0:00:02 > 0:00:06We all think we know the story of space...
0:00:06 > 0:00:08NEIL ARMSTRONG: OK, I'm going to step off the LEM now.
0:00:08 > 0:00:11..that it was conquered by the Americans.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14But that's not the real story.
0:00:18 > 0:00:23The actual conquerors of space were a dedicated group of men, and women,
0:00:23 > 0:00:26from the other side of the Iron Curtain.
0:00:26 > 0:00:28MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:00:28 > 0:00:30After decades of secrecy,
0:00:30 > 0:00:34they are now free to tell the extraordinary stories
0:00:34 > 0:00:40of how they risked everything to take the first steps into space.
0:00:40 > 0:00:43TRANSLATION:
0:00:57 > 0:01:00A treasure trove of unseen footage from the Russian archives
0:01:00 > 0:01:04reveals how, time and again, the Soviets beat
0:01:04 > 0:01:08the more sophisticated American programme into second place.
0:01:11 > 0:01:16But along with the triumphs, there have also been tragedies
0:01:16 > 0:01:20and disasters that have carried on to the present day.
0:01:25 > 0:01:28BEEPING
0:01:32 > 0:01:35This is the remarkable, and at times terrifying,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39story of the Cosmonauts.
0:02:19 > 0:02:22TRANSLATION:
0:02:35 > 0:02:39On April 12th, 1961,
0:02:39 > 0:02:43Yuri Gagarin ushered the human race into the Space Age.
0:03:24 > 0:03:28Gagarin's flight was one of the great moments in human history.
0:03:31 > 0:03:35For the first time, we had left our home planet
0:03:35 > 0:03:36and entered the cosmos.
0:03:48 > 0:03:51We saw our world in a completely new light.
0:04:14 > 0:04:18Their Cold War rivals, the Americans, looked on, amazed.
0:04:19 > 0:04:24They assumed that the first man in space would be an American -
0:04:24 > 0:04:26and certainly not Russian.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31The ordinary American couldn't understand
0:04:31 > 0:04:35how this country which had always been presented as being backward,
0:04:35 > 0:04:37you know, a nation of potato-farmers,
0:04:37 > 0:04:42um, could do something so astoundingly perfect
0:04:42 > 0:04:45in a technological and scientific sense.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47CHANTING
0:04:47 > 0:04:50But how had they done it?
0:04:50 > 0:04:52How had this nation of potato farmers
0:04:52 > 0:04:54beaten the Americans into space?
0:05:03 > 0:05:05The origins of the Soviet Space programme
0:05:05 > 0:05:07lie in the aftermath of Hiroshima.
0:05:11 > 0:05:15Desperate to keep pace with American technology,
0:05:15 > 0:05:17the Soviets soon produced an atomic bomb of their own.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20But at over five tonnes,
0:05:20 > 0:05:24it was more than twice as heavy as the American devices.
0:05:29 > 0:05:34It was this massive bomb that would kick-start the space race.
0:05:34 > 0:05:37Because to launch it all the way to America,
0:05:37 > 0:05:40the Soviets would need the most powerful missile ever built.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46The man charged with building that rocket
0:05:46 > 0:05:48was Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51He was so important to the Soviets
0:05:51 > 0:05:54that to protect him from the threat of assassination,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57his identity was kept secret.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00He was known simply as the Chief Designer.
0:06:01 > 0:06:03Sergei Korolev was known as the founding father
0:06:03 > 0:06:05of the Soviet space programme.
0:06:05 > 0:06:07I wouldn't call him necessarily a scientist -
0:06:07 > 0:06:10he was really a genius manager. That's what he really was.
0:06:10 > 0:06:13He was manager, engineer, inspirational figure,
0:06:13 > 0:06:16politician. He knew how to get the job done,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18he knew how to work the levers of power.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20He was all these things moulded into one.
0:06:26 > 0:06:30For 10 years after the war, Korolev experimented,
0:06:30 > 0:06:33building bigger and bigger rockets.
0:06:36 > 0:06:41Until, by 1957, he had created his masterpiece -
0:06:41 > 0:06:43the R7 Semyorka.
0:06:45 > 0:06:4934 metres tall, weighing 280 tonnes,
0:06:49 > 0:06:53and powered by a mixture of liquid oxygen and kerosene,
0:06:53 > 0:06:57it was nine times more powerful than anything that had been built before.
0:06:59 > 0:07:01One of the launch team
0:07:01 > 0:07:05was a 26-year-old engineer called Georgi Grechko.
0:07:30 > 0:07:33After a string of failures,
0:07:33 > 0:07:36a final test was scheduled for August 21st, 1957,
0:07:43 > 0:07:47This time, it was a complete success.
0:07:47 > 0:07:51The world's first intercontinental ballistic missile.
