1
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Throughout history,
to explore space was an impossible fantasy.

2
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Then, two rival scientists
became locked in a race

3
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to achieve that dream.

4
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Their struggle would make history

5
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Sergei Korolev.

6
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We can launch a man-made moon,

7
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a satellite into orbit around the Earth.

8
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Released from the gulag

9
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to take the Soviet Union into space.

10
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His rival, Wernher von Braun,

11
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space pioneer, visionary,

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haunted by his Nazi past.

13
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We could have made
space history today, for America.

14
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We could have launched
the world's first satellite.

15
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This is the future.

16
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I am quite sure of it.

17
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It requires an open mind Valentin,

18
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perhaps you've not got one

19
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It's just been announced over the radio

20
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that the Russians have put
a satellite into space.

21
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The launch of the Sputnik has revealed

22
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that the Soviets may already
be five years ahead of us.

23
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I guess the American people

24
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are alarmed that a foreign enemy country

25
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can do this.

26
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Von Braun tried to catch up.

27
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Do we have a satellite or don't we?

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Gentlemen, we made it to space.

29
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Yeah! Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!

30
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Today we have answered
the Soviet challenge,

31
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and in doing so,
we opened the gates to the heavens.

32
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It would appear
that we are in a race to space.

33
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A race that we intend to win.

34
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Now Korolev plans
his next spectacular move.

35
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The first man into space.

36
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The year is now 1959.

37
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The candidate should be around thirty.

38
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Height, below one seventy centimetres.

39
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Weight less than seventy kilos.

40
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And most importantly of all,
he must be a man with a broad smile.

41
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The hunt for a spaceman is on.

42
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Across the Soviet Union,

43
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military experts search for cosmonauts
to match Korolev's specification.

44
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The mission is so secret...

45
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...that even those chosen

46
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have no idea what it's for,
or who's behind it.

47
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Selected candidates are put
under extreme conditions

48
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to test their physical strength.

49
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Subjected to high
temperatures and pressures,

50
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some are taken almost
to the point of death.

51
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Gherman Stepanovich Titov

52
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Valentine Stepanovich von...

53
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A final six are chosen.

54
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Each hopes to be the first man

55
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into space.

56
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Angrian Grigorovich Nikolai

57
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Yuri Alexeyevich Gagarin.

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Comrades. We have our cosmonauts.

59
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Korolev is well ahead of the Americans.

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His R7 rocket,

61
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armed with a nuclear warhead,

62
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powerful enough to cross continents
and wipe out entire American cities.

63
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And it could just an easily
launch his cosmonauts into space.

64
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The space race is fast becoming
a new battleground of the Cold War,

65
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an open contest between
capitalism and communism.

66
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The New York Times calls it
a Race for Survival.

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Ladies and Gentlemen...

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To confront the Soviet threat,

69
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the newly created National
Aeronautical Space Administration, NASA,

70
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has hastily put together a project
to get an American into space.

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...today we are introducing to you,
and to the world,

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seven men who have been selected

73
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to begin training for space flight.

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All family men,

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they are here after a long and...

76
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Seven test pilots are thrown
to the world's media.

77
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Please welcome our nation's
Project Mercury astronauts.

78
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Perhaps we could start proceedings
with a few questions.

79
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Yes sir?

80
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Can I ask the astronauts,
do their wives and kids

81
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have anything to say about this?

82
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Commander Shepard?

83
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Uh, I don't have any problems at home.

84
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My family is in complete agreement.

85
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From a nation of a hundred
and seventy-five million,

86
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they stepped forward last week.

87
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Seven men,
cut of the same stone

88
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as Columbus and Magellan.

89
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But there was a difference.

90
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Rarely were history's
explorers and discoverers

91
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so clearly marked in advance
as men of destiny.

92
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Uh, the Russians are trying to get there,

93
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but I think we're gonna get there first.

94
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One will be chosen to test
for the first time

95
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whether a human can be shot a hundred
and twenty-five miles into space.

96
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And one final question. Uh, yes sir?

97
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Could I ask for a show of hands,

98
00:05:54,854 --> 00:05:58,346
how many of you are confident that
you'll come back alive from outer space?

99
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The Mercury Seven

100
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are to see the launch of the rocket

101
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NASA's hopes

102
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will take them into space.

103
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The Atlas, is still undergoing tests

104
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to become America's first

105
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Intercontinental Ballistic Missile.

106
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Well, glad they got that one
out of the way.

107
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With the failure of the Atlas,

108
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NASA turned to

109
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their only option left,

110
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an old U.S. Army missile,

111
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called Redstone.

112
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Mach point seven five rising.

113
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In a high-speed wind tunnel,

114
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America's leading rocket engineer,

115
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Wernher von Braun
is testing his Redstone,

116
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to find out what modifications it
needs to carry an astronaut.

117
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With American hopes
relying on his rocket,

118
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ajournalist has come to see
if he has the solution.

119
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This rocket is more or less
a V-2, am I right?

120
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The same as you built for the Germans.

121
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Based on the design.

122
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That was some time ago.

123
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Mach eighty-seven.

124
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Capsule vibration, ninety decibels,
increasing.

125
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It's starting.

126
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As a rocket speeds
towards the sound barrier,

127
00:08:01,747 --> 00:08:03,476
shockwaves build up...

128
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Mach point nine three.

129
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Capsule vibration one hundred
fifty decibels, rising.

130
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...causing it to vibrate violently.

131
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Kill it.

132
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Well, that concludes the entertainment.

133
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Is this kind of problem serious?

134
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It will be fixed.

135
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It's one of the many modifications to be made
to make the rocket safe for manned flight.

136
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Please.

137
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The vibration's so severe,

138
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it would have have killed an astronaut.

139
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And von Braun has other problems.

140
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The Red Stone will require more
than eight hundred modifications

141
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to make it safe.

142
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Even then, it has only a tenth

143
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of the power of Korolev's rocket.

144
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Barely enough to put a man into space.

145
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But before von Braun improves anything,

146
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his rival delivers another crushing blow.

147
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Both sides have been trying to send
unmanned probes to the moon.

148
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Korolev succeeds

149
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when Luna Two impacts on its surface,

150
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a milestone in space exploration.

151
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And deliberately timed to coincide
with Khrushchev's tour of the U.S.

152
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The Soviet leader boasts,
we have beaten you to the moon,

153
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but you have beaten us in sausage making.

154
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Just three weeks later,

155
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Korolev's next probe photographs
the far side of the moon,

156
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never before seen by man.

