All language subtitles for Secrets.Declassified.with.David.Duchovny.S01E08.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

- Throughout time,

governments and the people who
work for them

have done strange
and even terrible things

in the name
of national interest,

especially in the race
to control space.

Tonight, the daring theft
of an enemy spacecraft

at the start of the Cold War.

- There are so many places
where this could fail.

At worst, you're going
to be caught in the act

and they're going to shoot you.

- The plan to nuke the moon.

- If the Russians
really are planning

to hit the moon with a nuclear
weapon, then guess what?

America needs to beat them
to the punch.

[dramatic music]

- And a shocking cover-up of
the space age's worst disaster.

- 70 coffins have
been delivered

to a Russian space center.

Something catastrophic
has taken place.

- It's time to bring the
secrets of deep space to light.

[dramatic music]

♪ ♪

[suspenseful music]

- It's 1959.

The U.S. and the Soviet Union

are locked
in fierce competition

on Earth and in space.

So when the CIA gets the chance

to steal some Russian
technological secrets,

the agency doesn't think twice.

♪ ♪

- The summer of 1959,
the Cold War was still

very much an active conflict,

but things were thawing
just a little bit.

Both sides decided that they
should do a cultural exchange.

First stop is New York.

The Soviet Union
mounts a large display

of some of their main
technical advances.

- What's particularly
interesting

to the American government
is a display

of the Soviet
lunar spacecraft.

- The Soviets are blazing
ahead in the space race.

In January 1959, they launch
the first spacecraft

to leave Earth's orbit.

- From the Americans'
perspective,

the Soviets can do no wrong.

And they want to find out
how they're so successful.

- So American spies are
sent to the exhibition

to check out a replica
of the Luna.

But when they get
to the display,

they're hit with
a pretty big realization.

What they're looking at
is not a model.

It's the actual spacecraft

that is being presented
to the public.

♪ ♪

They're presented with
this incredible opportunity

to get up close to
the Soviets' crown jewel.

- If American space engineers

can somehow
take a look inside,

they could work out
the secret of Soviet success.

- There's just no way
to inspect the Luna

while it's in New York.

It's guarded 24/7
by KGB officers.

But the Soviet exhibition
is on tour.

It's moving to Mexico City,

where the CIA have
a much better chance

of getting a closer look.

♪ ♪

- The Americans decide
to try the unthinkable.

The question is how
do you steal something

the size of a school bus from
under the nose of the KGB?

- The CIA come up with a plan.

Wait for the exhibition
to finish.

Distract the guards.

And intercept the Luna
while it's in transit.

♪ ♪

- And if they can get
the truck with the Luna in it,

somehow separate
from everything else,

they just might be able
to take a look.

- And then return it
without anyone realizing.

This is an insane plot.

You're trying to steal
a spaceship from the KGB.

♪ ♪

If you do get caught,

they have grounds
to shoot you on the spot.

♪ ♪

- It sounds like the plot
of a Hollywood heist movie.

But on December 15th,
the CIA makes it happen.

- The exhibition is over.

The exhibits are
loaded onto trucks

to be stored overnight
at a train depot.

♪ ♪

CIA already had
operatives in place

that were positioned perfectly

to assist in the kidnapping
of the Lunik.

♪ ♪

- They make sure the Luna
is on the last truck,

and it heads straight
into rush-hour traffic.

♪ ♪

The guards have
been working hard.

They're following this truck,
but they want the day to end.

They want to clock out.

- There's a farewell party
at their hotel,

and nobody wants to miss out.

But what they don't know
is that this big blowout

has been organized by the CIA,

because the plan is to keep
the KGB distracted all night

with beautiful women
and rivers of tequila.

- The Soviet guards leave the
Luna with the truck driver.

What they don't know is that

he's working
with the Americans.

- The CIA has kidnapped
the spaceship

and the plan is
working perfectly.

With the Luna now
in their possession,

the CIA divert its route.

They've commandeered a private
salvage yard for the night

that's fenced off
from prying eyes.

♪ ♪

- So while the KGB are
having a party,

the American engineers
have the opportunity

to get their hands
on modern technology

that's devised by the Russians.

♪ ♪

- They only have until dawn
to learn everything they can

about the Soviet space ship.

- The men take their shoes off
so they don't leave

any kind of debris
and they get right inside.

