All language subtitles for Ancient Aliens S13E11 Russia Declassified-eng

NARRATOR: A secret alliance
hidden in plain sight.

NICK POPE:
Has a deal been done? I think

we don't know the whole picture.

NARRATOR:
Joint space missions

with undisclosed agendas.

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
Why do we not have

a good HD photograph

of whatever that big tower is?
Why?

NARRATOR: Have the United States
and Russia

been working together
from the very beginning

of the Space Race...

POPE:
Both Russia and the U.S. know

about working
extraterrestrial technology.

NARRATOR: ...in preparation
for the ultimate

extraterrestrial encounter?

MIKE BARA:
Cooperation is the only way

that we could actually achieve
some sort

of mutual defense
of the planet Earth.

♪ ♪

♪ ♪

NARRATOR:
Seoul, South Korea.

March 26, 2012.

The leaders
of over 50 nations gather

for the Nuclear Security Summit,

a two-day conference
to discuss issues

regarding the proliferation and
safekeeping of nuclear weapons.

During a photo op between

American President Barack Obama

and Russian President
Dmitry Medvedev,

who was soon to be replaced

by then Prime Minister
Vladimir Putin,

the two leaders

have an off-the-record
conversation that raises more

than a few eyebrows.

But even more intriguing
were recorded

but not filmed comments

in which President Obama
told Medvedev,

"It's important for him
to give me space."

And to which Medvedev replied,

"I understand
your message about space."

POPE: The revelation
was extraordinary.

President Obama's quote was,

"It's important for him
to give me space."

What does that mean?

Some people think
it simply means breathing space,

space to operate,

room to maneuver politically.

But there is an interpretation

that suggests
he meant literally.

"It's important for him
to give me space."

Outer space.

BARA: Any time you hear
governments talk about space,

you hear them talk
about space exploration,

trust me, the-the underlying,

implied, unspoken reality
behind that

is the alien presence.

POPE: It is possible
that Russia and America,

in some aspects
of the space question

and maybe
the extraterrestrial question,

maybe they are working together
after all.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible

that, even between two
of the world's

most powerful political rivals,

there is a secret understanding,

one based
on America and Russia's past

and future roles in outer space?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and they also believe that this
secret understanding extends

to numerous experiences
involving

extraterrestrial contact.

As evidence,

they point to an occasion
that took place

just a few months after
Medvedev's now-famous exchange

with Barack Obama.

On December 7, 2012,

after giving a primetime network
interview in Moscow,

Medvedev made remarks offstage

which seemed
to openly acknowledge

the existence
of extraterrestrials

and the Russian government's
efforts

to keep that existence a secret.

(speaking Russian)

NARRATOR: Although most
of the journalists in the room

believed
the Russian president's remarks

to have been made in jest,

there were others
who were not so certain.

RICHARD DOLAN: This is one
of the most dramatic statements

that emanates out of Russia,
and so it's fascinating.

Dmitry Medvedev said, "When you
become president of Russia",

"you're given information
on aliens in our country

and the human groups
that are monitoring them."

He was totally with a straight
face during all of this.

MICHAEL SALLA:
Here he is on film saying

that there is a secret
governmental cooperation

occurring in the background

that has the highest levels
of classification

to really monitor
extraterrestrials

that are visiting our planet.

Forget all the differences.

Forget ideologies.

At the highest level,

the two nations work together.

After World War II,

there was a number
of UFO encounters,

very important encounters,

and this gave impetus to joint
cooperation between our nations.

NARRATOR:
Joint cooperation?

Even during the tension-filled
decades of the Cold War?

Ancient astronaut theorists
believe

that not only did such
a secret relationship exist

but that it began
several decades ago

as a consequence
of what they believe

to be the Soviet Union's
first documented UFO encounter,

an event
they commonly refer to

as the Russian Roswell.

Southern Russia.

June 19, 1948.

At a remote
Soviet military installation

known as Kapustin Yar,

an unidentified flying object

is detected over the base.

POPE: Strange blips
were seen on radar.