157
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Despite all these triumphs,

158
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von Braun has no idea
who the Soviet's chief designer is.

159
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Korolev's identity is
a closely guarded state secret.

160
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Even after five months' training,

161
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Korolev's cosmonauts have yet
to meet the man himself.

162
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I consider this day
to be a remarkable one.

163
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Let's get acquainted.

164
00:10:27,293 --> 00:10:29,420
This is my deputy Vasily Mishin.

165
00:10:33,933 --> 00:10:35,093
Your name?

166
00:10:36,068 --> 00:10:38,298
Air Force Pilot Gherman Titov.

167
00:10:38,871 --> 00:10:39,929
And where are you from?

168
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Outer region, Comrade Korolev.

169
00:10:50,650 --> 00:10:51,776
And you?

170
00:10:52,485 --> 00:10:53,918
Yuri Alexeevich Gagarin.

171
00:10:54,086 --> 00:10:56,418
Smolensk region. Gzhatsk

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School.

173
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Vocational school. Smelter's profession.

174
00:11:03,295 --> 00:11:05,957
We have a lot in common,
Yuri Alexeevich.

175
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I too graduated from a vocational school.

176
00:11:09,235 --> 00:11:10,759
Subject builder.

177
00:11:10,936 --> 00:11:12,995
Specializing in roof tiles.

178
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Korolev takes the cosmonauts
to see the Vostok,

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the capsule that will
take them into space.

180
00:11:33,659 --> 00:11:37,026
So, where are the controls?

181
00:11:38,364 --> 00:11:40,161
How do I fly this?

182
00:11:40,332 --> 00:11:41,959
The Vostok is completely automatic.

183
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And controlled from the ground.

184
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Without wings.

185
00:11:45,705 --> 00:11:47,172
How does it land?

186
00:11:47,406 --> 00:11:48,703
When you re-enter the Earth's atmosphere,

187
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friction will slow you down.

188
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As it does so, the front of the capsule

189
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will reach a temperature
six to ten thousand degrees.

190
00:11:57,183 --> 00:11:59,242
Nearly as hot as the surface of the sun.

191
00:11:59,418 --> 00:12:02,114
What brings the Vostok down from orbit?

192
00:12:02,288 --> 00:12:05,382
Good question. Alexi! Alexi!

193
00:12:05,558 --> 00:12:06,286
This is one for you.

194
00:12:06,459 --> 00:12:07,756
Come and do your demonstration.

195
00:12:07,927 --> 00:12:10,521
Comrades,
this is Alexi Mikhailovich Isayev.

196
00:12:10,763 --> 00:12:13,493
He designs the retro rockets,
which bring you back.

197
00:12:15,234 --> 00:12:18,135
This is the Earth, this, the capsule.

198
00:12:18,304 --> 00:12:21,637
First, we must slow the speed
of the capsule,

199
00:12:21,807 --> 00:12:26,210
which will be travelling at around
twenty-seven thousand kilometres per hour,

200
00:12:26,378 --> 00:12:29,313
with small, breaking rockets.

201
00:12:29,548 --> 00:12:33,143
The rockets must fire with great accuracy.

202
00:12:33,486 --> 00:12:39,482
Too long, and the capsule will fall down
too rapidly towards the Earth

203
00:12:39,658 --> 00:12:41,489
and burn up.

204
00:12:41,927 --> 00:12:48,628
Too short, and it will hit the
outer atmosphere and bounce off

205
00:12:50,336 --> 00:12:56,332
into, into a higher orbit.

206
00:12:58,344 --> 00:13:01,609
- How would you return?
- You would not.

207
00:13:02,348 --> 00:13:04,509
You would fly around the Earth forever.

208
00:13:04,683 --> 00:13:10,849
But that is not going to happen.
You will succeed.

209
00:13:16,162 --> 00:13:17,390
Thank you.

210
00:13:19,765 --> 00:13:22,290
Intelligence reports soon
filter back to America

211
00:13:22,468 --> 00:13:25,869
that the Soviets are close
to sending a man into space.

212
00:13:28,941 --> 00:13:30,909
The pressure increases on NASA engineers

213
00:13:31,076 --> 00:13:34,011
to complete their Mercury space capsule,

214
00:13:34,313 --> 00:13:37,180
already a whole year behind schedule.

215
00:13:37,516 --> 00:13:41,316
NASA's Mercury Man Space Program
seems to be plummeting the United States

216
00:13:41,487 --> 00:13:45,048
towards a new and humiliating disaster
in the East West space race.

217
00:13:45,224 --> 00:13:46,987
In charge of the Mountain Crisis

218
00:13:47,159 --> 00:13:48,956
is NASA director Bob Gilruth,

219
00:13:49,128 --> 00:13:52,222
called in to see yet
another problem on a prototype.

220
00:13:52,898 --> 00:13:54,388
So, what did you have to show me?

221
00:13:54,633 --> 00:13:56,692
We're having to take
a half-inch off the capsule.

222
00:13:57,002 --> 00:13:59,436
Half inch off the capsule? Why?

223
00:13:59,738 --> 00:14:01,467
Because it doesn't fit the rocket.

224
00:14:03,843 --> 00:14:11,648
Oh my God. My God,
Wernher is gonna go mad.

225
00:14:22,127 --> 00:14:22,889
This would not have happened

226
00:14:23,062 --> 00:14:25,030
if the capsule had come here first.

227
00:14:25,931 --> 00:14:28,798
I must insist that future ones
come to Huntsville for integration

228
00:14:28,968 --> 00:14:31,903
tests with the Redstone
before they travel down to the Cape.

229
00:14:32,071 --> 00:14:32,833
Wernher, that's never gonna happen,
you know that.

230
00:14:33,005 --> 00:14:34,165
I insist.

231
00:14:34,373 --> 00:14:36,102
We still have to fit dampeners
to eliminate vibration.

232
00:14:36,275 --> 00:14:37,503
Wernher, please.

233
00:14:37,710 --> 00:14:41,737
Now who, who is going to take responsibility
when the two don't work together?

234
00:14:42,414 --> 00:14:46,009
- Wernher, listen.
- I'm listening.

235
00:14:47,653 --> 00:14:49,211
The FBI say that the Soviets

236
00:14:49,388 --> 00:14:51,879
may be ready to go as soon as November.

237
00:14:52,124 --> 00:14:52,920
We can't waste time

238
00:14:53,092 --> 00:14:54,320
trucking this capsule from state to state

239
00:14:54,493 --> 00:14:56,085
while the Reds are orbiting the Earth!

