All language subtitles for BBC Space Race - Part 4 of 4 - Race to the Moon.Eng

Through the centuries,
to explore space was an impossible fantasy.

Then two rival scientists became
locked in a race to realize that dream.

Their struggle would make history.

Sergei Korolev was released from prison

to become the chief designer
of the Soviet Space Programme.

He launched the world's first satellite.

It's just been announced that the Russians

have put a satellite into space.

And Yuri Gagarin, the first man into space.

Despite all their success,

Korolev's identity was
a closely-guarded State secret.

In America, his rival, Wernher von Braun,

was struggling to catch up.

The Soviets may be ready
to go as soon as November.

We can't waste time

trucking this capsule from state to state

while the Reds are orbiting the earth.

And you prefer we kill an astronaut?

Now, with the launch
of America's first astronaut,

von Braun is closing the gap.

And with the creation of NASA

Go baby, go!

The moon is in his sights.

The eyes of the world now look into space.

We choose to go
to the moon in this decade

and do the other things,

not because they are easy,

but because they are hard.

The year is now 1964.

Come on, come on.
Let's get on with it.

Sergei Korolev's role as chief designer

is a well kept secret in the Soviet Union.

While everything done by his rival
in America is public knowledge.

Project Apollo, destination moon.

What rocket will take these men

and futuristic Apollo craft
to their destination.

Let's hear about its design from
the world famous rocket scientist,

Dr. Wernher von Braun.

At over three hundred and fifty feet long,

Saturn V will be a giant among rockets.

Its weight,
equivalent to a light battle cruiser,

will be lifted into the air
by a first stage of five engines

producing over seven and
a half million pounds of thrust.

Enough to launch over

fifteen hundred Sputniks into orbit.

Space Age has truly arrived.

Space exploration is necessary
for a dynamic America,

and essential for the preservation of peace.

Both men have dreamed of going
to the moon for over thirty years.

But Korolev can't win

backing for his lunar rocket.

The money they must have.

We can't even get our plans
from Lunar Mission approved,

never mind the funds.

That von Braun is such a lucky devil.

First the Nazis,
then the American government.

You may laugh Vasily,

but he will fly his battle cruiser.

Our N1 is unlikely to even
lift off the design board.

Politburo say they want Lunar Mission.

They know we must have a powerful booster

like the N1 or the Saturn
if we are to do it.

Do they?

Do they, really, Vasily?

Or do they expect us

to pull it out of the bag
like we always do?

Without a rocket
as powerful as the Saturn,

we will lose.

The Saturn's engines work
on the same basic principle

as all rocket engines
of which this is an example.

The crucial part of the design
is the injector plate,

like a giant showerhead

spraying fuel into the combustion chamber
where it ignites.

It's a process that
has to be absolutely precise

or the engine fails.

Allow me to give you an example.

Imagine that at thousands
of times the ferocity

with fuel delivered at a rate sufficient to

fill a family-sized
swimming pool every ten seconds.

That's what we have to achieve on the F1.

The most powerful rocket engine ever built.

Fail and we don't go to the moon.

So we're testing

Engine number 008
with an injector plate F367?

Senior Engineer Paul CASTENHOLZ

had been testing the engine
for the past two years.

Uh, yes sir, that's uh,
008 and uh, Plate F367.

But there are problems getting
the ambitious design to work at all.

Everyone clear the stand.

Looks like we're about ready.

Better get to the Blockhouse.

Standby for engine test.

Turbo pump sequences initiated.

Prepare for engine ignition

in ten, nine, eight.

Inside the engine, the injector plate
is the most critical part of the design.

It mixes the liquid fuels together
through thousands of tiny holes.

As the tens of thousands of gallons
of liquid oxygen and kerosene burn,

the gasses expand

to create intense pressure.

The smallest upset to this smooth mix

will lead to a rocket
designer's worst nightmare.

Combustion instability.

All it takes is the slightest thing.

Keep me posted on modifications
for the next test.

Von Braun needs five of
these engines perfectly synchronized

just to lift his Saturn off the ground.

Oh, it's never gonna work at that size.

Well it'll have to,

or he sure as hell isn't going to the moon.

How many times have you tried this?

He'll never make peace with you,

because he's jealous,
and always has been.

I know. But I need him,

and he knows it.

His engines launched Gagarin,

Sputnik.

He knows launching the N1 will be noted.