Something was tracked

performing extraordinary speeds
and maneuvers.

And a Russian fighter jet
was sent to intercept it.

The pilot saw

a silver cigar-shaped object

and was told,
"Shoot this thing down.

It's in restricted
military airspace."

The UFO fired some sort
of directed energy weapon,

a death ray.

But before the Russian jet
was downed,

it managed to launch a missile

and shoot down the UFO.

Some people have speculated

this was the time
that the Russians found out

about extraterrestrials.

BARA: According
to the myths and legends,

at Kapustin Yar,
they actually recovered bodies,

they recovered
the spacecraft itself,

and it was kept there for study
and reverse engineering.

PETER ROBBINS:
We are told that there is

a underground facility
under Kapustin Yar,

similar, probably, to facilities
here in the States,

where a full examination
could be performed

on the pilots of these craft.

NARRATOR: To ancient astronaut
theorists and researchers,

what makes the Kapustin Yar
story all the more significant

is that it occurred
within a year

of the now-infamous
Roswell incident,

in which a UFO reportedly
crashed in the New Mexico desert

sometime in June of 1947.

That took place
near the only active

military unit in the world
that had nuclear weapons.

That was
the Roswell 509th Bombing Unit,

and they had nukes.

Similarly,
over at the Soviet Union,

at places like Kapustin Yar,

we've got significant
UFO activity being reported,

military engagements,

just like in the United States.

And I personally believe

that extraterrestrials
had a strong interest

in the nuclear technologies
that were then developing

on planet Earth,

which is exactly why
they were there.

NARRATOR: Could it be
that both the Kapustin Yar

and Roswell incidents
were attempts

by extraterrestrials

to make contact
because of mankind's

recent development
of nuclear weapons?

But if such contact did occur,

did it signal an era
of secret cooperation

between the world's
two great superpowers

or did it only trigger

a greater degree of rivalry
and competition?

In Roswell, you had the crash.

You had the recovered
alien bodies, but the aliens

were dead. There was no way
to communicate with them,

because they had been killed.

So we had the technology

but probably no really good idea

on how to start
reverse engineering it.

Whereas at Kapustin Yar,
as the story goes,

they not only got
the spacecraft itself

but, apparently, there was

at least one survivor
of the incident.

So what could the Russians
possibly have learned

from that alien extraterrestrial
biological entity

that we were not able to learn
from our Roswell incident?

Why were the Russians first
into space?

Why did they manage
to do Sputnik 1

and then send Yuri Gagarin up
into orbit

and leave the Americans
standing?

Because, on paper, you'd think
that the U.S. government

should have won that race,
but they didn't.

If the Russians got live aliens,

maybe they found out something
from what happened

at Kapustin Yar that gave them
the edge in the Space Race.

NARRATOR: Is it possible
that the Soviet Union

gained a strategic advantage
in the so-called Space Race

because of help it received from
an extraterrestrial visitor?

But if so,

then how did the United States
so quickly catch up

and... some would argue...
overtake them

by being the first
to put humans on the moon?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answers are easily obtained,
not by examining

what the two nations were
each admitting to in public,

but what they
were doing together...

in secret.

NARRATOR:
July 17, 1975.

MAN (over radio):
Moscow is go for docking.

Houston is go for docking.
It's up to you guys.

NARRATOR:
High above the Earth,

an American Apollo
Command/Service Module docks

with its Soviet counterpart,

the Soyuz 19.

A few hours later,
the two mission commanders,

Thomas Stafford
and Alexey Leonov,

shake hands
through the open hatch,

the first
international handshake

to take place in space.

The historic mission,

officially known as
the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project,

marked the end of the Space Race

that began when the Soviets
launched Sputnik back in 1957

and ushered in a new era
of open collaboration in space

between the United States
and the Soviet Union.

The 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission

was in itself an expression of
cooperation of our two nations.

Detente was coming.

Hopes for cooperation.

Hopes for future
space exploration.

Friendship.