240
00:14:56,262 --> 00:14:58,753
And you'd prefer we kill an astronaut?

241
00:15:01,333 --> 00:15:03,528
Well, as with everything else at NASA,

242
00:15:03,702 --> 00:15:05,897
I can see a committee has decided.

243
00:15:07,539 --> 00:15:10,838
But how you think
that a capsule made at McDonnell

244
00:15:11,010 --> 00:15:13,877
with a rocket built by Boeing
designed by us here in Huntsville,

245
00:15:14,046 --> 00:15:15,946
overseen by Burokraten in Washington

246
00:15:16,115 --> 00:15:18,606
is going to fit together like this.

247
00:15:21,954 --> 00:15:24,013
Ah, we shall see.

248
00:15:37,002 --> 00:15:39,971
While Von Braun only has
to deal with NASA.

249
00:15:40,339 --> 00:15:41,601
Korolev has to compete with

250
00:15:41,774 --> 00:15:44,174
rival rocket groups for his funding.

251
00:15:47,046 --> 00:15:50,209
Designer Valentin Glushko,
has a new rocket engine

252
00:15:50,382 --> 00:15:55,649
that could be exactly what Marshall Nedelin,
the chief of strategic missiles, is looking for.

253
00:16:01,060 --> 00:16:03,893
It poses a serious threat to Korolev.

254
00:16:04,129 --> 00:16:07,064
If the military decide
to switch to Glushko's design

255
00:16:07,232 --> 00:16:09,564
He could lose vital funds.

256
00:16:12,471 --> 00:16:15,998
Uh, Comrade Marshal, comrades,
the test is about to begin.

257
00:16:16,175 --> 00:16:18,609
So please make your way
to the control room.

258
00:16:19,545 --> 00:16:22,537
The two men already have
a troubled relationship.

259
00:16:22,748 --> 00:16:26,081
Glushko denounced Korolev
to the Secret Police,

260
00:16:26,485 --> 00:16:29,079
He spent six years in the gulag.

261
00:16:33,592 --> 00:16:38,928
The military advantage of a rocket with
Glushko's engine is that it can be fired quickly.

262
00:16:41,567 --> 00:16:44,536
But it uses a new, volatile fuel.

263
00:16:44,903 --> 00:16:47,667
The fumes alone
will dissolve a man's lungs.

264
00:16:50,642 --> 00:16:52,132
You're not convinced, Sergei Pavlovich?

265
00:16:52,311 --> 00:16:54,040
Of this fuel? No.

266
00:16:54,513 --> 00:16:57,448
It is the devil's venom,
far too toxic and corrosive.

267
00:16:58,250 --> 00:16:59,717
For a spaceman maybe.

268
00:17:00,185 --> 00:17:01,846
But not a nuclear warhead.

269
00:17:03,155 --> 00:17:04,122
You know, Sergei Pavlovich,

270
00:17:04,289 --> 00:17:07,383
imagine if our bullets
worked like your rockets, huh?

271
00:17:08,127 --> 00:17:10,960
Well, we need a rocket
that fires when we pull the trigger.

272
00:17:11,196 --> 00:17:12,993
Uh, comrades, please stand by.

273
00:17:15,300 --> 00:17:17,029
Turbo pumps on.

274
00:17:18,437 --> 00:17:19,426
Valves open.

275
00:17:23,842 --> 00:17:24,934
Ignition.

276
00:17:39,658 --> 00:17:41,285
The test is a success.

277
00:17:44,563 --> 00:17:46,292
If Glushko succeeds,

278
00:17:46,465 --> 00:17:47,557
Korolev's R7

279
00:17:47,733 --> 00:17:50,031
will become obscure
needed for the military.

280
00:17:54,506 --> 00:17:58,465
Korolev could losehis chance
of launching a man into space.

281
00:18:00,079 --> 00:18:02,206
In order to impress the Politburo,

282
00:18:02,381 --> 00:18:04,576
He plans a historic mission,

283
00:18:04,750 --> 00:18:08,618
the first to bring living creatures
back from space.

284
00:18:13,292 --> 00:18:15,453
Lisichka and Chaika will test the same

285
00:18:15,627 --> 00:18:18,960
Vostok capsule that
will be used for a cosmonaut.

286
00:18:21,733 --> 00:18:22,995
Achieving a return trip

287
00:18:23,168 --> 00:18:26,831
is a vital step towards a manned flight

288
00:18:47,693 --> 00:18:50,025
Oxygen pressurization complete?

289
00:18:52,164 --> 00:18:53,529
Oxygen pressurization complete?

290
00:18:53,699 --> 00:18:54,597
Almost.

291
00:18:54,766 --> 00:18:56,529
Well, either it is or it isn't?
Which is it?

292
00:18:57,503 --> 00:18:58,697
Complete, chief.

293
00:18:59,872 --> 00:19:01,430
Why can't I see the TV pictures, yet?

294
00:19:01,607 --> 00:19:03,370
They're coming Sergei Pavlovich

295
00:19:03,609 --> 00:19:05,270
Let's hope they return, Sergei.

296
00:19:05,444 --> 00:19:08,641
I can't stand any more complaints
from these English animal lovers.

297
00:19:09,148 --> 00:19:10,513
All right, let's go.

298
00:19:53,992 --> 00:19:56,324
The progress reports
are given in numbers.

299
00:19:56,495 --> 00:19:59,521
Below five and the rocket is in trouble.

300
00:20:32,431 --> 00:20:34,160
Twenty-eight seconds into flight,

301
00:20:34,333 --> 00:20:36,358
the booster rocket explodes.

302
00:20:38,570 --> 00:20:41,334
Lisichka and Chaika are incinerated.

303
00:20:45,877 --> 00:20:50,576
After this, it will be a terrible sin
to risk the life of a young pilot.

304
00:20:51,216 --> 00:20:54,879
Perhaps, one of us,
a scientist or a designer should go first.

305
00:20:55,053 --> 00:20:56,315
Utter nonsense.

306
00:20:56,655 --> 00:20:58,088
Sentimental rubbish.

307
00:20:59,057 --> 00:21:00,422
We go ahead.

308
00:21:00,826 --> 00:21:02,817
I want another dog launch within a month.

309
00:21:03,195 --> 00:21:03,991
A month?

310
00:21:04,162 --> 00:21:05,925
And then we launch a cosmonaut.