The Politburo will still not fund

Korolev's lunar rocket, the N1.

To help persuade them, he and he wife

needs the Soviet's
leading rocket engine designer,

Valentin Glushko,

a man who has long
coveted Korolev's success.

I have made my position completely clear
to the Central Committee and to the Politburo.

My answer is no,
unless you change fuels,

which you won't.

So there's the end of the discussion.

You know I can't agree to that.

Anyway, to abandon liquid oxygen
now would kill the N1.

We don't have time.

You have seen von Braun's Saturn.

He uses oxygen.

I didn't see it fly.

Are we going to the moon or not?

Not on liquid oxygen using large engines.

A schoolboy can tell you the problems
you will get with combustion instability.

This is not about fuel, is it Valentin?

This is about you and me.

I know how you talk behind my back,

how you poison
my relations with Khrushchev.

And now you do the same
with the Politburo and Brezhnev.

Get out.

You cannot stand it when I succeed.

You'll do anything to destroy my chances.

Leave, now.

With pleasure, Valentin Petrovich.

If you don't want the job
I will get by without you.

That could have gone better.

I thought you said
the Politburo will never agree

to funds if you don't have Glushko.

I'll manage.

I have another man in mind.

Sergei, what happened?

I'm all right, I'm all right.

- Let's just get the hell out.
- Take a seat please.

Take us straight home.

With the entire moon shot resting on

the success of his engines

Von Braun takes a radical step.
A small bomb is planted in the engine

to deliberately trigger instability.

Stand by for engine test.

Turbo pump sequence initiated.

If the engine copes with the shock wave
caused by the bomb

he will know he's solved it.

Firing charge, mark.

All this failure is turning public
opinion against von Braun.

How do you answer those
who say you're using the tax dollars

of the poor to fatten rich corporations?

Look, we don't spend
the money on the moon,

we spend it here in the United States,

creating jobs and new products.

Gather round while I sing you
of WERNHER VON BRAUN

A man whose allegiance
is ruled by expedience

Call him a Nazi, he won't even flown

"A Nazi, Schmarzi,"

says WERNHER VON BRAUN

Don't say that he's hypocritical

Say rather that he's apolitical

Once the rockets are up,

Who cares where they come down?

"That's not my department,"
says WERNHER VON BRAUN

Components were redesigned
and then test-fired at a cost of

tens of millions of dollars,

until von Braun at last
gets word of a breakthrough.

Excellent, Paul. Thank you. Thank you.

So what was the problem?

Frankly sir uh, I still don't know.

But it has been resolved.

Well we found the design of injector plate
that cures the instability.

Just don't know what
caused it in the first place.

Anyway, we now have
an engine that runs, so uh,

the F1 can go operational.

But it could re-occur.

He has to build the engines with no
guaranteed that if the problem was solved.

Why the rush?

The Russians appear
to be doing nothing.

Don't be fooled.

The Soviets understand the
significance of conquering space.

They wanna beat us to the moon,

and they may surprise us any day now.

This is Diamond One.

I am ready to go out.

Just as von Braun feared,

Korolev was ready
with another historic first.

Soviet Cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov

becomes the first man to walk in space.

Diamond One calling Dawn.

Everything is going well.

Below me I can see clouds,
sea, the Caucuses!

I can see the Caucuses below me!

Korolev hopes that
the space walk's impact

would help persuade the Politburo
to fund his plans for a lunar mission.

The suit is performing well.

Diamond One, this is Dawn.

You have achieved your objectives.

Return to the spacecraft.

Hell. I can't get back
to the spacecraft.

The air pressure in my suit
is increasing.

I can barely move
my fingers in my gloves.

I can't pull myself back to the airlock.

God damn it.

Leonov's suit is so inflated,

he will never fit back
through the airlock.

Aleksei, try using the release valve
to manually vent air from the suit.

He struggles for twelve minutes
at the airlock.

With one last push, he finally manages
to climb back into the spacecraft.

Today the Soviet Union announced
successful completion of the first walk in space.

Pilot Cosmonaut,
Lieutenant Colonel Aleksei Arkhipovich Leonov

spent twenty-three minutes,
forty-one seconds outside his spacecraft.

The Politburo never revealed
how close the mission came to disaster.

Von Braun could only assume
the Soviets are ahead.

And worse still,
hostility is escalating in Vietnam.

American is turned apart,

as the protest movement grows.