0:07:51 > 0:07:54With it, Korolev, at a stroke,
0:07:54 > 0:07:57had transformed the Russians into a global superpower.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04Though the R7's ultimate destiny would not be as a weapon.
0:08:04 > 0:08:07GRECHKO:
0:08:32 > 0:08:36Korolev had always had other plans for the R7.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39Ever since he'd started building rockets in the 1930s,
0:08:39 > 0:08:42he'd dreamt of using them to go into space.
0:09:16 > 0:09:19Now he had his rocket, he wasted no time.
0:09:23 > 0:09:27His engineers were already working on a simple satellite -
0:09:27 > 0:09:30nothing more than a radio transmitter
0:09:30 > 0:09:32encased in a metal sphere.
0:09:32 > 0:09:36Korolev called it Sputnik, or "fellow traveller".
0:09:37 > 0:09:39If he could launch it into orbit,
0:09:39 > 0:09:43he would be the first to prove that space travel was possible.
0:09:46 > 0:09:50Less than six weeks after the R7's first successful test,
0:09:50 > 0:09:52he had another rocket on the launch pad,
0:09:52 > 0:09:54ready to send Sputnik into orbit.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07It seemed that the launch had gone perfectly.
0:10:08 > 0:10:11But the only way to know that Sputnik had made it
0:10:11 > 0:10:16safely into orbit was to wait for the radio signals
0:10:16 > 0:10:18beamed from the tiny satellite.
0:10:18 > 0:10:21BEEPING
0:10:27 > 0:10:30CHEERFUL MUSIC PLAYS
0:10:35 > 0:10:39Around the world, people went Sputnik-crazy.
0:10:40 > 0:10:43They queued up to try to catch sight of the Earth's second moon
0:10:43 > 0:10:45crossing the sky.
0:10:53 > 0:10:57But not everyone was looking up with admiration.
0:11:00 > 0:11:03In the United States, the appearance of Sputnik
0:11:03 > 0:11:05only fuelled their Cold War paranoia.
0:11:08 > 0:11:13America was already consumed by the threat of Communism.
0:11:13 > 0:11:15It's a conspiracy to take over our government by force.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18If I had my way about it, they'd all be sent back to Russia,
0:11:18 > 0:11:21or some other unpleasant place.
0:11:22 > 0:11:25And this Soviet star passing overhead
0:11:25 > 0:11:28was surely another sign of that Communist threat.
0:11:28 > 0:11:32Somebody's falling down on the job. Badly.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35We fear this. We fear that they have something out there
0:11:35 > 0:11:38the majority of people don't know about.
0:11:38 > 0:11:43For the Russians, Sputnik was a brilliant propaganda coup.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46And the Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
0:11:46 > 0:11:47was desperate for more.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28It seemed an impossible task.
0:12:28 > 0:12:30Khrushchev had given Korolev just five weeks
0:12:30 > 0:12:32to launch another mission.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55In his secret headquarters,
0:12:55 > 0:12:58Korolev leapt at the chance to demonstrate his plans
0:12:58 > 0:13:00for the domination of space.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05Within the month, he would launch another satellite -
0:13:05 > 0:13:08but this one would carry a passenger.
0:13:15 > 0:13:18The first cosmonaut would be a stray dog called Laika.
0:13:21 > 0:13:23Loaded into a specially built capsule,
0:13:23 > 0:13:25complete with food and water trays.
0:13:42 > 0:13:45It was a massive leap for animalkind.
0:13:45 > 0:13:49But, for Laika, it would be a one-way trip.
0:13:51 > 0:13:54For many years, the Russians claimed
0:13:54 > 0:13:57she survived in orbit for several days.
0:13:57 > 0:14:00But in 2002, they finally admitted
0:14:00 > 0:14:03that the climate controls had failed
0:14:03 > 0:14:06and she died of overheating after only six hours.
0:14:12 > 0:14:15But Laika's sacrifice provided the Russians
0:14:15 > 0:14:18with a second precious propaganda victory.
0:14:18 > 0:14:21For the Americans, it was another kick in the teeth.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25They're still reeling from what Sputnik says,
0:14:25 > 0:14:28but suddenly the programme has been taken in a completely different
0:14:28 > 0:14:30and unexpected direction.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34It's not about satellites any more, it's about space travel.
0:14:34 > 0:14:39Because...if the Russians are able to put a living being,
0:14:39 > 0:14:44a dog, into a space capsule, and launch them into orbit,
0:14:44 > 0:14:47that also suggests that they'll be able shortly to do so
0:14:47 > 0:14:52with a human being. So this again underlines to the Americans
0:14:52 > 0:14:55just how far behind the Russians they are.
0:15:00 > 0:15:04It was now the Americans' turn to play catch-up.