311
00:21:09,901 --> 00:21:13,064
Less then A month later,
and the R7 flies again,

312
00:21:13,605 --> 00:21:15,470
with another pair of dogs.

313
00:21:31,123 --> 00:21:33,751
This time the rocket performs well.

314
00:21:34,426 --> 00:21:37,793
And Belka and Strelka are soon in orbit.

315
00:21:42,301 --> 00:21:45,498
They are just passing
the American Explorer Satellite.

316
00:21:45,671 --> 00:21:47,195
Good Soviet dogs.

317
00:21:47,572 --> 00:21:48,869
Maybe they could piss on it.

318
00:22:06,191 --> 00:22:07,920
The Soviet Union is quick to announce

319
00:22:08,093 --> 00:22:10,653
the success of Belka and Strelka.

320
00:22:11,129 --> 00:22:14,428
Korolev delivers his propaganda victory.

321
00:22:15,534 --> 00:22:17,968
And more than that,
he has demonstrated to the world,

322
00:22:18,136 --> 00:22:23,972
his spacecraft is capable of bringing
a cosmonaut back to Earth alive.

323
00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:29,104
In a goodwill gesture,

324
00:22:29,281 --> 00:22:34,378
Premier Khrushchev has sent one of dog astronaut
Strelka's puppies as a gift to the White House.

325
00:22:34,953 --> 00:22:38,218
An appreciative message
was sent back to the Soviet Premier.

326
00:22:38,390 --> 00:22:40,221
Accepting defeat, John F. Kennedy

327
00:22:40,392 --> 00:22:45,193
admitted the first canine passengers in space
were named Strelka and Belka,

328
00:22:45,530 --> 00:22:47,498
not Rover or Fido.

329
00:22:47,833 --> 00:22:48,857
They've got us now.

330
00:22:49,034 --> 00:22:50,968
What the soviets plan to do next
is anyone's guess

331
00:22:51,069 --> 00:22:52,331
We'll see.

332
00:23:03,548 --> 00:23:04,845
The Americans have yet to prove

333
00:23:05,016 --> 00:23:07,883
they can even get an astronaut
off the launch pad.

334
00:23:09,254 --> 00:23:11,688
The first of von Braun's modified Redstones

335
00:23:11,857 --> 00:23:14,451
in an unmanned Mercury Capsule

336
00:23:14,626 --> 00:23:19,563
stands ready to see if it's up to the task,
watched by the world's media.

337
00:23:28,507 --> 00:23:33,467
Von Braun can only hope he has
eliminated all the Redstone's problems.

338
00:23:34,112 --> 00:23:37,639
Deputy and head of launch operations
at the Cape, Kurt Debus,

339
00:23:37,849 --> 00:23:39,680
had wished for more tests.

340
00:23:39,851 --> 00:23:42,752
But defence status indicators
have been offline.

341
00:23:43,822 --> 00:23:45,153
Are they working now?

342
00:23:45,791 --> 00:23:48,259
They are functioning at present, but...

343
00:23:48,894 --> 00:23:51,089
- Von Braun, do you read?
- Roger, copy.

344
00:23:51,696 --> 00:23:53,721
How you all doing?
Do I have a scheduled flight?

345
00:23:54,199 --> 00:23:56,190
Yep. Countdown running A-okay.

346
00:23:56,668 --> 00:23:58,101
Okay, copy that. Stay on the loop.

347
00:24:02,541 --> 00:24:04,941
At the new multi-million dollar
Mission Control,

348
00:24:05,110 --> 00:24:07,044
Chris Kraft, flight director,

349
00:24:07,212 --> 00:24:08,839
oversees the countdown.

350
00:24:10,348 --> 00:24:12,407
Gentleman, the clock reads
T minus ten minutes.

351
00:24:12,584 --> 00:24:14,711
I'd like to see you all
at your consoles please.

352
00:24:16,188 --> 00:24:18,315
If today's test is a success,

353
00:24:18,490 --> 00:24:21,459
a date can be set for a manned flight.

354
00:24:24,596 --> 00:24:27,656
T minus twenty seconds.

355
00:24:27,899 --> 00:24:29,423
- Capsule.
- Go flight.

356
00:24:29,601 --> 00:24:31,592
- Communications.
- Go flight.

357
00:24:31,870 --> 00:24:33,804
- Range officer.
- Go flight.

358
00:24:33,972 --> 00:24:35,496
- Launcher.
- Go flight.

359
00:24:36,608 --> 00:24:39,805
Okay. I have an all go. All go.

360
00:24:40,078 --> 00:24:42,569
T minus ten, and counting.

361
00:24:42,747 --> 00:24:46,114
Nine, eight, seven...

362
00:24:46,351 --> 00:24:49,411
Six, five, four...

363
00:24:49,654 --> 00:24:52,714
Three, two, one.

364
00:24:52,991 --> 00:24:55,221
Sequence at zero.

365
00:24:55,627 --> 00:24:56,992
Engines go.

366
00:24:57,229 --> 00:24:58,719
We have a lift-off.

367
00:24:58,930 --> 00:25:00,659
And the clock is started.

368
00:25:00,966 --> 00:25:03,161
Just look at the acceleration
on that son of a bitch.

369
00:25:14,546 --> 00:25:15,638
We have abort.

370
00:25:15,814 --> 00:25:17,873
- We have engine shutdown.
- What's happening?

371
00:25:18,783 --> 00:25:20,011
Rocket is still there.

372
00:25:20,652 --> 00:25:21,619
- Abort.
- What?

373
00:25:21,786 --> 00:25:23,151
Engine shutdown.

374
00:25:23,355 --> 00:25:24,617
We have engine shutdown.

375
00:25:24,789 --> 00:25:26,188
Will someone tell me what's going on?

376
00:25:27,526 --> 00:25:28,823
Nobody can see it here.

377
00:25:35,000 --> 00:25:35,989
Will someone talk to me
for Christ's sakes?

378
00:25:36,167 --> 00:25:37,361
What happened?

379
00:25:42,507 --> 00:25:44,031
Talk to me, damn it!

380
00:25:46,678 --> 00:25:49,340
Damn Germans still haven't learned
who they work for.

381
00:25:50,482 --> 00:25:52,109
Later, film reveals

382
00:25:52,284 --> 00:25:54,809
that only the escape tower was launched.

383
00:26:01,793 --> 00:26:04,193
In a humiliating public spectacle,

384
00:26:04,362 --> 00:26:08,958
the rocket itself had only lifted
four inches off the pad.