♪ ♪

They start taking it apart
bolt by bolt.

♪ ♪

Photographing everything.

[whirring and clicking]

- It was a chance for them
to steal as much information

as they needed to boost
the American space program.

♪ ♪

- But there's a huge problem.

♪ ♪

The Soviets have placed
a tamper-proof seal

inside some of
the most important parts.

In order to photograph it,

they're going to have
to break this seal.

♪ ♪

The Russians are going to know
that they were inside the Luna.

♪ ♪

- The operatives have no
choice but to pull in a favor.

- So what they do

is get a local forger
to remake it overnight.

- The forger must turn around
an exact copy of the seal

in a few hours.

♪ ♪

- By daybreak,
the Luna is back in one piece.

The Soviet guards
roll out of the party

nursing these killer hangovers
with no clue

that their prize exhibit has
spent the night with the enemy.

♪ ♪

- It's incredible to think
that this whole thing worked.

- The Luna continues
its global tour,

with the Soviets
none the wiser.

The question is

did the heist advance
America's space program?

According to CIA documents
declassified in 1994...

The answer is yes.

- The Americans used the intel

to calculate the weight
of the spacecraft

and from that, they can
work out the size and weight

of the missile the Soviets are
using to launch it.

- It's just the kind
of detailed intelligence

the Americans need to blast
ahead in the space race.

♪ ♪

- And on August 10th,

they launch a CORONA
spy satellite

that orbits 17 times
around the Earth.

♪ ♪

- The superpower space race
becomes a sprint

to land a man
on the lunar surface.

But both nations have
other plans for the moon

that are so shocking they
remain secret for 40 years.

♪ ♪

- Throughout the 1950s
and '60s,

we lived under constant fear
of a nuclear attack.

You are, every day,
being fed a steady diet of

you need to be terrified

that the world's going
to end next week.

♪ ♪

There are a lot of
outrageous headlines

during this time period.

The one that
caught the attention

of the American public the most
was...

"Latest Red Rumor:
They'll Bomb the Moon."

♪ ♪

- It's a headline
that just looks like

it came straight
out of a comic book.

The news has the White House
in a panic.

Are the Russians really going
to go through with this,

or is it just a wild rumor?

♪ ♪

- For the American military,
this is no joke.

It responds in 1958 by
launching secret Project A119.

♪ ♪

- The U.S. Air Force calls upon
12 of the country's leading

astrophysicists to take part in
a highly sensitive assignment.

- The team includes a young
graduate named Carl Sagan,

in the days before he was
a world-renowned astronomer.

- The plan is simple.

If the Russians
really are planning

to hit the moon with a nuclear
weapon, then guess what?

America needs to beat them
to the punch.

♪ ♪

One side is planning
something insane,

the other side has
to match it.

♪ ♪

- But the U.S. has
a challenge.

There's no point in nuking
the moon if no one can see it.

- The moon has no atmosphere.

That blast will not produce
the iconic mushroom cloud

that we expect
from a nuclear explosion.

- They come up
with a solution.

Detonate the bomb along
the moon's terminator line,

the border between where
the shadow meets the light.

- So that bright flash
of light will be visible

to the naked eye and
the resulting cloud of dust

and debris that's kicked up
by the nuclear weapon

is going to be illuminated
by the sun.

♪ ♪

- With a key problem solved,
the American team is ready

in the event
the president says go.

- In 1958, in perhaps
the most surreal contest

of the space race,
American and Soviet scientists

compete to hit the moon
with a nuclear bomb.

The question is

will either side blow up
the Earth in the process?

[suspenseful music]

- If the nuclear payload
is too heavy for the rocket,

the rocket could fall back to
Earth and the bomb detonates.

♪ ♪

The big event suddenly becomes
a tragedy on a massive scale

and possibly the start
of a nuclear war.

♪ ♪

- But the risk of apocalypse
isn't enough

to make the U.S.
pull the plug.

- The team puts
forward this plan

to use a W25 warhead,
which is a smaller device,

but crucially, it will
still be visible from Earth.

- Problem solved.
All systems are ready to go.

- The science works.

Are they actually
going to do this?

♪ ♪

- At the last minute,
there's one more concern

that throws plans
into a tailspin.

The nuclear fallout
could contaminate

the moon's surface for years.