Von Braun is worrying about
losing public support

for the moon shot.

Watching from Russia,
Korolev is acute aware of his rival disposal.

The industrial might of America

is now focused on
NASA's Lunar Programme.

In assembly buildings
across the country,

the gigantic Saturn V rocket
is taking shape.

In high altitude tests,

astronauts are training for
each step of a moon mission.

In nineteen sixty-five alone,

NASA has been allocated
a further five billion dollars

to spearhead its conquest of space.

It's here. I have it.

We have approval for a circumlunar flight

on the fiftieth anniversary
of the Revolution

and a manned landing
within three years.

Now, we can move the N1
into full production, although...

They have allocated
half the funds we asked for.

At last, Korolev has the go-ahead to compete
directly with the American moon mission.

But with only a faction of the money,

He soon found a replacement for Glushko

to design his new rocket,

Nikolai Kuznetsov.

How many engines are you
proposing for the first stage?

The first stage?

- Twenty-four.
- Twenty-four?

We'll need twenty-four

to deliver enough thrust.

Nikolai, the American Saturn has five.

How are we going to
control twenty-four engines?

We'll find a way.

It's a brilliant design,

which I am pleased to say
will make Glushko spit.

Oh, how are we going to test a stage
of twenty-four engines?

When we launch.

Vasily, there's no money.

And besides,
it could take three years

to build a test stand large enough.

While his lunar rocket
is under construction,

Korolev invites the cosmonauts

to see a mock-up of the capsule
that will take them to the moon.

It weighs six and a half thousand kilos,

and can carry three cosmonauts.

Leonov, Gagarin, and Komarov

are his top candidates.

The ship has solar panels
for extra power.

But the most important feature
is its maneuverability.

Unlike our old Vostok,

it can be piloted in space.

It can dock with other ships.

So it could link and detach
to another craft,

which descends to the moon.

Vladimir, take a look.

You may be the first to fly

A lot- a lot more space than the Vostok.

Twice the size.

Well, there was some dispute about that.

A young designer wanted
to make it so small.

I drew a chalk circle around him

the size he proposed
and made him stand in it.

We continued our debate.

He soon agreed to
make the capsule bigger.

Sergei Pavlovich, are you all right?

I'm fine. Don't fuss. Don't fuss.

Now, look.

Yuri, I have to go.

After leaving the cosmonauts,

Korolev collapses with
severe heart pains.

Doctors order him to take rest.

His deputy of twenty years,

Vasily Mishin takes over
while he's away.

Yes Vasily, you spoke
to the Minister, yes.

I met him.

He says no further funds can be released

until we submit a report.

Well of course he'd say that.

What do you expect?

Sergei, I can't take this.

This job is not for me.

I'm sorry.
I'm going to have to ask to stand down.

Please, please, Vasily.

Calm down.

You can handle it.

Just tell them to
continue the engine tests.

I'll deal with this when I get back.

To add to the strain

NASA had developed a new spacecraft

called Gemini,

and is launching manned missions
almost every two months.

They carry out spacewalks,

test manoeuvres for space docking,

and set a two-week
endurance record in orbit,

an obvious prelude to
their Apollo Moon Missions.

Serge, you ought to take a look at this.

Korolev has nothing ready to match this.

They are leaving us behind.

Korolev is taken in
for exploratory surgery,

and a tumour is discovered.

Is everything all right?

I'm sorry. He's gone.

While under anesthetic,
Korolev's weak heart fails.

A result of the physical hardship endured

during his imprisonment in the gulag.

After twenty years of anonymity,

the Soviet Premier, Leonid Brezhnev,

decides to reveal the genius behind the

Soviet Space Programme.

His name revealed to the world,

the man who had once
been sent to the gulag,

now had a full state funeral
in Red Square.

A hero for the Soviet people at last.

Even his ashes are preserved
in the Kremlin wall.

Wernher von Braun at last discovered

the identity of his greatest rival.

I never knew all this
was just one man.

How will they do without him?

At the Cape,
von Braun is soaring ahead.

Inside the largest
building ever constructed,

his giant lunar rocket, the Saturn V,

is being assembled.

NASA is almost ready for
the start of the Apollo Missions.

On the twenty-seventh of January,
nineteen sixty-seven,

astronauts Gus Grissom,
Ed White and Roger Chaffee

are sealed inside the new Apollo capsule

for a final run-through on the ground.

What happens next

throws the moon programme into crisis.