385
00:26:19,311 --> 00:26:21,711
The United States' hopes
of rocketing a man into space

386
00:26:21,880 --> 00:26:25,680
was dealt a crushing blow today
by yet another failure.

387
00:26:26,117 --> 00:26:28,176
One official said that
this might have cost the nation

388
00:26:28,353 --> 00:26:33,655
its last chance to beat the Soviet Union
in the race to send the first man aloft.

389
00:26:39,431 --> 00:26:41,991
With every Soviet launch kept top secret,

390
00:26:42,167 --> 00:26:43,657
how much progress they are making

391
00:26:43,835 --> 00:26:46,463
is always a guessing game
for the Americans.

392
00:26:46,938 --> 00:26:47,700
But why the delay?

393
00:26:47,872 --> 00:26:49,203
Can no one tell me?

394
00:26:50,308 --> 00:26:51,332
Glushko's new engine

395
00:26:51,509 --> 00:26:53,568
is ready to be tested in a missile.

396
00:26:54,045 --> 00:26:56,206
But there is a major fuel leak.

397
00:26:56,481 --> 00:27:01,214
Marshall Nedelin has kept the launch team working
for seventy-two hours without rest,

398
00:27:01,386 --> 00:27:04,048
handling the highly dangerous fuel.

399
00:27:07,025 --> 00:27:10,017
Under pressure from
Glushko to launch on time,

400
00:27:10,195 --> 00:27:13,528
he supervised a plot
to repair from the pad.

401
00:27:14,699 --> 00:27:18,760
Comrade Nedelin won't even let
the firing circuitry be disconnected.

402
00:27:21,039 --> 00:27:23,507
An electrical fault sends signals

403
00:27:23,675 --> 00:27:26,439
which triggers the rocket's second stage.

404
00:27:31,816 --> 00:27:34,751
In temperatures of
three thousand degrees,

405
00:27:35,020 --> 00:27:37,079
the surrounding tarmac melted,

406
00:27:37,255 --> 00:27:40,224
trapping people in a sticky floor of fire.

407
00:27:41,493 --> 00:27:47,193
The most horrific fate befell those
suspended from harnesses in the gantry,

408
00:27:47,365 --> 00:27:49,856
who burst into flames like candles.

409
00:27:56,441 --> 00:27:58,909
The inferno kills Nedelin ninety-one

410
00:27:59,077 --> 00:28:02,774
senior Soviet Union engineers
and military officers.

411
00:28:11,823 --> 00:28:16,954
The loss of the engineers deals
a devastating blow to the Soviet Space Program.

412
00:28:17,696 --> 00:28:20,995
The disaster is kept secret
for thirty years.

413
00:28:27,005 --> 00:28:29,838
Woo, guys!
Would have been cooked on that one.

414
00:28:30,208 --> 00:28:31,334
That wouldn't be good.

415
00:28:31,509 --> 00:28:33,238
Fried like an egg.

416
00:28:34,079 --> 00:28:36,343
They made me smashed as well

417
00:28:38,550 --> 00:28:41,849
Okay, gentlemen,
if I could have your attention, please.

418
00:28:42,954 --> 00:28:45,286
What I have to say to you is confidential.

419
00:28:50,061 --> 00:28:52,427
I would like you all to keep it that way.

420
00:28:54,866 --> 00:28:56,094
Alan Shepard will make...

421
00:28:56,267 --> 00:28:58,963
the first sub-orbital Redstone flight.

422
00:28:59,671 --> 00:29:00,831
When do we go?

423
00:29:01,439 --> 00:29:02,906
We've pencilled it for April twelfth,

424
00:29:03,074 --> 00:29:05,338
if everything goes well
with the next test.

425
00:29:05,677 --> 00:29:07,201
That's in twelve weeks' time.

426
00:29:10,115 --> 00:29:11,241
Thank you, gentleman.

427
00:29:12,584 --> 00:29:13,482
Congratulations.

428
00:29:13,651 --> 00:29:15,278
NASA now has just twelve weeks

429
00:29:15,453 --> 00:29:17,717
to answer one critical question.

430
00:29:18,757 --> 00:29:21,157
Can Alan Shepard,
or indeed any human being,

431
00:29:21,326 --> 00:29:22,384
survive the physical

432
00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:25,290
and mental stress of space flight?

433
00:29:25,463 --> 00:29:30,366
Five, four, three, two, one.

434
00:29:34,806 --> 00:29:37,297
To find out,
another Redstone is launches.

435
00:29:37,475 --> 00:29:40,740
This time it's not just
von Braun's reputation is at risk,

436
00:29:40,912 --> 00:29:43,437
but also the life of his passenger.

437
00:29:43,782 --> 00:29:49,220
Fuel is go. One point eight G.
Cabin pressure. Fourteen PSI.

438
00:29:49,387 --> 00:29:52,447
Heading for space
is chimp number sixty-five.

439
00:29:52,624 --> 00:29:53,852
If the flight is a success,

440
00:29:54,025 --> 00:29:55,754
Shepard is next.

441
00:29:58,696 --> 00:29:59,492
Oxygen is go.

442
00:29:59,664 --> 00:30:00,631
Looking good.

443
00:30:00,899 --> 00:30:04,357
If chimp sixty-five survives
the fifteen-minute flight,

444
00:30:04,602 --> 00:30:05,933
NASA will give him a name.

445
00:30:06,104 --> 00:30:08,800
If not, he'll remain just a number.

446
00:30:10,475 --> 00:30:13,638
4gees, cabin pressure holding at 5.5

447
00:30:14,579 --> 00:30:16,103
Speed accelerating to Mach

448
00:30:16,281 --> 00:30:17,543
1.2

449
00:30:18,383 --> 00:30:19,748
1.3

450
00:30:20,285 --> 00:30:21,547
1.4

451
00:30:22,086 --> 00:30:23,110
1.5

452
00:30:23,321 --> 00:30:25,255
The acceleration's much too quick.

453
00:30:25,890 --> 00:30:27,983
We've got bad, very bad vibrations.

454
00:30:28,159 --> 00:30:29,592
She is shaking hard.

455
00:30:33,665 --> 00:30:35,394
Nine G, Mach two point eight.

456
00:30:35,567 --> 00:30:36,829
- Still accelerating.
- What now?

457
00:30:37,302 --> 00:30:38,667
Von Braun, do we abort?

458
00:30:41,639 --> 00:30:42,936
Escape tower fired.

459
00:30:43,174 --> 00:30:44,198
Capsule detached.