NARRATOR: While Apollo-Soyuz was
the first public demonstration

of American and Soviet
cooperation in space,

there were many who believed
that that collaboration

began decades earlier,
following two separate events

that involved
extraterrestrial visitations:

one in Roswell, New Mexico,

and another,
known as Kapustin Yar,

which happened
near the town of Znamensk,

in the western region
of the former Soviet Union.

POPE: There's an argument
that suggests

the Apollo-Soyuz mission

was actually
a sort of soft disclosure.

Getting the story out there
in a quiet way

so that there would be no great
bombshell revelation later.

NARRATOR:
Moscow.

July 1965.

Exactly one decade prior to the
historic Apollo-Soyuz mission,

scientists at the Sternberg
Astronomical Institute analyze

a series of 25 photographs
of the Moon

transmitted from the Soviet
unmanned probe, Zond 3.

The images, taken
approximately 7,000 miles away

from the lunar surface,

are unprecedented in quality

and offer the first clear view

of the far side of the moon.

In the years following
the Zond 3 mission,

researchers have argued
that the 25 photographs

show structures on the Moon

that did not occur naturally.

There were clear anomalies
that had been seen on camera

for the first time.

One was kind of a giant dome

that appeared to have
a glass-like structure

to the top of it that had been
shattered and beaten up.

And in another image,
there was a 20-mile-high tower

that was plainly visible on the
photographs that were published.

Knowing the secrecy
of the Soviets during this era,

it's quite possible
that they had other pictures

that might reveal
what these structures are.

Why do we not have
a good HD photograph

of whatever that big tower is

that the Zond 3 probe
took in 1965?

Why?

STONEHILL: Those pictures
are still classified in Russia,

as they were
in the Soviet Union.

Apparently, some 25 pictures
were transferred to NASA.

I don't know how.

Was this a CIA operation,

or was this an actual transfer
of information,

which again shows you
the level of exchange

of cooperation
between our governments?

Something that's classified
in Russia

is openly available
in the United States?

NARRATOR: Did the Russians
discover evidence

of artificial structures
on the Moon

four years before the American
astronauts landed there?

And if so,

did they secretly communicate
their findings

in order to help guide
NASA's plans

for the first manned mission
to the Moon?

Ancient astronaut theorists

believe that such
an audacious notion may be true,

and also suggest that,

while the United States
later became focused

on launching
its Space Shuttle program,

the Russians journeyed
even deeper into space

in search of further evidence
of extraterrestrial activity

in our solar system.

Baikonur Cosmodrome.

July 1988.

The Soviet Union
launches two probes

which are each programmed
to photograph Phobos,

one of the two moons
that orbit the planet Mars.

Although the first probe fails
to reach its target,

the second proves
more successful.

Named Phobos 2,
it uses sophisticated cameras

and infrared lasers to collect
and transmit photos and data

about the atmosphere and surface
of the Martian moon.

In the final stage
of its mission,

the probe attempts a landing
on the moon's surface.

Suddenly, without warning,

the Russian craft
stops transmitting...

but not until it relays
one last incredible photo.

As they got closer with Phobos,
we see one last frame

that seems to have showed up.

What appears to be
some type of laser beam,

or some type of object,
coming from Phobos

and disabling the satellite.

And a very large
cigar-shaped shadow,

as if it's possibly
a large craft of some kind

hovering above the surface.

BARA: There have been members
of the Soviet Science Academy

and actual cosmonauts,
like Marina Popovich,

who came right out and said
that the reports

inside the Soviet Union

indicated that Phobos 2
had been shot down.

NARRATOR: What happened
to the Phobos 2 probe?

Did it really photograph
an alien craft?

Ancient astronaut theorists
say yes,

and point
to another Mars mission,

almost a decade later,

as proof of an extraterrestrial
presence on Phobos.

WILLIAM HENRY: In 1998,
NASA's Mars Global Surveyor

took images of Phobos...

revealing a monolith

279 feet in length.

Instantly, ancient astronaut
theorists and others

connected this to what
the Soviets had discovered

in the 1980s

and hypothesized
that perhaps there is

a working extraterrestrial
element on Mars that seeks

to prevent us from discovering
the secrets of Phobos.