Cap Comm, I do not read you.
Please repeat.

Apollo 1, this is Cap Comm,
do you copy now?

For chrissakes.

I do not read Cap Comm. Over.

God damn, If I can't talk to you
from five miles away?

How am I gonna contact
you from the moon?

A spark suddenly turns
the capsule into an inferno.

The death of the three
astronauts stuns America.

The spark ignited the
capsule's pure oxygen atmosphere.

NASA has to go back
and painstakingly rework

their Apollo capsule from scratch.

Just three months later,
the Soviets are ready to test

their equivalent of the
Apollo capsule, the Soyuz.

Once in orbit,

The cosmonaut Vladimir
Komarov is in trouble.

A solar panel jammed shut,

the craft is starved of power.

The panel's not moving.

None of these instruments work.

We should attempt an immediate re-entry.

We keep the power demands down in orbit.

Mishin now in charged
of the Soviet Space programme,

faces the first big test of his leadership.

Only absolute essential
systems to be left on.

All others to be switched off.

By the thirteenth orbit

the automatic re-entry systems also fail.

Komarov's chances of survival are slim.

His only hope,
to pilot the stricken craft home himself.

Convinced it's an impossible task,

Komarov's wife is
called in to say goodbye.

Against all the odds,

Komarov brilliantly guided the tumbling
Soyuz through the Earth's atmosphere.

But both his main
and backup parachute failed.

He perished.

Why are we having these failures?

I'll tell you why.

Poor work.

Bad practices.

Lazy approach.

Everybody has an excuse.

This doesn't function.

I can't get this made.

Excuses, excuses!

That cover-up shoddy, useless work.

Mishin increasingly relies on alcohol
to deal with the pressure.

It has been my duty
to inform the State Commission,

inform them, that this third failure

means it is now not possible to
celebrate the glorious fiftieth anniversary

of the Bolshevik Revolution
with a manned flight!

The cosmonauts complain about
Mishin to the Soviet's leadership,

citing his impatience, rudeness,

and poor knowledge.

But nothing is done.

Two months later, Gagarin himself dies,
killed in a flying accident.

Gagarin's death, so soon after Korolev's,

is a further blow to the morale
of the Soviet Space Programme,

which falters on the brink of collapse.

In America, von Braun is ready for

a test flight of his Saturn V rocket,

an unmanned dress rehearsal
for the real thing.

Standing thirty-six stories high,

it weighs more than a battle cruiser.

The greatest weight ever
lifted off the ground.

It takes four hundred and fifty staff
to control the countdown.

Von Braun's Saturn V is to carry

the unmanned Apollo capsule into orbit.

For safety, the press are held behind

a three and a half
mile exclusion zone.

For von Braun,

everything hinges on the reliability
of his engines.

Ten.

Nine.

Ignition sequence starts.

Six, five, four, three, two, one.

Yes.

With the exception of
a nuclear bomb blast,

the Saturn V was the loudest
manmade object ever built.

It registers on earthquake
censors across America.

For a hundred and twenty-five seconds,
the flight is flawless.

Flight booster, go.

We're losing thrust.

Roger that.

Uh, we have a problem.

Uh, we had pogo plus minus ten G's.

Pogo.

Powerful vibrations down
the length of the rocket.

If they become violent enough,

they'll cause the rocket to break up.

Combustion instability frequency?

Five to six cycles per second.

Wait. Wait.

Wait, it's over.

Stage one separated.

Engine out.

- Which?
- Engine Two.

Another engine out.

Flight booster.

- Oh my god.
- Go.

We've got engines two and three out.

She's falling.

Booster, it's your action.

You're go for abort?

Are you go for abort?

Uh, wait. Wait.

We still have good control at this time.

Roger that.

Although the Saturn limps into orbit,

Mr. Von Braun can't risk a manned flight

until the engine problems are fixed.

The Soviets also have engine problems.

Their new designer, Nikolai Kuznetsov,

has been forced to add extra engines
to provide more thrust.

The first stage now has thirty.

But he faces criticism from Korolev's
old adversary, Valentin Glushko.

During the static firing of the NK15,

there was a partial blow-out
of the combustion chamber.

Comrades, uh,
we need not go any further.

At this stage, uh,
I wish to propose redesigning the N1.

I have plans that would utilize
our proven RD235 engine.

Ignoring Glushko's opposition,

Korolev's dream rocket, the N1,

makes a fleeting appearance on the pad.