460
00:30:44,742 --> 00:30:47,006
17G, it's still to G-loc.

461
00:30:48,146 --> 00:30:49,443
G-loc: The moment

462
00:30:49,614 --> 00:30:52,378
when chimp sixty-five
will lose consciousness.

463
00:30:52,984 --> 00:30:54,815
Death will follow swiftly.

464
00:31:04,929 --> 00:31:06,453
Hold on there, little fellow.

465
00:31:09,701 --> 00:31:11,464
After a near disaster flight,

466
00:31:11,636 --> 00:31:14,332
astro chimp Ham splashed down safely.

467
00:31:14,572 --> 00:31:17,063
He was rescued by Navy helicopters.

468
00:31:17,242 --> 00:31:19,870
The little chimp didn't seem
too worried about his ordeal,

469
00:31:20,044 --> 00:31:22,308
but tonight NASA chiefs
must be asking themselves

470
00:31:22,480 --> 00:31:23,572
is it safe enough...

471
00:31:23,748 --> 00:31:26,114
...yet to send a man into space?

472
00:31:26,951 --> 00:31:31,183
Today a contraceptive pill which women
take orally went on the market for the first time.

473
00:31:37,528 --> 00:31:43,364
Gentlemen, you don't need me to tell you
we're not exactly in NASA's good books today.

474
00:31:44,602 --> 00:31:46,092
What went wrong?

475
00:31:46,404 --> 00:31:50,534
Well, first study of the data suggests
the fuel pumps were overdriven,

476
00:31:50,775 --> 00:31:52,470
causing excessive acceleration.

477
00:31:53,144 --> 00:31:55,112
The rocket rose too steeply.

478
00:31:55,280 --> 00:31:57,271
The abort system triggered,

479
00:31:57,548 --> 00:31:59,880
pulling the capsule away from the rocket.

480
00:32:00,084 --> 00:32:02,814
The chimp was lucky to survive.

481
00:32:03,054 --> 00:32:06,182
So we need to look at the pump system
and find out why they ran so fast.

482
00:32:06,858 --> 00:32:09,918
Now, we have a difficult decision to make.

483
00:32:11,029 --> 00:32:12,826
Are we ready to send a man,

484
00:32:12,997 --> 00:32:15,124
or do we need another test flight?

485
00:32:16,134 --> 00:32:20,764
If we delay, well,
we risk losing out to the Communists.

486
00:32:21,406 --> 00:32:22,873
If we go,

487
00:32:23,074 --> 00:32:26,168
a fatality could cost us
our entire space project.

488
00:32:27,412 --> 00:32:31,178
Raise your hands if you are ready
to proceed with a manned flight.

489
00:32:36,287 --> 00:32:38,221
I need a unanimous decision.

490
00:32:41,326 --> 00:32:43,021
We need another flight.

491
00:32:45,129 --> 00:32:48,496
We must have one flight
with hundred percent success.

492
00:32:54,839 --> 00:32:56,830
I absolutely believe this.

493
00:32:59,310 --> 00:33:02,302
Al. They want another flight.

494
00:33:02,981 --> 00:33:03,572
What?

495
00:33:03,748 --> 00:33:05,272
Von Braun and his team
want another test flight

496
00:33:05,450 --> 00:33:06,815
before you go.

497
00:33:07,652 --> 00:33:09,279
It's been established what the problem was

498
00:33:09,454 --> 00:33:11,149
- and it can be fixed.
- Right.

499
00:33:11,990 --> 00:33:12,854
Well, so why don't we go ahead?

500
00:33:13,024 --> 00:33:14,150
Why don't we man the next one?

501
00:33:14,325 --> 00:33:16,623
When it comes to rockets,
Wernher is king.

502
00:33:18,463 --> 00:33:19,953
You've got to be joking.

503
00:33:20,531 --> 00:33:23,091
Now I've viewed all the data from that flight
and even with all the problems,

504
00:33:23,267 --> 00:33:25,132
I would have survived like Ham.

505
00:33:25,370 --> 00:33:26,860
For Christ's sake, let's just fly!

506
00:33:27,038 --> 00:33:29,529
Like I said, Wernher is king.

507
00:33:30,174 --> 00:33:31,903
Oh, shit.

508
00:33:32,076 --> 00:33:33,441
Another Redstone test

509
00:33:33,611 --> 00:33:36,273
will delay Shepard's flight for a month.

510
00:33:37,749 --> 00:33:41,853
Meanwhile, The Soviets are now
very close to sending a real man into space.

511
00:33:42,487 --> 00:33:44,853
The question is, who?

512
00:33:46,324 --> 00:33:47,985
For such a historic mission,

513
00:33:48,159 --> 00:33:50,855
Korolev needs the approval of the Politburo.

514
00:33:51,696 --> 00:33:56,133
While they decide, each cosmonaut
is filmed giving his farewell speech.

515
00:33:56,434 --> 00:33:59,028
People of all countries and continents.

516
00:33:59,203 --> 00:34:02,331
In a few minutes, this spaceship

517
00:34:02,673 --> 00:34:06,302
will carry me off on a historic mission.

518
00:34:06,511 --> 00:34:08,809
Gherman Titov. Intelligent.

519
00:34:08,980 --> 00:34:10,277
Physically resilient.

520
00:34:10,481 --> 00:34:14,850
But his background, well, too bourgeois.

521
00:34:15,887 --> 00:34:17,787
How about Yuri Gagarin?

522
00:34:17,955 --> 00:34:22,415
Confident, intelligent,
well-liked, ideologically sound.

523
00:34:22,593 --> 00:34:25,994
Dear friends, fellow citizens.

524
00:34:26,164 --> 00:34:28,291
His parents hard-working,

525
00:34:28,466 --> 00:34:31,765
father was a carpenter.
Son of the people.

526
00:34:31,936 --> 00:34:36,134
To be the first to enter the cosmos,

527
00:34:36,607 --> 00:34:39,303
could one dream of anything more?

528
00:34:40,611 --> 00:34:42,238
Until we meet again.

529
00:34:42,947 --> 00:34:44,141
Perfect.

530
00:34:45,583 --> 00:34:47,517
The Soviets have their cosmonaut,

531
00:34:47,718 --> 00:34:50,050
but there are doubts about the spacecraft.

532
00:34:54,425 --> 00:34:56,791
Two more dog flights have failed,

533
00:34:56,961 --> 00:35:00,158
another pair burned to death on re-entry.