Now we have a situation
where both Russia and the U.S.

know about this.

And perhaps
it's not just artifacts

and ancient civilizations

but working
extraterrestrial technology.

NARRATOR:
Were otherworldly forces

guiding both the U.S.
and Soviet space programs

in an effort to encourage
peaceful cooperation

between the world's
two great nuclear adversaries?

Although such a far-fetched
notion seems absurd,

there are many who believe that

not only was extraterrestrial
contact taking place

but that it had been happening
for dozens of years,

and that one such incident
involved a number

of top secret communications
between a Russian scientist

and what he believed to be
his alien ancestors.

NARRATOR:
Kaluga, Russia.

May 1903.

Little-known
Russian schoolteacher

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky
publishes a landmark paper

on rocket science titled

"Exploration of Outer Space
by Means of Rocket Devices."

At a time
when the Wright Brothers

are still working to achieve
the first powered flight,

Tsiolkovsky writes
about groundbreaking concepts

for the exploration of space,
including what he calls

the "ideal rocket equation,"

a formula which calculates
the amount of velocity needed

to lift a body into outer space.

Incredibly, his theories
would prove instrumental

in helping the Soviet Union
launch the first man-made object

into orbit
more than 50 years later.

TAYLOR:
Konstantin Tsiolkovsky wasn't

a classically trained scientist,

he was a secondary school
math teacher.

But he was so enamored
with getting into space

that he created the rocket
science and mathematics

in the early 1900s
that led to the first thing

created by humanity to be
launched into space, Sputnik.

To put into perspective

how influential
Tsiolkovsky's work was,

this is the basis work

that everybody had to use later.

Von Braun used it
during his research on rockets,

and most of the world sees
the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation

as the beginning
of modern rocket science.

Where did he get those ideas?

Where does his knowledge
come from?

His ideas about space

and civilizations that
populate it were incredible,

and he persisted
that when humans

will go into outer space,

we will become like
other alien civilizations.

NARRATOR:
Alien civilizations?

How did a Russian math teacher,

who grew up in a small village
in eastern Russia,

come to believe that there were
other intelligent beings

in the universe...

and that it was
mankind's destiny

to join them in the cosmos?

The answer is simple.

Konstantin Tsiolkovsky,

like millions of other Russians
of his day,

subscribed to a philosophy
known as cosmism,

which promoted
the idea that humanity

has an ancient connection to
extraterrestrial beings.

Russian cosmism began in the mid
and late 19th century.

Within the traditions of cosmism
there are many who believe

that our origins are actually
alien in nature,

that is to say,
the human civilization

is an alien transplant,

and that, in going into space,

we are actually going back home.

MARTELL:
From that perspective,

it's very much in alignment

with the ancient astronaut
theory

where human beings strive

to reconnect with these
ancient gods,

through efforts like creating
a more advanced space program.

NARRATOR: What made Tsiolkovsky,
and others like him,

so certain that aliens existed,

and that space travel held
the key to humans reconnecting

with these otherworldly beings?

For the answer, ancient
astronaut theorists point

to Tsiolkovsky's writings,

in which he described

extraterrestrial beings
sending messages

and information to mankind
from the stars.

He also wrote that he himself
had personally received

a number of interplanetary
communications.

STONEHILL:
Tsiolkovsky experienced

tremendous sightings
in his life.

One was in 1889.

He was looking at the sky

and all of a sudden he saw
a perfect cloud

in the shape of
a four-pointed cross

flying over him.

ROBBINS:
He also felt

that he was receiving
telepathic messages

from, um, extraterrestrials.

This leaves us to ponder
was he actually in contact

with intelligences
from out there?

Did they guide his hand?

Did they supply this equation?

MARTELL:
Some of his models

of what a spacecraft
would look like

are very much in alignment

with the descriptions
of various UFOs,

this cigar elongated shape.

Was he actually in communication

with the beings that are
piloting these craft?