0:15:04 > 0:15:06At the beginning of December 1957,
0:15:06 > 0:15:09they were ready to launch their first satellite.
0:15:10 > 0:15:15Millions tuned in to live pictures of the Vanguard rocket lifting off.
0:15:21 > 0:15:23It was a total humiliation.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29It underlined just how comprehensively the Soviets
0:15:29 > 0:15:31had won the first stage of the Space Race.
0:15:39 > 0:15:41The next stage of the contest
0:15:41 > 0:15:44would be to see who could put the first man into orbit.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49By the early 1960s, 20 potential cosmonauts
0:15:49 > 0:15:53were training in total secrecy in the Russian countryside.
0:15:53 > 0:15:57Among them was a young airman called Alexei Leonov.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03TRANSLATION:
0:16:33 > 0:16:35But as well as extreme fitness,
0:16:35 > 0:16:41the cosmonauts also had to train for the rigours of space.
0:16:41 > 0:16:45No-one knew what to expect, so they prepared for everything.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51They had to be able to withstand the high G-forces
0:16:51 > 0:16:52expected on take-off and landing.
0:16:57 > 0:17:00They were locked in soundproof rooms for days at a time
0:17:00 > 0:17:04to train them for the psychological isolation of space.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17And, worst of all, they had to prepare for the possibility
0:17:17 > 0:17:20of being trapped inside a wildly spinning capsule.
0:17:50 > 0:17:53On the other side of the Iron Curtain,
0:17:53 > 0:17:57the Americans were also feverishly working to send a man into space.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05And they'd been rapidly catching up with the Soviets.
0:18:08 > 0:18:11So much so that astronaut Alan Shepard
0:18:11 > 0:18:16was scheduled to become the first man in space on March 6th, 1961.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Alan B Shepard, from East Derry, New Hampshire.
0:18:21 > 0:18:24I don't think there's any question
0:18:24 > 0:18:27that we are on the threshold of space travel.
0:18:28 > 0:18:30But before they launched a human,
0:18:30 > 0:18:34they planned one final test flight carrying a chimp called Ham.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39But the mission did not go as well as expected.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45A mistake in the navigation system
0:18:45 > 0:18:47sent the rocket on to the wrong trajectory -
0:18:47 > 0:18:52and the capsule splashed down in the ocean, 100 miles off-target.
0:18:55 > 0:18:57By the time the retrieval vessel reached the capsule,
0:18:57 > 0:18:59Ham had almost drowned.
0:19:01 > 0:19:04In response, Shepard's flight was postponed.
0:19:07 > 0:19:10The delay gave the Russians a crucial chance.
0:19:10 > 0:19:13But they had no time to lose if they were going to beat the Americans.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18Within weeks, Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin
0:19:18 > 0:19:20was suited up and taken to the launch pad
0:19:20 > 0:19:24to be strapped into the Vostok capsule.
0:19:27 > 0:19:30Of the seven unmanned test flights of Vostok,
0:19:30 > 0:19:32only two had returned to Earth safely.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38Some feared they were rushing to launch before they were ready.
0:19:40 > 0:19:42They were taking an incredible risk
0:19:42 > 0:19:46launching Yuri Gagarin into space in 1961.
0:19:46 > 0:19:49It was an extremely risky mission.
0:19:49 > 0:19:51Rockets were constantly exploding -
0:19:51 > 0:19:55there was a fair-to-good chance that he might not survive that launch.
0:19:58 > 0:20:01On just after nine in the morning,
0:20:01 > 0:20:03the vast engines ignited.
0:20:11 > 0:20:14MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:20:21 > 0:20:24On that morning in 1961,
0:20:24 > 0:20:27Yuri Gagarin went where no man had gone before.
0:20:28 > 0:20:30MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:20:31 > 0:20:35To everyone's relief, the rocket delivered him safely into orbit.
0:20:35 > 0:20:37MUFFLED RADIO COMMUNICATION
0:20:38 > 0:20:42It would take him an hour and a quarter to circle the planet.
0:20:43 > 0:20:47Cocooned within Vostok, this was in many ways
0:20:47 > 0:20:49the easiest part of the mission.
0:20:52 > 0:20:56The real challenge was to return him safely to Earth.
0:20:57 > 0:21:01The flight of Yuri Gagarin was a very dramatic flight,
0:21:01 > 0:21:03and there were many points where things certainly went wrong,
0:21:03 > 0:21:06and that could have ended the flight in disaster,
0:21:06 > 0:21:08including, most significantly, the re-entry.
0:21:10 > 0:21:13At 10:25, as he passed over West Africa,
0:21:13 > 0:21:17with 8,000km still to go,
0:21:17 > 0:21:21Vostok's retro-rockets fired, slowing the capsule down
0:21:21 > 0:21:23and sending it back towards the Earth.