534
00:35:02,733 --> 00:35:03,722
Korolev needs time,

535
00:35:03,901 --> 00:35:06,369
or this could be Gagarin's fate.

536
00:35:06,604 --> 00:35:09,232
And the Americans are catching up fast.

537
00:35:12,844 --> 00:35:14,937
A perfect launch and a perfect flight.

538
00:35:15,113 --> 00:35:17,138
Dr Wernher Von Braun was delighted.

539
00:35:17,315 --> 00:35:18,748
The flight was a great success.

540
00:35:18,916 --> 00:35:22,579
Now we can proceed to put
the first American into space.

541
00:35:23,754 --> 00:35:25,381
That could have been me.

542
00:35:25,690 --> 00:35:27,521
We had 'em by the shorthairs
and we gave it away.

543
00:35:27,625 --> 00:35:28,489
The Mercury capsule was recovered by

544
00:35:28,659 --> 00:35:30,490
Navy vessels and winched aboard.

545
00:35:30,661 --> 00:35:34,995
It can't be long now before the spacecraft
carries aloft Commander Alan Shepard

546
00:35:35,166 --> 00:35:38,294
In just four weeks
Shephard could have flown.

547
00:35:51,749 --> 00:35:55,708
The R7 is prepared for
Gagarin's historic attempt.

548
00:36:03,794 --> 00:36:05,625
After the recent failures

549
00:36:05,796 --> 00:36:08,856
Korolev knows Gagarin's chance of survival

550
00:36:09,033 --> 00:36:12,127
is little better than 50%.

551
00:36:20,878 --> 00:36:25,508
Senor Leftenant Gagarin,
ready for the first flight in Spaceship Vostok.

552
00:36:47,338 --> 00:36:48,737
Come back.

553
00:37:43,561 --> 00:37:46,394
I'm not seeing the KP
Three light showing the hatch is sealed.

554
00:37:56,107 --> 00:37:57,574
Cedar this is Zarya.

555
00:37:57,742 --> 00:37:58,766
Remember, Yuri.

556
00:37:58,943 --> 00:38:00,604
Everything you say is being recorded.

557
00:38:04,782 --> 00:38:06,010
It's time.

558
00:38:50,394 --> 00:38:52,055
The side boosters have separated.

559
00:38:52,830 --> 00:38:54,593
Pressure in the chambers is stable.

560
00:38:55,199 --> 00:38:56,860
The flight proceeds well.

561
00:38:57,568 --> 00:38:59,433
Three minutes after lift off,

562
00:39:00,338 --> 00:39:02,568
the central booster accelerates Gagarin

563
00:39:02,740 --> 00:39:06,107
to seventeen thousand
five hundred miles per hour.

564
00:39:17,321 --> 00:39:19,482
Five minutes after lift off,

565
00:39:20,057 --> 00:39:22,150
and Gagarin is the first human ever

566
00:39:22,326 --> 00:39:25,193
to look back on our planet from space.

567
00:39:35,072 --> 00:39:41,705
The earth is covered by clouds,
covered by rain clouds.

568
00:39:51,389 --> 00:39:56,349
Nine minutes into his flight,
all sensations of speed stop,

569
00:39:56,827 --> 00:39:59,261
and the effect of gravity is lost.

570
00:40:06,904 --> 00:40:09,338
Everything is going well.

571
00:40:09,807 --> 00:40:12,605
The feeling of weightlessness is great.

572
00:40:13,744 --> 00:40:21,310
It doesn't make you feel sick, I like it...

573
00:40:21,752 --> 00:40:22,878
Cedar, Cedar.

574
00:40:23,053 --> 00:40:24,543
We can hardly hear you.

575
00:40:25,189 --> 00:40:26,451
I feel safe.

576
00:40:26,624 --> 00:40:28,319
Yuri, I can hardly...

577
00:40:31,529 --> 00:40:36,330
Gagarin travels beyond the range
of the television receivers of the launch site.

578
00:40:42,973 --> 00:40:45,407
Less than thirty minutes after launch,

579
00:40:45,576 --> 00:40:47,601
Vostok sweeps out over the Pacific,

580
00:40:47,778 --> 00:40:50,713
and towards the vast shadow of night.

581
00:40:58,656 --> 00:41:02,148
Soon Gagarin is orbiting
above a sleeping America,

582
00:41:02,326 --> 00:41:04,055
its citizens unaware

583
00:41:04,228 --> 00:41:06,560
of the Communists' triumph.

584
00:41:12,102 --> 00:41:13,729
Afterjust an hour,

585
00:41:13,904 --> 00:41:16,464
Calculations for re-entry are made.

586
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:19,404
Too steep and Gagarin will burn up.

587
00:41:19,877 --> 00:41:22,903
Too shallow,
and he will move into a higher orbit,

588
00:41:23,080 --> 00:41:25,071
never to return.

589
00:41:26,550 --> 00:41:29,110
Prepare to fire retros.

590
00:41:34,158 --> 00:41:34,988
Fire!

591
00:41:42,466 --> 00:41:48,234
Now the service module, containing the used
retro rockets must be detached from his capsule.

592
00:41:49,139 --> 00:41:51,300
Has the service module detached?

593
00:41:54,545 --> 00:41:55,910
No separation.

594
00:41:59,283 --> 00:42:00,443
Check again.

595
00:42:03,687 --> 00:42:04,915
No separation.

596
00:42:17,835 --> 00:42:19,666
If the two parts remain joined,

597
00:42:19,837 --> 00:42:22,271
Gagarin will be spun to his death.

598
00:42:28,312 --> 00:42:30,473
Radio contact is lost.

599
00:42:30,681 --> 00:42:33,912
All Korolev can do now is wait.

600
00:43:05,983 --> 00:43:07,007
At the final moment,

601
00:43:07,184 --> 00:43:09,482
the heat of re-entry
had burnt through the cables,

602
00:43:09,653 --> 00:43:13,020
and the Vostok had broken
free of the service module.

603
00:43:14,158 --> 00:43:17,150
Moments later,
four miles above the Earth,

604
00:43:17,328 --> 00:43:20,820
a shaken Gagarin ejected from his capsule.

605
00:43:53,364 --> 00:43:56,356
In a flight lasting
one hundred and eight minutes,

606
00:43:56,533 --> 00:44:00,401
Gagarin had travelled
twenty-five thousand miles,

607
00:44:01,872 --> 00:44:04,807
the first human to orbit the Earth.

608
00:44:09,980 --> 00:44:15,816
Dear comrades, To our success.