♪ ♪

- Which means
nobody can go up there.

♪ ♪

And that's a big problem

because landing a man
on the moon is looking

more and more
scientifically possible.

- The U.S. realizes that
stepping on the moon

is a bigger win
than blowing it up.

In January 1959,
Project A119 is canceled.

And the Soviets also
come to their senses.

♪ ♪

That doesn't mean
the space race is over.

The next goal?

Be the first to set up
a permanent base on the moon.

It won't be easy,
but in 1959, the U.S. military

launches Project Horizon
to accomplish the goal.

♪ ♪

- The moon is an extremely
hostile environment.

The temperature range is huge.

In the sunlight, it can reach
up to 225 degrees Fahrenheit,

while in the dark,
it can drop to minus 243.

♪ ♪

- Plus, the thin
atmosphere means

that there is no protection
from cosmic radiation

and there's no protection
from meteorites.

So the safest place is
beneath the lunar surface.

- This moon base
is planned to consist

of an underground
network of tubes.

♪ ♪

and they serve
as living quarters,

storage, lab space,
and the entire facility

will be powered
by nuclear reactors.

- The move itself will
be a massive operation.

♪ ♪

- The proposal calls for
about 147 Saturn launches

to get not only the materials
up to the moon,

but also the things that
will become the space station

and the crew themselves.

♪ ♪

This will take ten years to do
and cost $6 billion.

- In today's money,

that's $64 billion.

$64 billion.

Why would the government

consider spending
an unthinkable sum of money

building an outpost
on the moon?

- Classified documents
released in 2014

provide the answer.

- The Americans know that
the Soviets intend to build

their own moon base,

and they do not want to be
neighbors with these guys.

♪ ♪

The Soviets have the momentum
in this space race,

and there's a sense that
the moon is up for grabs,

and they want to claim it.

♪ ♪

- The Soviet initiative
is called Zvezda,

which translates as star.

- The Soviet designs are very
similar to Project Horizon.

But there's a little bit
more emphasis on comforts.

- They put in video screens
displaying Russian vistas

to comfort
homesick cosmonauts.

- The Soviets
build a prototype

and they stick a group
of cosmonauts in it

for a year as a simulation.

♪ ♪

- But the U.S. is planning
more than a lunar land grab.

♪ ♪

The true purpose
of Project Horizon

is to turn the moon
into an American fortress.

♪ ♪

- The first one
to colonize the moon

could also be the first one
to weaponize it.

♪ ♪

The moon's distance
from the Earth

makes an outpost difficult
to attack and easy to defend.

♪ ♪

- They even have plans
for armed combat on the moon.

I'm talking about
astronauts armed with weapons

on the surface of the moon
shooting it out.

- During the Cold War, it was
a competition to dream up

what's the worst thing that
our enemy can do

and how can we counter it?

And it just led
to doing crazy things

or planning crazy things.

- Fortunately,
lunar combat never breaks out.

In 1959,
Project Horizon is shelved

by a newly-formed agency,
NASA.

- The dream of militarization
of the moon

is over, at least for now.

- It's 1960, and as the contest
for space continues,

the Soviets want to land
a knockout punch.

They build a rocket powered
by a new kind of fuel

called devil's venom.

It will end in tragedy.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

- In October of 1960,
an American news story breaks

about a Soviet
rocket engineer's death.

- Mitrofan Nedelin
is a highly decorated

military commander and he's
known as the chief of rockets.

According to the
Soviet press release,

he died the previous day
in an air accident.

- As Russia mourns
an important leader,

the CIA investigates
his death.

♪ ♪

But it finds no record
of a Soviet air crash.

And the secret report
is full of suspicious gaps.

♪ ♪

- According to the report,

something catastrophic
happened.

♪ ♪

- 70 coffins have
been delivered

to a Russian space center.

- It's clear the
Soviet space program

has experienced a disaster.

But what kind?

- Rumors start bouncing around
about Nedelin's death.

Some say that it was
an air crash.

Some say that it was
a fatal explosion.

- The one thing that
everyone can agree on

is that it happened
in southern Kazakhstan,

the location of the Soviets'
biggest missile launch site.

- The events remain a mystery
for 39 years.

Then a former space officer

decides it's finally safe
to come clean.