Is it a vision that he got
showing how they manipulate

and pilot these vehicles,

and that's why he was able
to come up with such

an accurate representation
for that model?

NARRATOR: For many ancient
astronaut theorists,

Russia's widespread embrace
of cosmism

might help explain why the
Soviet Union's reaction

to the UFO incident
at Kapustin Yar

was likely very different

than the American military's
reaction to Roswell.

The United States approached
the Space Race with an eye

toward achieving scientific
and technological superiority.

The Soviet Union seemed less
focused on technological goals,

such as that of landing a man
on the Moon,

and more interested
in using space travel

as a means of realizing

a kind of extraterrestrial
destiny.

TAYLOR:
So the Space Race was really

a cover for creating
new technologies

in our defense industry.

To create rockets
that could put large amounts

of mass into space,
put a satellite into orbit.

All these things required
technological developments

that enabled spy satellites,

that enabled communication
satellites.

They enabled intercontinental
ballistic missiles.

STONEHILL:
Russians were the first ones

to promote this idea

of unity between outer space

and people on Earth.

Tsiolkovsky knew there were

other civilizations
in outer space,

and he wanted to meet them.

He put the seeds
in the minds of the people

that helped develop rockets

and space technology
in the Soviet Union.

POPE:
Maybe cosmism

and then the Russian successes

with Sputnik and Yuri Gagarin

made the Americans realize
we need them.

The Russians can do things
we can't do.

They have a philosophical
outlook on this

which gives them
an inherent advantage.

And maybe in that sort
of situation,

each party brings something
to the table.

NARRATOR:
Could it be that when

the Soviets launched Sputnik,

it wasn't simply a show
of scientific superiority

or military might,

but an attempt
to directly connect

with extraterrestrial beings?

And, if so, could that have
motivated the United States

to work more closely with them,

and, ultimately,
partner with them?

Perhaps further clues
can be found

by examining what happened

to the American
and Soviet space programs

after the Soviet Union
collapsed.

NARRATOR:
Moscow.

Christmas Day, 1991.

I am now concluding my activity

as president of the USSR.

NARRATOR: In one of the most
significant events

of the 20th century,

Soviet President
Mikhail Gorbachev

announces his resignation.

Just five days short
of its 70th anniversary,

the Union of
Soviet Socialist Republics

is officially dissolved.

The Soviet Union collapsed 1989,
1990, 1991,

and split up into
its constituent republics.

Russia, at that time in
the 1990s, was a hellhole.

Ethnic conflicts were brewing

all around the borders of
the Russian Federation,

incredibly high levels of crime,

the birth of the Russian Mafia.

NARRATOR:
But of all the problems

that now plagued
the former Soviet Union,

their space program
was not one of them.

Their Mir orbiting space station
was considered a huge success,

which often stood
in stark contrast

to the United States'
tragedy-plagued Shuttle program.

This contrast was so stark,
in fact,

that when the Shuttle program
quietly ended in 2011,

the United States suspended its
own manned space program

in favor of sending
its astronauts up to

the International Space Station
as little more than passengers

aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

POPE: It seems
that the U.S. ceded control

of space to the Russians,

certainly in relation
to manned missions.

But it is bizarre.

For whatever reason,

the Russians,
despite all their problems,

seem to be ahead of the U.S.,
in some respects,

when you talk about space.

A couple of examples
of where the U.S. seem

to have ceded control,

or certainly ceded
the leadership position

in space to the Russians,

are the International
Space Station,

where now, American astronauts
can't even get there

without going up
in Russian rockets.

NARRATOR:
For ancient astronaut theorists,

the partnership between the two

rival space programs
was simply an admission

of what had already been taking
place in secret for decades.

It also proved
that both the U.S.

and Russian space programs

were going to continue
working together

in the interest
of furthering the goal

of extraterrestrial contact.

But this time
there was a difference:

Russia was now
largely controlled

by deep-pocketed oligarchs,

and run by tight-gripped
autocrats like Vladimir Putin.