609
00:44:21,425 --> 00:44:26,624
Wait! The chief designer could do that.

610
00:44:26,830 --> 00:44:28,422
But comrades, we can't.

611
00:44:30,267 --> 00:44:32,360
Who would answer to the supplies division?

612
00:44:44,982 --> 00:44:46,449
Gagarin flies to Moscow

613
00:44:46,617 --> 00:44:51,748
to be greeted by Premier Khrushchev
and ecstatic Soviet people.

614
00:44:53,090 --> 00:44:56,025
Korolev is forced to watch
from the sidelines,

615
00:44:56,193 --> 00:44:58,525
the KGB still insisting his identity

616
00:44:58,696 --> 00:45:00,561
is kept a secret.

617
00:45:02,166 --> 00:45:05,033
This is coming live from Moscow,

618
00:45:05,202 --> 00:45:09,901
and now we see major Yugi Gagarin,
the first man into space.

619
00:45:15,979 --> 00:45:18,777
- Dr. Von Braun?
- Yeah.

620
00:45:19,149 --> 00:45:20,446
Are you watching?

621
00:45:20,617 --> 00:45:22,175
It's live from Moscow.

622
00:45:22,352 --> 00:45:24,980
The Soviet cosmonaut
is meeting Premiere Khrushchev.

623
00:45:25,255 --> 00:45:28,122
Yes. Thank you, Debus.

624
00:45:28,425 --> 00:45:31,553
Gagarin received a warmth welcome
from the Premiere.

625
00:45:39,136 --> 00:45:40,933
Less than a month after Gagarin,

626
00:45:41,105 --> 00:45:44,597
NASA is almost ready
to send Alan Shepard.

627
00:45:52,616 --> 00:45:54,106
Okay.

628
00:45:57,721 --> 00:45:59,621
Well, gentlemen,
can I have everyone's attention?

629
00:46:00,357 --> 00:46:01,551
Due to adverse weather conditions,

630
00:46:01,725 --> 00:46:03,249
I'm going to delay the flight.

631
00:46:06,063 --> 00:46:07,360
Hold countdown.

632
00:46:10,968 --> 00:46:12,265
Did you Copy that, Alan?

633
00:46:12,436 --> 00:46:13,767
Sit tight, buddy.

634
00:46:14,171 --> 00:46:16,605
Copy. Sittin' tight with nowhere to go.

635
00:46:18,275 --> 00:46:20,266
Shepard's contact with the outside world

636
00:46:20,444 --> 00:46:23,277
is through fellow
astronaut Gordon Cooper.

637
00:46:28,452 --> 00:46:29,749
When the weather finally clears,

638
00:46:29,920 --> 00:46:33,788
Shepard has been sitting
in his capsule for five hours.

639
00:46:36,126 --> 00:46:38,856
Okay, guys, I've been up here too long now.

640
00:46:39,029 --> 00:46:40,621
I got to take a leak.

641
00:46:42,199 --> 00:46:43,962
I can't hold on anymore.

642
00:46:46,403 --> 00:46:47,233
How 'bout it, Wernher?

643
00:46:47,404 --> 00:46:48,098
No, no,

644
00:46:48,272 --> 00:46:50,536
there's no time to get him
in and out of the suit.

645
00:46:50,707 --> 00:46:51,469
No way, Alan.

646
00:46:51,642 --> 00:46:53,269
Wernher says you're in there to stay.

647
00:46:53,443 --> 00:46:56,071
Well, shit, Gordo,
we've got to do something.

648
00:46:56,246 --> 00:46:58,646
Tell Wernher I can't wait.

649
00:46:59,616 --> 00:47:02,050
Damn it, tell him
I'm gonna let it go in my suit!

650
00:47:05,322 --> 00:47:06,846
Rather than lose another flight,

651
00:47:07,024 --> 00:47:08,582
von Braun relents.

652
00:47:12,196 --> 00:47:13,925
Okay, power's off. Go to it.

653
00:47:16,233 --> 00:47:17,427
Thank God.

654
00:47:17,601 --> 00:47:19,034
I'm gonna go ahead.

655
00:47:26,376 --> 00:47:28,640
T minus ten, and counting.

656
00:47:28,812 --> 00:47:31,303
Nine, eight, seven.

657
00:47:31,615 --> 00:47:37,315
Six, five four, three, two, one.

658
00:47:37,487 --> 00:47:40,320
Ignition sequences go, Engines go.

659
00:47:40,490 --> 00:47:41,582
We have lift off.

660
00:47:41,758 --> 00:47:44,659
The clock has started.

661
00:47:47,698 --> 00:47:49,029
You're underway, Jose.

662
00:47:49,433 --> 00:47:51,731
Roger that. Read you loud and clear.

663
00:47:55,239 --> 00:47:56,866
Go baby, go!

664
00:48:00,010 --> 00:48:03,138
During his sixteen minutes aboard the flight,

665
00:48:03,347 --> 00:48:05,838
Shepard travels just three hundred miles

666
00:48:06,083 --> 00:48:09,541
And experiences weightlessness for six minutes

667
00:48:09,720 --> 00:48:12,245
Freedom seven is still go.

668
00:48:12,990 --> 00:48:15,117
Just Long enough for von Braun to claim

669
00:48:15,292 --> 00:48:18,728
America too has put a man in space.

670
00:48:20,631 --> 00:48:26,228
But a bolder initiative is needed to beat the Sovi

671
00:48:26,637 --> 00:48:30,129
The new president, John F. Kennedy, soon announces

672
00:48:31,041 --> 00:48:34,374
The eyes of the world now look into space.

673
00:48:34,544 --> 00:48:41,677
And we have vowed that we shall not see it governe

674
00:48:41,852 --> 00:48:43,945
but by a banner of freedom.

675
00:48:44,121 --> 00:48:46,112
We choose to go to the moon.

676
00:48:47,024 --> 00:48:49,458
We choose to go to the moon in this decade

677
00:48:49,626 --> 00:48:51,218
and do the other things.

678
00:48:51,395 --> 00:48:53,022
Not because they are easy,

679
00:48:53,196 --> 00:48:55,027
but because they are hard.

680
00:48:55,832 --> 00:48:57,993
America cannot afford to lose.

681
00:49:05,342 --> 00:49:07,435
A few months after Shepard's flight,

682
00:49:07,611 --> 00:49:11,377
East German border guards start erecting the Berli

683
00:49:15,986 --> 00:49:20,446
The possibility of all out nuclear conflict intens