0:21:26 > 0:21:29In order to safely re-enter the Earth's atmosphere,
0:21:29 > 0:21:31the spherical landing capsule had to separate
0:21:31 > 0:21:33from the rest of the spacecraft.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36But the straps didn't release...
0:21:39 > 0:21:42..and the whole craft started spinning dangerously
0:21:42 > 0:21:44towards the Earth.
0:21:45 > 0:21:47As it re-entered the atmosphere,
0:21:47 > 0:21:49the friction of the air tore at the capsule.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55Gagarin reported seeing flames pass the windows
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and a burning smell in the cabin.
0:22:02 > 0:22:04Finally, the straps melted,
0:22:04 > 0:22:07freeing the landing capsule, allowing it to stabilise.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14At an altitude of 7,000m,
0:22:14 > 0:22:17Gagarin ejected and parachuted to the ground.
0:22:22 > 0:22:24He landed several hundred kilometres off-course
0:22:24 > 0:22:27in a field near the Volga River.
0:22:32 > 0:22:34Gagarin was given a hero's welcome.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38BAND PLAYS, PEOPLE SING
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Promoted to Major,
0:22:47 > 0:22:50and wearing a borrowed jacket two sizes too big,
0:22:50 > 0:22:54he was greeted at the airport by Nikita Khrushchev himself.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37He toured the world.
0:23:37 > 0:23:41The first man OFF the planet became the most famous man ON it.
0:23:48 > 0:23:51The symbol of the Soviets' unchallenged mastery of space.
0:24:09 > 0:24:13The world was captivated as it waited to see
0:24:13 > 0:24:16where the next battle in the Space Race would be fought.
0:24:19 > 0:24:24This is OK. Rate of descent is reading about 35 feet a second.
0:24:24 > 0:24:29Alan Shepard became the second man in space just four weeks later.
0:24:29 > 0:24:32My condition is still good, I'm getting ready for impact.
0:24:37 > 0:24:40But his 15-minute sub-orbital flight
0:24:40 > 0:24:43was a damp squib compared to Gagarin's triumph.
0:24:47 > 0:24:50Even though they had made it into space less than a month
0:24:50 > 0:24:54after the Soviets, it was yet another embarrassing defeat.
0:25:00 > 0:25:02President Kennedy desperately needed to find a way
0:25:02 > 0:25:07to beat the Russians and restore his country's battered prestige.
0:25:09 > 0:25:11We choose to go to the moon!
0:25:11 > 0:25:13We choose to go to the moon...
0:25:15 > 0:25:18We choose to go to the moon in this decade
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and do the other things, not because they are easy,
0:25:21 > 0:25:22but because they are hard.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28The race to the moon would dominate the rest of the decade.
0:25:35 > 0:25:39But before the Soviets began work on their own lunar programme,
0:25:39 > 0:25:43Korolev would launch a string of other missions on his R7,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45culminating in the most spectacular of them all.
0:25:47 > 0:25:52On March 18th, 1965, on a freezing morning in Kazakhstan,
0:25:52 > 0:25:55another R7 was being prepared for launch.
0:25:58 > 0:26:01Pavel Belyayev and Alexei Leonov
0:26:01 > 0:26:03would both have to squeeze into the tiny capsule,
0:26:03 > 0:26:06which had been renamed Voskhod.
0:26:09 > 0:26:12The plan was that, once the capsule reached orbit,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15the crew would extend an inflatable canvas airlock,
0:26:15 > 0:26:18and Leonov would crawl through that airlock
0:26:18 > 0:26:22to become the first man to walk in space.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Leonov had started preparing for the mission two years earlier.
0:27:16 > 0:27:19By the time they reached orbit,
0:27:19 > 0:27:22the crew should have been prepared for anything.
0:28:01 > 0:28:03As Leonov pushed himself through the airlock
0:28:03 > 0:28:06he became the first man to drift free in space...
0:28:09 > 0:28:11..nearly 500km up.
0:28:11 > 0:28:14It was the furthest and most isolated
0:28:14 > 0:28:17any human had ever been from the surface of the Earth.
0:29:12 > 0:29:15As he drifted in the vacuum of space,
0:29:15 > 0:29:19the greater air pressure inside his suit was causing it to expand
0:29:19 > 0:29:20like a balloon.
0:30:08 > 0:30:11But as Leonov tried to deflate his suit,
0:30:11 > 0:30:14he ran the risk of starving himself of oxygen.
0:31:24 > 0:31:26After their ordeal,
0:31:26 > 0:31:30Leonov and Belyaev landed safely in the remote Russian forest,
0:31:30 > 0:31:32where they waited for two days
0:31:32 > 0:31:34before the recovery teams found them.