♪ ♪

- At the Russian Cosmodrome,
Chief Nedelin is developing

a top-secret new missile,
the R-16.

Now, it's a space rocket,

but its purpose has nothing
to do with space exploration.

♪ ♪

- The R-16 is basically
a super weapon.

- It's actually
an intercontinental

ballistic missile designed

to hit long-range targets.

The weapon enters space,

then falls back to Earth

to strike its targets.

- It has a range
of almost 7,000 miles,

carrying a 5-
to 6-megaton nuclear warhead.

This could decimate the
United States from Russia.

♪ ♪

The Soviet Union wants
to launch this missile

for the first time on
the 43rd anniversary

of the Russian Revolution.

♪ ♪

It's all symbolism,
but the Soviets wanted

to send shockwaves about
Russian power around the world

with this new weapon.

- It's never been tested
and Nedelin is under

increasing pressure
to launch it.

♪ ♪

- Nedelin has
hundreds of engineers

working at this ferocious pace
to meet this deadline.

It's a dangerous environment.

The R-16 requires
a highly volatile fuel

that's known as devil's venom.

It's so corrosive that

as soon as you put it
in the fuel tanks,

it starts to literally eat away
at the rocket.

♪ ♪

- As the test date approaches,

there are problems
with the rocket,

but Soviet scientists
don't want to admit failure.

They want to hit
this deadline,

so they keep pressing forward.

♪ ♪

- On the morning of the test,
the 100-foot-high R-16

is fueled with devil's venom,
ready for launch.

Things start to go wrong
right away.

- Part of the electrics
short-circuit.

Chief Nedelin and his staff

are supposed to leave
the launch area.

- They're just milling around
the launch pad and the missile,

violating every
safety protocol,

and the missile begins
to spit out sparks

and then it begins to spit out
devil's venom.

♪ ♪

- What happens next
is captured on film,

but the shocking images are
suppressed for 30 years.

♪ ♪

[rocket roaring]

♪ ♪

- The electrical issue
sparks the fuel,

which bursts the fuel tanks

and triggers this
Earth-shattering explosion.

♪ ♪

- Anyone near the rocket
was killed instantly.

Anyone else had
to try to escape

this mass of flames
and toxic gas.

But they were all trapped in
the area by a security fence.

♪ ♪

Some workers burned to death.

Others died from
inhaling fumes.

It was an absolute disaster.

- Chief Nedelin, along with
many important engineers,

are killed.

It's a horrific failure.

♪ ♪

- In the aftermath, survivors
and relatives of the dead

are ordered to describe
the tragedy as a plane crash.

It's one of the many fatal
accidents that affected

the space program,
covered up by the government.

♪ ♪

- The exact number of people
who lost their lives

while working
on the Soviet space program

remains unknown to this day.

♪ ♪

- For six years,
the U.S. and the Soviet Union

invest billions
on deep space competition.

Then, in 1963, the U.S.
seems to change tack.

The Air Force announces
the first-ever space lab.

Called the
Manned Orbiting Laboratory,

or MOL, it will be launched
to benefit all humanity.

♪ ♪

- The U.S. develop and test
a two-man operated

scientific research station.

It's designed
to remain in orbit

150 miles above
the Earth's surface,

is 60 feet long, with a
laboratory and a living space.

♪ ♪

- A program
designed to evaluate

man's performance in space
over extended periods of time.

- The design team comes up
with incredible innovations.

- They develop the
next generation

of flexible space suits.

♪ ♪

The laboratory simulator
becomes part

of NASA's future projects,

as does the MOL's
waste generation system.

- The individuals who
trained on the MOL

all later went on
to be the pioneers

who manned some of the early
Space Shuttle missions.

♪ ♪

- The project's greatest
technical breakthrough

is its own giant camera.

♪ ♪

- The camera is
the size of a car.

♪ ♪

It uses an external mirror
that is as tall as a man.

- It is described
as the perfect tool

for conducting scientific
studies of Earth.

- Things like tracking tectonic
plates or air pollution

or studying the polar caps.

- All to benefit humankind.

The benefits seem endless.

♪ ♪

In November 1966,

the first prototype
is ready for test launch.

- All launch commit lights
are green.

T-minus 10 seconds.

♪ ♪

- The MOL enters orbit
and remains in contact

with the Earth for 30 days.

♪ ♪

It's a huge success.

