was
34:27but was unable to close it fast enough
34:29and when the rescue crews
34:30came to open up the capsule
34:31they wondered why things were so quiet
34:33there were no radio communications going on
34:35and they found these three men
34:36just strapped
34:37in their seats
34:39just lying there
34:42the cosmonauts cannot be revived
34:46without pressure suits
34:47their blood
34:48has literally boiled
34:50the Soviets have lost
34:52the dangerous gamble
34:53to fly without pressure suits
34:55the price is paid
34:56by the three cosmonauts
34:57and their families
35:06the Soviets would startle the world
35:08by agreeing to a joint mission in space
35:11the United States
35:14for the US
35:15it would be the last
35:16of the historic Apollo missions
35:18the world's first docking between spacecraft
35:21from two different nations
35:40the hostility between the superpowers
35:43that has cost so many lives
35:45and so much money
35:47is dissolved
35:48in the goodwill of the moment
35:54by the 1980s
35:56the Soviet visits
35:57to their Salyut space stations
35:59had become almost routine
36:03on September 26 1983
36:05Soyuz T-10 is rolled out to the launch pad
36:09as cosmonauts Vladimir Titov
36:11and Gennady Strakalov
36:13anxiously await an evening liftoff
36:15during the last minute of the countdown
36:17a fire broke out
36:18at the base of their
36:20Soyuz launch vehicle
36:21both Titov and Strakalov
36:22have said that
36:23they were sitting there
36:24knowing that they could
36:25see flames rising
36:26they knew something was wrong
36:27but nothing was really happening
36:29they had to wait
36:30for the launch control team
36:31to initiate the abort
36:32so it was
36:33a nerve-wracking
36:34twenty seconds
36:36waiting
36:37when are they gonna get
36:37when are they gonna get us out of here
36:39and
36:40the automatic
36:42escape system
36:43which had never been tested
36:44with people on board
36:46got its test
36:47it
36:48solid rocket motor
36:49on the front of the Soyuz
36:50fired
36:51pulling the vehicle
36:52I think about four or five miles high
36:57cosmonauts Titov and Strakalov
36:59have come within moments
37:00of a fiery death
37:01while both will fly again
37:03on later successful Soyuz missions
37:05this aborted launch
37:07is never officially recognized
37:11as the 1980s continue
37:13so does NASA's new space shuttle
37:15as it replaces the old
37:17Saturn V workhorse
37:19for the first time in six years
37:21Americans are going into space
37:23three
37:23two
37:24one
37:25zero
37:32and we have liftoff
37:34liftoff of America's first space shuttle
37:38while the shuttle is perceived as a great success
37:41the reality is that it's much more expensive than the Saturn V to operate
37:45and many in NASA think it's a costly mistake
37:48however this doesn't keep the Soviets from craving shuttle technology
37:53the key member of Politburo who was responsible for military industrial complex
38:00he said
38:02there is one critical argument
38:05Americans are doing it
38:07you think they are stupid
38:09they are very pragmatic
38:12and if they are doing it
38:14it means that they know something else
38:17let's follow that example
38:20rumors began that the reason for the remarkable similarity between the US space shuttle
38:27and Soviet Buran
38:28is not engineering
38:30but espionage
38:32I've seen their Buran
38:34which is the title they use for their shuttle
38:37and it does look very much like our shuttle
38:41I suspect that they probably had drawings and they were never classified
38:47I don't think they would have been very hard to get
38:49I would be hard pressed to say they stole them
38:52in fact if they wrote in we might have sent them to them
38:55I think they have very capable engineers who could develop a system like that
38:59but I don't think they did
39:01I believe it was designed independently
39:04and even if its shape looks familiar
39:09you know the shape is dictated by air dynamics
39:16the Soviet shuttle flew once
39:18now it's in a city park in Moscow
39:21it's in Gorky Park
39:22basically they ran out of money
39:23I mean at a time
39:25where in 1990 their budget started going steeply down
39:28they
39:28the Buran was just eating up a lot of money
39:30and
39:30and so as a result
39:32it's sitting in a park right now
39:34Soviet resources go instead to their third generation space station
39:39it's called Mir
39:40meaning peace
39:44on February 20th 1986
39:47Mir is successfully launched
39:51Mir has six docking ports
39:54which allow unmanned scientific modules to dock with the station
39:57it's remarkably flexible
39:59modules can return to earth when their missions are complete
40:03to be replaced by new modules carrying different experiments
40:08while the Russians were able to fund the initial construction of Mir
40:12the cosmonauts have had to resort to some unusual capitalist antics to keep it afloat
40:17the Russian cosmonauts these days have a really difficult and ironic job
40:23they're asked to do an increasing number of kind of really cheap things like milk commercials and things
40:31and they hate it
40:31they hate it
40:32and you can understand that
40:34they're cosmonauts
40:35they shouldn't have to do milk commercials
40:38discovery a magnificent picture
40:40Mir crossing the horizon
40:42Mir was meant to last only five years
40:45it is now approaching its 13th birthday
40:48and is fighting the American perception that it's outdated equipment ready for the cosmic junkyard
40:55certainly a lot of things broke
40:57the Soviets or the Russians now
41:00have demonstrated that
41:02that they can improvise when problems come up
41:06now often they do it in ways that makes us very nervous
41:11and the risk they take is quite often more than we would like to take
41:15when something goes wrong up there ever since 1971
41:18they have to fix it up there
41:19and that's given them an expertise and kind of seat of the pants repairs
41:23that the Americans have only read about in books
41:25and it's the one thing that as people in NASA are kind of sniping and making snide comments about how
41:31the Russian program is falling apart
41:33it's the one thing that we really realize the Russians have over us is that type of experience
41:41in the 1990s the strengths of both the Russian and American space programs would finally come together
41:49by May 2001 the two nations along with 14 other countries would complete the world's first international space station
42:00the Soviet space program led the race to the moon from 1957 to 1967
42:08but due to the program setbacks the technological advancements of the United States ultimately prevailed
42:17but despite the bitter cold war the universal quest for knowledge endured
42:23today global cooperation in space is a reality
42:30if you thought today's shootouts were excessive then you don't know history
42:34in the wild west the whole town would join in
42:38a free-for-all shoot-em-all
42:41and more gruesome than the movies
42:43check out the real firefights in the wild west
42:46on shootout tonight at 9 on the history channel
42:49you
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