They were free of the kind of
public scrutiny

that would force full disclosure

about just what they were doing
in outer space.

If there are
alien-human encounters

taking place in space
or in low Earth orbit,

the Russians could bring back

the information
and share it with us.

STONEHILL: There is a certain
level of secrecy

that is very different
in Russia

than it is in the United States.

So it could be that most
sensitive information

is being handled
by the Russian side

so to make sure that it doesn't
get released

and doesn't spook
the populations

in different nations.

NARRATOR:
But while information coming out

of Russia is now under
tight control,

the same could not be said
for the period

when the Soviet Union
was imploding.

And it was during
this brief period

that Russia's extensive history
of extraterrestrial encounters

became all but fully exposed.

In the waning days
of the Soviet Union,

a lot of interesting documents

pertaining to UFOs
were declassified.

For example,
the KGB, so-called Blue File,

124 pages of information

about UFO cases that came
within... to the KGB.

It was declassified.

We know that most of the
documents pertaining

to the SETKA program,

which was the official Soviet
top secret UFO program,

which existed for 13 years,
from '78 to 1991,

most of those cases
are not available,

but the cases that we know
about, that I've studied,

are enough
to make you amazed to know,

and of what they have
discovered,

and what may be in store.

NARRATOR:
If the United States

and the Soviet Union each
experienced decades

of extraterrestrial contact,

and had been secretly sharing
their experiences

and information with each other,

what is their ultimate agenda?

As far as ancient astronaut
theorists are concerned,

the answers can be found

in recently revealed
Russian research

that is intended to change
the human body,

in order to prepare it
to travel the galaxy.

NARRATOR:
Voronezh, Russia.

September 27, 1989.

A group of children
playing in a park

witness a shining ball
in the sky that transforms

into a disc-shaped craft
and lands nearby.

They see strange beings emerge
from the craft,

beings that do not appear
to be human.

In the days after the encounter,

as many as 30 other eyewitnesses
corroborate their account.

ROBBINS: Many people were out
and observed it,

children as well as adults.

Observers watched a hatch open

and two beings come out,

a very tall one
and a modest-sized one.

The tall one was described as,
um, rather mechanical-looking

but a being

that estimates were from nine
to 12 feet tall.

The small one
looked like a robot.

Both were distinguished
by very small heads.

They began
to move about the park.

People reacted.

One report has a boy in shock...

the taller being pointing
an apparatus at the boy

and freezing him.

He was reactivated, so to say,
before the craft took off.

DOLAN:
This is one of these cases

where there are
so many witnesses

and they have
all been interviewed

and they're just all sincere.

They all saw something.

Some of the witnesses definitely
described those things

as artificial-looking
and mechanical.

Well, we, ourselves, seem
to be moving in that direction.

Are we creating ourselves as
synthetic beings in the future?

And the answer is
we sure may be.

That's the way
it seems to be going.

NARRATOR: If there are
extraterrestrial beings

visiting Earth,

is it possible that
they are not biological like us

but have adopted
synthetic bodies

better suited
for traveling the cosmos?

And if so, might humanity

be forced to do the same

in order to travel
into deep space?

Many scientists believe this
to be the case,

and there is a growing movement
in Russia

to take the first steps

of this transformation.

♪ ♪

Moscow.

February 2012.

Russian billionaire
Dmitry Itskov brings together

over 50 leading scientists
to discuss what he believes

is the next step
in human evolution,

immortality.

Through his ambitious project,

called the 2045 Initiative,

Itskov hopes
to create technology

that would ultimately upload
the human brain

into a computer
by the year 2045.

JENKS: The 2045 Initiative,
it really is a call

to bring minds together
to solve the problem

of, essentially, digitizing
a human being.

And in that case,
you could download it.

You could, uh, transfer it
to another source.

You could allow it
to go into space.

STONEHILL: They want
to make human being immortal,

being that can explore farthest
reaches of the universe.

To me, this exactly ties in

with what the Russian,
uh, philosophers

and scientists talked about

in the beginning
of the 20th century,

Russian cosmism.