♪ ♪

- But behind
all the excitement

hides a stunning secret.

In 2015, the military
declassifies documents that

expose the science project
as an elaborate cover story.

♪ ♪

The real intent of the camera,
to spy on the Russians.

- Since 1960,
the American military

has been monitoring
Russia's nuclear capabilities

from surveillance satellites.

- Photographs from space

of value to
strategic intelligence

completely revolutionized
the intelligence process.

[camera whirs]

- After the cameras
take the pictures,

the film needs to be processed
back on Earth.

By that point, it could
be too late to react.

- What good is intel
on an enemy attack

if it arrives too late
to respond?

One solution is a spy camera
operated by astronauts.

- The crew on the MOL could
actually direct the camera

at exactly what they wanted
to take a picture of.

♪ ♪

- They can report what
they are looking at,

and then the crew back on Earth

knows exactly what photos
they'll be getting.

- From its orbit between
150 to 170 miles,

it can resolve places and
objects 9,000 feet across.

That's easily big enough
to get detail

from military installations

and other
really important sites

that the United States
is trying to spy on.

- The camera works,
but at a huge price.

The MOL costs
a whopping $13 billion.

- It was too expensive,
and the evolution of technology

was making modern day
satellites better equipped

to carry out the same operation

that the MOL was
supposed to carry out.

- The MOL is mothballed
after just one flight.

But there is one more twist
in this tale.

The cover story that the MOL
will make discoveries

for the benefit of the planet
ultimately comes true.

Technology from the MOL
would be used in "Skylab,"

America's first space station.

Launched in May 1973,

it proves humans can live
in space for weeks at a time.

♪ ♪

- The space race was
never just about

getting a man on the moon.

It was about fighting wars
on Earth.

In 1966, the Soviets test
a weapon of mass destruction

that can dodge
America's early warning system

by using the physics of space.

[suspenseful music]

♪ ♪

By 1961,
the U.S. is protecting itself

by building a network
of giant radars

that can detect incoming

weapons launched from Russia.

- If the Soviets are going
to attack the United States

via missile launches,
they're going to fly

those missiles
on the most direct route,

and that's over the North Pole.

♪ ♪

- The radar system gives
the U.S. a big advantage.

It has time to respond.

- It would give
them 20 minutes.

20 minutes doesn't
sound like much,

but that would
be enough for us

to get a retaliatory strike
underway.

♪ ♪

- For the Soviets, this warning
system poses a big problem.

They no longer have
the capability

to unleash a secret,
decisive attack.

♪ ♪

- Now the Soviets need
to find a new way to attack.

- If they could launch an
attack from someplace else,

the Americans would not
be able to detect them

and we won't be
prepared for it,

and so they come up
with this brilliant idea.

- The Soviets have already

launched satellites
into space.

Why not do the same
with a nuclear bomb?

- And it's called the

Fractional Orbital
Bombardment System.

♪ ♪

- The idea is simple
and terrifying.

The missile enters orbit,
circles the planet,

and can be directed to strike
in any direction at any time.

- The way the system works
is it's launched into orbit,

and then it just waits.

♪ ♪

Once the signal is given
to attack...

♪ ♪

It leaves orbit,
enters Earth's atmosphere,

and then it releases
its warheads.

♪ ♪

And what's so deadly is that

they're very close
to the target.

- It could drop a nuclear
weapon on us at any point.

And in this way,
the Soviet Union would

win the chess game
and get checkmate.

- That is terrifying.

♪ ♪

- At first, the Soviets need
to test to see if it works.

- In the bleak midwinter
in the Kazakhstan desert,

the Soviets launched
their brand-new missile.

- It's programmed to land
4,000 miles away in Kamchatka.

To avoid destroying
Northeast Russia,

the tests are conducted
without a warhead.

- The FOBS tests begin
to go wrong immediately.

The missiles go off target,
they break apart in the air,

they rain down on parts
of the Earth.

- The embarrassing
setbacks threatened

to derail the project.

- The mechanics of
rerouting the missile

into its attack position
are difficult to perfect.

- But the Soviets keep pushing

and the missile improves
with each launch.

In the summer of 1967,

American spies deliver
a highly classified report

with news the Pentagon has
been dreading.

♪ ♪

The secret orbital missile
actually works.