0:31:54 > 0:31:57For eight years, the Russians had blazed a trail
0:31:57 > 0:31:59through the Space Race.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02But Leonov's spacewalk marked the end of the first
0:32:02 > 0:32:05golden age of the Soviet space programme.
0:32:10 > 0:32:14The Americans' lavish spending on their moon programme was paying off.
0:32:22 > 0:32:26Within days, they would welcome back the first manned mission
0:32:26 > 0:32:27of their Gemini Program.
0:32:29 > 0:32:31And many more would soon follow.
0:32:34 > 0:32:37Their astronauts were oozing confidence.
0:32:41 > 0:32:44But while the Americans' space programme prospered,
0:32:44 > 0:32:47things were about to go horribly wrong for the Russians.
0:32:51 > 0:32:54Sergei Korolev had been the driving force
0:32:54 > 0:32:56behind the entire Soviet space programme.
0:32:58 > 0:33:02An inspirational leader to an army of engineers and cosmonauts.
0:33:03 > 0:33:05In January 1966,
0:33:05 > 0:33:08two days after his 59th birthday,
0:33:08 > 0:33:11he was admitted to hospital for a routine operation.
0:33:11 > 0:33:15Three days later, he'd still not regained consciousness.
0:33:42 > 0:33:46But even without Korolev, the Soviet programme continued.
0:33:49 > 0:33:52They'd been working on Soyuz,
0:33:52 > 0:33:57the new capsule that would take a crew to the moon.
0:33:57 > 0:33:59But it's development had been a disaster...
0:34:01 > 0:34:06..beset by delays and a catalogue of testing failures.
0:34:06 > 0:34:09The parachute system alone had failed on two of its seven tests.
0:34:13 > 0:34:17The cosmonauts due to fly in the craft were understandably concerned.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23The ship is clearly not ready because
0:34:23 > 0:34:26it's had three failed missions in a robotic mode.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29But they still went ahead and put a human being on board.
0:34:29 > 0:34:30You have to understand
0:34:30 > 0:34:32that the Americans, NASA,
0:34:32 > 0:34:33had just flown ten highly
0:34:33 > 0:34:35successful Gemini missions,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39during which period the Russians had flown not a single mission.
0:34:39 > 0:34:40So there's a lot of pressure
0:34:40 > 0:34:43and the engineers internally felt that pressure.
0:34:43 > 0:34:47But there was nobody who could stand up and say, "We shouldn't do this."
0:34:58 > 0:35:01On April 23rd, 1967,
0:35:01 > 0:35:05Vladimir Komarov, a highly respected engineer and test pilot,
0:35:05 > 0:35:07prepared for launch.
0:35:13 > 0:35:17He was about to become the first cosmonaut to go into space twice.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28To everyone's relief, the launch was a total success.
0:35:39 > 0:35:42But then things began to go wrong.
0:35:42 > 0:35:45One of the solar panels didn't deploy, so they had power problems.
0:35:45 > 0:35:48Other systems on the ship didn't work, so they said,
0:35:48 > 0:35:49"Just bring Komarov back."
0:35:49 > 0:35:52Of course, bringing him back proved to be very difficult
0:35:52 > 0:35:55because there was so many problems on the ship,
0:35:55 > 0:35:58including the automated attitude-control system
0:35:58 > 0:36:00that positioned the ship properly for re-entry.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03So he had to do all this manually, which he didn't train for,
0:36:03 > 0:36:05but he did it very well.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09But as the Soyuz re-entered the atmosphere,
0:36:09 > 0:36:11a final, fatal error emerged.
0:36:13 > 0:36:16Once again, the parachute system failed.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22The Soyuz was heading towards the ground at 700mph
0:36:22 > 0:36:25with nothing to slow it down.
0:36:39 > 0:36:43Komarov was killed instantly, as the capsule hit the ground.
0:36:43 > 0:36:46The remaining fuel on board set fire to the wreckage.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24But worse was to follow.
0:37:24 > 0:37:26In March 1968,
0:37:26 > 0:37:30a routine training flight crashed in these woods outside Moscow...
0:37:32 > 0:37:33..killing Yuri Gagarin...
0:37:36 > 0:37:40..the smiling symbol of the Soviet's mastery of space.
0:37:41 > 0:37:45MUSIC: Destination Moon by Nat King Cole
0:37:47 > 0:37:51# Come and take a trip in my rocket ship... #
0:37:51 > 0:37:55But despite these losses, the race to the moon was still on.
0:37:55 > 0:37:58The American programme was going from strength to strength.
0:37:58 > 0:38:01# ..Destination moon... #
0:38:01 > 0:38:05During the Gemini missions, they had perfected
0:38:05 > 0:38:09in-flight docking manoeuvres and spacewalks.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12- RADIO:- This is the greatest experience. It's just tremendous.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14And now they were preparing
0:38:14 > 0:38:17to launch the first manned Apollo missions -
0:38:17 > 0:38:20the missions that would take them to the moon.