In this, we hear echoes
of the vision of Tsiolkovsky.

He told us
that he was in contact

with extraterrestrial beings.

He specifically noted
that they were,

in fact, light beings.

So, is it possible
that what we are doing

is catching up with his vision,

that, if we create
avatar humans,

are we, in fact, then recreating
the extraterrestrials

who originally connected
with him?

Who knows if the Russians
could actually achieve

this 2045 Initiative,

but they are thinking about it.

And they don't seem to be upset
with the process that's planned.

The United States,
on the other hand,

wouldn't even consider
such an idea.

Doing experiments on a human

of transplanting a brain
into a robot

is probably gonna take a lot
of approval and a long time

for anyone to sign on to that.

But is it the same
if you were in Russia?

Their system of government
is a little different,

and they might do experiments
like that

easier than the United States.

POPE:
In the U.S. and in the West,

it is perhaps

a long, hard journey
to convince people

that these things
should be done.

Maybe we will never
convince them.

But in Russia, through cosmism,

through transhumanism,

as the Russians practice it,

you're trying to do things

that Russians already believe in
and aspire to.

There's real benefit to the U.S.

in making the Russians
our partners.

NARRATOR:
Is it possible that humanity,

led by the United States
and Russia,

is poised to take bold steps
into deep space?

If so,

is this escalation
limited to space travel

or might it also include
something like

a military space force?

NARRATOR:
The White House.

June 18, 2018.

At a meeting
of the National Space Council,

President Donald J. Trump
calls on the Pentagon

to develop a sixth branch
of the United States military,

a space force.

I'm hereby directing

the Department of Defense
and Pentagon to establish

a space force

as the sixth branch
of the armed forces.

That's a big statement.

NARRATOR: The stunning news
was followed ten days later

by the announcement
that President Trump

and Russian President
Vladimir Putin

would have a private,
behind-closed-doors meeting

the following month.

Is it possible that
these two high-profile events

were strategically related?

If both nations are aware

that there is
an extraterrestrial presence

and that it is
potentially hostile,

then cooperation
is the only route to go.

It's the only way
that we could actually achieve

some sort of mutual defense
of the planet Earth.

POPE:
This one-on-one between Trump

and Putin may just be
the latest in a long line

of secret,
high-level communications

between the world leaders.

And it may be that things

like the creation
of the space force

show that there's been
an escalation.

Well, the reason
you create a force

of any kind
is to deal with a threat.

- MAN: Liftoff.
- TAYLOR: We're reaching a point

in our civilization here
on Earth that we're beginning

to send probes
and... maybe even soon... people

throughout the solar system,

maybe even into deeper space.

It's quite possible
the space force

could be set up in an outpost
in case there was

some incident on Mars
or in the asteroid belt

or at Jupiter
or way out at the Kuiper belt.

NARRATOR: As far
as ancient astronaut theorists

are concerned,

the U.S.-Russia relationship
in space

is the direct result
of an extraordinary agenda

not on the part of world leaders

but by an extraterrestrial
intelligence,

an intelligence that believes
that each nation

has the unique ability
to complement

the other's strengths
and weaknesses

and that outer space
should be explored

not as a function of competition

but as the result
of mankind's shared need

to fulfill its ultimate destiny.

It seems that Russia and America

have been inextricably bound
together

in this Space Race,

a space race run, perhaps,
not between nations

but with nations
racing alongside each other.

STONEHILL:
In actuality,

the, uh, idea of Space Race
is not correct,

because there were n-never
Space Race.

There was cooperation

which had to be kept secret
for a while.

But sooner or later,

you could see fruits
of such cooperation.

We actually have
to work together

and explore together
and cooperate together

to prevent any danger to Earth.

NARRATOR: As humans prepare
for their journey

to Mars and beyond,

they will become
the extraterrestrial visitors

of other worlds.

And if ancient astronaut
theorists are correct,

their journey will have been
aided by alien visitors

who see our planet not
as a number of warring nations

but as a launching pad

filled with people
eager to explore

an amazing universe.