♪ ♪

- The successful tests travel
across the South Pole,

but most importantly,

they dodge those
Arctic radar systems.

♪ ♪

- The test is non-nuclear,
but it provides a powerful

proof of concept
that they can do it.

And if they decide to do it,

what they're going
to swing toward the Earth

is a 5-megaton
strategic nuclear weapon.

♪ ♪

5 megatons is not going
to look pretty

if it's directed
at Southern California.

♪ ♪

- In November 1967, the Soviets
unveil their new missile

at a Red Square parade,

announcing they can deliver a
nuke to anywhere in the world.

Their secret weapon
is no longer a secret.

- The Soviets have created
something so frightening

that the UN steps in.

♪ ♪

In 1967, both superpowers
signed the Outer Space Treaty,

which prohibits the placement
of nuclear weapons in orbit.

But that doesn't
stop the Soviets

finding new opportunities,

like arming a space station
with a secret cannon.

♪ ♪

- The Soviet military
is in the middle of developing

a space station, the Almaz,

and they want it in orbit
as soon as possible.

But NASA is ahead of the game
with the imminent launch

of their "Skylab"
space station.

- You've got Russian
space stations,

American space stations.

What happens
if they eventually meet?

And then if they meet,

what happens if that contact
is not friendly?

- The Soviets don't
take any chances.

They set up a highly
classified military project

to prepare for enemy attacks
in space

by arming the "Almaz 2"
space station

with a fully-functioning
space cannon.

♪ ♪

- They approach
a Soviet weapons designer

to create a gun
that can fire in space.

- Normal artillery
is really heavy.

And weight is at a premium
in space flight,

so they needed something
a lot lighter.

♪ ♪

- The Soviet space engineers

decide to adapt an autocannon,
the Rikhter R-23.

It's the fastest firing
single-barrel cannon

ever used by
the Soviet Air Force,

dispatching
2,500 rounds per minute.

- The R-23 was designed

for the first
Soviet supersonic bomber,

so it's already compact
and lightweight.

It's also brutally effective.

[thumping gunfire]

- You've got 23-millimeter
rounds that are

punching these holes
from a mile away.

[thumping gunfire]

So if it can do that on Earth,

it's going to do enough
to cause serious damage

to any American space station
that tries to approach.

- But fitting a gun
to a spaceship

is a little different
from fitting one to a plane.

- On a plane,
you have a rotating turret,

and the gun can be turned
to follow the target

and to shoot it down
from any angle.

But the engineers can't
figure a way to achieve this

in a space vehicle.

- The cannon has to be fixed

in place, so for the operator

to line up the target,

they'd have to pivot

the entire space station,

which is a big problem if the
target is moving at speed.

- And there's
another challenge.

When the cannon fires...

it's going to recoil.

♪ ♪

- And that's a huge problem
in space.

When it's fired
in zero gravity,

the recoil could inadvertently

force the orbiting
space station well off course.

♪ ♪

- There's only one way
to be sure.

In 1974, the Soviets conduct
a secret live test.

♪ ♪

- The Soviets launch an Almaz
that has a gun on it.

♪ ♪

The crew spends
about three weeks in orbit

running various tests,
and then they go home

because the Soviets don't want
to have a crew on board

in case the test of this gun
goes badly wrong.

- The crew's off the vessel,

but the space station
is still in orbit.

It's time to test the cannon.

- Officials on the ground fire
the gun by remote control.

♪ ♪

They shoot it once.

They shoot it twice.

They shoot it three times.

[gunshot]

It's the first time a gun has
ever been fired in space.

- But firing a gun in space
has unexpected downsides.

- If you miss your target,

that bullet would have so much
energy and momentum behind it

that it would
potentially keep going.

There could still be Russian
bullets orbiting the Earth.

[radio chatter in Russian]

- The test is never repeated

and the gun is decommissioned

and stored secretly
for 40 years.

- It's a weapon
that many people

didn't even believe existed.

- Then in 2015,
a Russian TV show

visits a private military
collection

and the Almaz space cannon is
finally revealed to the world.

- In 1983, a final showdown
of the space race begins

when Ronald Reagan
announces a plan

to put laser guns in space.

It's called the
Strategic Defense Initiative.

Most people know
it as Star Wars,

and Russia strikes back
with a plan of its own.