0:38:20 > 0:38:25# ..Destination moon! #
0:38:33 > 0:38:38The Soviets were also preparing for their moon landing.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42MAN SINGS IN RUSSIAN:
0:38:47 > 0:38:51The cosmonauts were learning how to use the spacesuit that had
0:38:51 > 0:38:53been designed to walk on the moon.
0:38:56 > 0:39:00This bizarre test rig was built to mimic the one-sixth gravity
0:39:00 > 0:39:02felt on the moon's surface.
0:39:19 > 0:39:22And they were already working on the lander
0:39:22 > 0:39:25that would deliver a single cosmonaut onto the moon's surface.
0:39:31 > 0:39:36But a successful lunar mission needed one more crucial element...
0:39:38 > 0:39:42..a rocket powerful enough to carry a crew all the way to the moon.
0:39:45 > 0:39:49The Americans answer was their vast Saturn V,
0:39:49 > 0:39:51still the most powerful rocket ever built.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00And the Russians were also working on a behemoth.
0:40:02 > 0:40:04The N1.
0:40:05 > 0:40:07With 30 separate engines,
0:40:07 > 0:40:11it would be 16 times more powerful than the R7.
0:40:14 > 0:40:16It had been designed by Korolev,
0:40:16 > 0:40:20but starved of funding and beset by political in-fighting,
0:40:20 > 0:40:24it took years to get from the drawing board to the launch pad.
0:40:27 > 0:40:30The hopes of the entire Soviet space programme
0:40:30 > 0:40:32were resting on the success of this rocket.
0:41:00 > 0:41:03The explosion destroyed the entire launch complex.
0:41:06 > 0:41:08Without a rocket or launch pad,
0:41:08 > 0:41:11the Soviets had no way of getting a crew to the moon.
0:41:15 > 0:41:17After several more failed tests,
0:41:17 > 0:41:21the giant rocket built by this nation of potato farmers
0:41:21 > 0:41:23ended up housing their pigs.
0:41:30 > 0:41:32With the Russians out of the race,
0:41:32 > 0:41:36the Americans now had a clear run at the moon.
0:41:36 > 0:41:39Less that three weeks after the N1 explosion,
0:41:39 > 0:41:42on July 20th, 1969,
0:41:42 > 0:41:45Apollo 11 made its final approach to the moon's surface.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55The cosmonauts could only watch and admire.
0:42:23 > 0:42:27NEW SPEAKER:
0:42:40 > 0:42:43The moon race was perhaps the greatest period
0:42:43 > 0:42:45of international competition in space.
0:42:46 > 0:42:49But it's what happened next that would define
0:42:49 > 0:42:51the future of space exploration
0:42:51 > 0:42:53right up to the present day.
0:42:56 > 0:42:57Over the next few years,
0:42:57 > 0:43:00the Americans landed five more missions on the moon.
0:43:00 > 0:43:04But as they drove around the moon's surface,
0:43:04 > 0:43:06and even played a bit of golf,
0:43:06 > 0:43:08they seemed to have lost their purpose.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14When the Americans landed on the moon,
0:43:14 > 0:43:17it causes a great crisis for NASA,
0:43:17 > 0:43:21because the moon has always been a race, space was a race,
0:43:21 > 0:43:24and the thing about a race is that it has a finishing line,
0:43:24 > 0:43:26and a finishing line implies an end.
0:43:26 > 0:43:29And that's really the way the American people saw it, too.
0:43:29 > 0:43:33And so, from that day forward, NASA's been a bit lost in space.
0:43:33 > 0:43:38It's not really had a purpose that has been able to inspire
0:43:38 > 0:43:40the American people in the same way.
0:43:44 > 0:43:48In contrast, the Soviets quickly forgot about the moon
0:43:48 > 0:43:52and found a new purpose that would resurrect their space programme -
0:43:52 > 0:43:55colonisation.
0:43:55 > 0:43:58They would find a way not just to visit space
0:43:58 > 0:44:01but to live and work there.
0:44:06 > 0:44:08In April 1971,
0:44:08 > 0:44:13the world's first space station, Salyut 1, was launched into orbit.
0:44:18 > 0:44:20On June 6th, Georgi Dobrovolski,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22Vladislav Volkov
0:44:22 > 0:44:26and Viktor Patsayev were sent to become its first occupants.
0:44:41 > 0:44:44For three weeks, they lived and worked in orbit,
0:44:44 > 0:44:47performing experiments that were broadcast nightly
0:44:47 > 0:44:49to an audience of millions.
0:44:51 > 0:44:54It was the longest anyone had ever been in space
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and the crew became national heroes.