[suspenseful music]

- My fellow Americans,

thank you for sharing your time
with me tonight.

Tonight, we're launching an
effort which holds the promise

of changing the course
of human history.

- Ronald Reagan makes
this announcement

that shocks the world.

He's launching
a Strategic Defense Initiative.

- The plan is to launch
a network of satellites

armed with defensive lasers,

lasers that can shoot down
Russian missiles.

♪ ♪

- If a laser could
shoot down a missile

before it ever
reached the homeland,

it would make
all nuclear weapons...

both: Impotent and obsolete.

- The program requires
radical new technology

that doesn't even exist yet.

♪ ♪

- Critics around the world
started to see this

as a science fiction tale.

So Reagan's program
started to be called

the Star Wars program.

♪ ♪

- The Western media poked fun.

But the reaction in Moscow
is deadly serious.

♪ ♪

- When the Soviets found out
about Reagan's plan

to put a laser in space,
they see it totally different.

What they see is a chance
for the Americans to launch

nuclear weapons against Russia,

but then the laser
would incapacitate

only Russian nuclear warheads
in response.

They see it as a one-sided
threat that doesn't

nullify the nuclear arms race,
but instead intensifies it.

So they go about
creating their own platform.

- If America is
planning Star Wars,

then the Soviets
must find an answer.

They set up a secret project

to build
a space battle station

armed with lasers.

- Within a year of
Reagan's "Star Wars" speech,

Soviet scientists
are commissioned

to provide a laser capable of
destroying American satellites.

- This 1 million-watt laser
is the first weapon

on their planned
orbital weapons platform,

essentially a space station

that is armed
with cutting-edge weaponry.

It's a radical new technology.

No one has put a laser
in space before.

- The mysterious weapon is
called "Polyus Skif,"

which roughly translates
to North Pole barbarian.

Whatever the name,
it's a killer.

- The "Polyus Skif"
is massive.

It's two tractor trailers long
and weighs 80 tons.

It requires a huge rocket
to launch it.

- The Soviet space laser
is way ahead

of Reagan's Star Wars,

and it's a potential
game-changer.

Some call it a battlestar
that will weaponize space.

- They've essentially created
a Death Star.

A real Death Star.

- In 1987, it's ready

to be launched into orbit
and tested.

But there's been a change
at the Kremlin.

The Soviet Union has
a new leader

who's looking
to slow down the space race.

- Mikhail Gorbachev has
publicly proposed an end

to the development
of space weapons.

- Because he's promising
to reduce the Cold War,

the development of
a space-based laser

is going to blow a hole
in peace talks.

- But Gorbachev doesn't want
to pull the plug

on "Polyus" quite yet.

- The Soviet Union has already
sunk a lot of money into this,

so the launch is
going to go ahead.

But he orders them to not
test the laser in space.

It's not a good look.

♪ ♪

- On launch day,
Gorbachev's so concerned

about Western reaction to the
laser that he bans any photos.

- All the journalists
and photographers

could only stand on the
opposite side of the rocket.

That was Gorbachev's solution
to making sure that history

only told the tale
of what they could see,

which was a clean rocket
going into space,

when in fact, there was
a covert death ray

on the other side of the rocket
that was trying to be hidden.

♪ ♪

- The launch goes ahead...

as discreetly as possible.

♪ ♪

- The day that the "Polyus" is
set to launch, it's a big day.

The officials are out there.

The launch proceeds.

And it's looking good
initially.

But then...

[tense electronic music]

Something goes terribly wrong,
spins out of control,

plunges back to Earth,
burning up in the atmosphere.

Everything is lost.

It's a complete disaster.

- In the end,
both programs failed.

Reagan ran out of funding
for his Star Wars program,

and the idea of
space-based lasers

still remains a thing
of science fiction.

But the question is
for how long?

- In 1991, the collapse
of the Soviet Union

puts an end to the Cold War
phase of the space race.

But the contest to control
deep space is far from over.

New players from
SpaceX in America

to China, India, and Japan
are looking to the moon.

And beyond.

♪ ♪

From covert plans
to nuke the moon

to tragic attempts to
cover up shocking disasters,

competition in deep space will
continue to inspire strange,

terrible and sometimes
inspiring missions.

I'm David Duchovny.

Thanks for watching
"Secrets Declassified."