0:45:05 > 0:45:08On June 29th, they re-boarded their Soyuz for the journey home.
0:45:12 > 0:45:15Their capsule parachuted down to Earth exactly as planned.
0:45:25 > 0:45:27But when it was opened,
0:45:27 > 0:45:31the three crew members were found dead in their seats,
0:45:31 > 0:45:34suffocated when a faulty valve caused the capsule
0:45:34 > 0:45:36to catastrophically depressurise.
0:45:43 > 0:45:47Despite the tragedy, it was still a triumph for the Soviets.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51They'd shown that it was possible to live and work in space.
0:45:57 > 0:46:01For the rest of the 1970s, the Russians continued to send crews
0:46:01 > 0:46:05to a series of Salyut space stations on longer and longer missions.
0:46:10 > 0:46:13These cosmonauts would be the guinea pigs
0:46:13 > 0:46:17who would learn the skills needed to live in space for extended periods.
0:46:24 > 0:46:26By the mid-1980s,
0:46:26 > 0:46:29while the Americans were still concentrating on
0:46:29 > 0:46:31short-duration flights in their Space Shuttle...
0:46:34 > 0:46:38..the Russians were ready to take their next step -
0:46:38 > 0:46:41the first permanent orbital space station.
0:46:45 > 0:46:46Mir.
0:46:49 > 0:46:52Over the years, it would become a vast orbiting laboratory...
0:46:55 > 0:46:58..allowing teams of cosmonauts to live and work in space
0:46:58 > 0:46:59for over to a year at a time.
0:47:02 > 0:47:07It was, by far, the greatest achievement yet made in space.
0:47:09 > 0:47:13But just as the cosmonauts had finally mastered life in orbit,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16it would all go wrong for them...again.
0:47:24 > 0:47:29In 1991, as Mir orbited silently overhead,
0:47:29 > 0:47:31the Soviet Union fell apart.
0:47:33 > 0:47:37And the political turmoil on the Earth was soon felt in space.
0:47:41 > 0:47:45The Soviet space programme became the Russian space programme.
0:47:45 > 0:47:50But it was so short of funding that its very existence was threatened.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57It was a prospect that terrified the Americans.
0:47:57 > 0:48:00Their worst fear was that it would leave
0:48:00 > 0:48:02an army of rocket engineers jobless
0:48:02 > 0:48:06and they would go to work for Iran or North Korea.
0:48:08 > 0:48:12So, instead, the American government offered to go into partnership
0:48:12 > 0:48:14with the Russians.
0:48:14 > 0:48:16This is an historic moment and I'm just very excited.
0:48:16 > 0:48:18Mr Kopchev, I want to give you a hug.
0:48:18 > 0:48:21LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:48:23 > 0:48:26After decades of rivalry, the two space super-powers
0:48:26 > 0:48:28would become partners.
0:48:28 > 0:48:31The first step was that American astronauts,
0:48:31 > 0:48:35like British-born Michael Foale, would go to live and work on Mir.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43To be really honest, I don't think Americans
0:48:43 > 0:48:45were really keen to be involved in Mir.
0:48:45 > 0:48:47They were told to be involved by the White House.
0:48:49 > 0:48:51I look back on it and it was a very positive thing,
0:48:51 > 0:48:52but I had to be told.
0:48:52 > 0:48:55And the general feeling amongst American engineers was,
0:48:55 > 0:48:58"Why's the money going to Russia? It should come to our company
0:48:58 > 0:49:00"so that we can build the Space Station on our own.
0:49:00 > 0:49:02"We don't need the Russians."
0:49:03 > 0:49:08In May 1997, six years after the break up of the Soviet Union,
0:49:08 > 0:49:12Michael Foale travelled on the Space Shuttle to dock with Mir.
0:49:15 > 0:49:18The plan was that he would spend six months on the station
0:49:18 > 0:49:20with its Russian crew -
0:49:20 > 0:49:23Alexander Lazutkin
0:49:23 > 0:49:25and Vasily Tsibalyev.
0:49:27 > 0:49:30He was about to experience first-hand
0:49:30 > 0:49:32the impact of the Soviet cuts.
0:49:36 > 0:49:40Every few months, Mir received supplies on an unmanned cargo ship.
0:49:42 > 0:49:45It was guided by an automated but expensive system,
0:49:45 > 0:49:47provided by a Ukrainian company.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53About 2 million was being paid, each flight, to the Ukrainians,
0:49:53 > 0:49:56and the Russian government didn't want to pay this.
0:49:56 > 0:49:59And so they had come up with an idea, a bad idea,
0:49:59 > 0:50:04to try and do this experiment where they would put the cargo ship
0:50:04 > 0:50:08five kilometres away, and then fly it in using a cosmonaut,
0:50:08 > 0:50:11remote control, looking through a TV camera.
0:50:14 > 0:50:17The new system was like a computer game.
0:50:17 > 0:50:19Tsibalyev, the station commander,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22used a camera on the cargo ship to guide it towards the station.
0:50:24 > 0:50:27He had trained with a simulator on Earth.
0:50:27 > 0:50:31But in orbit, he and his flight engineer, Sasha Lazutkin,
0:50:31 > 0:50:34were having difficulty even locating the cargo vessel.
0:51:49 > 0:51:51CRASHING SOUND
0:52:01 > 0:52:05The walls of the Space Station Mir are only 3mm thick aluminium.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09I heard a crunch and I waited to see the walls separate
0:52:09 > 0:52:11and just see the depths of space.
0:52:11 > 0:52:13And I thought, "I've got to breathe out
0:52:13 > 0:52:16"so I don't have an embolism and die from an embolism."
0:52:16 > 0:52:17Not really considering the fact
0:52:17 > 0:52:20that I would die ten seconds later anyway from no air.
0:52:20 > 0:52:23ALARM BEEPS
0:52:42 > 0:52:45The cargo ship had struck the Spektr power module.
0:52:48 > 0:52:51If the crew were to survive, they had to seal it off.
0:52:52 > 0:52:54Sasha knew there was a hole in there.
0:52:54 > 0:52:57And he said, "It's hissing in there."
0:52:57 > 0:53:01So Sasha, feverishly, started to try and take away cables that
0:53:01 > 0:53:05were preventing a hatch to close on the Spektr module.
0:53:05 > 0:53:07ALARM CONTINUES BEEPING
0:53:12 > 0:53:15But though they successfully sealed the hatch,
0:53:15 > 0:53:17they now faced another problem.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19The impact had knocked the station out of alignment
0:53:19 > 0:53:24and the damaged solar panels were no longer pointed towards the sun.
0:54:31 > 0:54:35I remember the three of us looking out at the Galaxy.
0:54:35 > 0:54:36It's utterly beautiful.
0:54:36 > 0:54:38You have the centre of the Galaxy -
0:54:38 > 0:54:41maybe there's a million civilisations there.
0:54:41 > 0:54:44And I remember saying to Vasily, "This is a beautiful sight."
0:54:44 > 0:54:47And he goes, "Yes, but it's been a terrible day."
0:54:50 > 0:54:54For 24 hours, they drifted silently around the planet,
0:54:54 > 0:54:57while the crew devised a plan to save the crippled station.
0:55:00 > 0:55:02Using the thrusters on the Soyuz escape craft,
0:55:02 > 0:55:05they painstakingly realigned the station
0:55:05 > 0:55:08so the solar panels once again caught the sun's rays.
0:55:11 > 0:55:15Mir was back online, but the station's days were numbered.
0:55:18 > 0:55:21Just six months later, it was announced that Mir would be
0:55:21 > 0:55:24decommissioned and eventually brought down from orbit.
0:56:06 > 0:56:09As Mir fell back to Earth, it was torn apart
0:56:09 > 0:56:13in the upper atmosphere as it made its final fiery farewell.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28The death of Mir marked an end for the Russian space programme.
0:56:30 > 0:56:32But it also signalled a new beginning.
0:56:33 > 0:56:36Mir's replacement, the International Space Station,
0:56:36 > 0:56:39was already taking shape in orbit.
0:56:40 > 0:56:43The first truly international venture in space.
0:56:45 > 0:56:49A collaboration between 15 different space agencies
0:56:49 > 0:56:51to build a station four times bigger than Mir.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56Though not everyone regarded it as a positive development.
0:57:38 > 0:57:42But in reality, the ISS is the greatest testament
0:57:42 > 0:57:45to the achievements of the mighty Soviet space programme.
0:57:48 > 0:57:52Its very existence depends on technology and expertise
0:57:52 > 0:57:56built up by the Soviets and Russians over 50 years of space exploration.
0:58:05 > 0:58:07The station's crucial life support systems
0:58:07 > 0:58:10are based on those developed on Salyut and Mir.
0:58:14 > 0:58:16The spacesuits they use are Russian-made -
0:58:16 > 0:58:20descendants of the suit Leonov wore on the first space-walk...
0:58:22 > 0:58:24..and those designed to walk on the moon.
0:58:26 > 0:58:30And, since 2011, the only way to get to the station
0:58:30 > 0:58:34has been in a Soyuz capsule mounted on the top of an R7 rocket...
0:58:36 > 0:58:38..updated versions of the originals
0:58:38 > 0:58:41designed by Sergei Korolev half a century ago.
0:58:45 > 0:58:47The Soviets may have lost the race to the moon,
0:58:47 > 0:58:51but our continued presence in orbit owes everything
0:58:51 > 0:58:55to the Russians' determination to conquer space.