But engineers find cracks
in its outer casing.

Wernher. Wernher.

We've had reports,
reports from the CIA,

that the Russians are getting close
to a manned circumlunar flight,

maybe by the end of the year.

With what?

These are classified satellite shots

of their launch pad at Tyura Tam.

They show a Saturn-size rocket.

We feel that the uh,

next Saturn V Apollo launch,

Apollo 8,

should take a crew around the moon.

That's insane.

We won't have test flown a Saturn

since we had the engine failure
and pogo problem.

I know, but we can't take
the chance that they do it first.

Whoever sends a man around the moon

will have as good as won the race.

It will be a massive propaganda victory.

Some proposition to commit human life.

Well, if we had taken
a little more risk before,

we would've got
an American up there first.

Okay. We go.

Unknown to von Braun,

without Sergei Korolev,

the Soviets are floundering.

Why wasn't I told?

Why wasn't I told?

What's wrong?

We lost pressure.

The proxy temperature is low,
minus five.

Vasily Pavolvich, come on, let's go.

I'm not going anywhere.

With the cosmonaut
losing faith in Mishin,

they appealed to the Politburo

for a manned flight around
the moon in early December.

They were prepared
to gamble their own lives

to beat the Americans.

But the cosmonauts' request is denied.

Good luck, Americans. Good luck.

Apollo 8 has cleared the tower.

The Americans send three astronauts

to fly around the moon
for the first time.

T plus a hundred and fifty-five seconds.

First stage separated.

The Saturn hadn't flown since

the engine and pogo problems.

Apollo, you're looking good.

Your trajectory and guidance are go.

Thrust is fine.

Engines are fine.

Once the rocket stages drop away

a critical step is TLI,

trans-lunar injection.

The final engine burn to set them

on a course for the moon.

Apollo 8, you're GO for TLI.

Roger. Understand.

We're going for TLI.

Yes.

Commander Frank Borman,
Jim Lovell and Bill Anders

have to fly two hundred and thirty-eight
thousand miles out into space

and navigate for the first time
into the moon's orbit.

On Christmas eve,

the crew of Apollo 8

become the first human beings to
look down on the lunar surface.

As they disappear behind the moon,

all radio contact is lost.

If they fail to lock
into the moon's orbit,

they will fly on,

forever lost in space.

Apollo 8, come in.

Apollo 8, this is Houston.

Apollo 7. Apollo 8, this is Houston.

Welcome to the moon uh, Houston.

Suddenly, as they emerged
from the far side of the moon,

a sight unseen by human eye.

The rising Earth shining over

the moon's bleak surface.

To the crew of Apollo 8,

we call with good night, good luck,

a Merry Christmas,
and god bless all of you.

All of you are on the good Earth.

The crew of Apollo 8

came within seventy miles
of the moon's surface.

The next step is to actually
land a man on the moon.

But just seventeen days before
the American moon mission,

Mishin is ready for an unmanned
launch of his lunar rocket.

Now we get to see who was right.

To succeed, Kuznetsov's thirty engines

must all fire together.

...nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Ignition.

Torn apart with almost
the force of a nuclear bomb,

it is the most powerful explosion
in the history of rocketry.

Caused by a single bolt
sucked into a fuel pump,

the explosion scatters pieces
of debris over ten kilometers.

The failure is a State secret
for twenty years.

The disaster effectively ends
the career of Vasily Mishin.

In America, one last detail
before the moon landing.

Choosing the flag.

To ensure no one manufacturer
can profit by claiming its

their flag on the moon,

a NASA secretary
makes a random selection.

On the sixteenth of July,

Commander Neil Armstrong,
Edwin Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins,

the crew of Apollo XI,

make their way out to the pad.

One million people gather
at The Cape to see them off.

Across the world,
half a billion are watching.

The Saturn's main engines have to fire
for a hundred and fifty seconds

to take the crew safely into orbit.

Come on.

Hold together. Hold together.

Twenty-five years had passed

since Von Braun brought
his rocket technology to America.

Now he is about to realize
his long held dream.

To land a man on the moon.

Roger. How does it look?

The Eagle has wings.

Rodge.

Michael Collins orbits the moon

in the command module.

We're go. Hang tight, we're go.

As Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin

head for the lunar surface.

Things are looking great.

Thirty-five degrees.

Seven hundred and fifty.

Coming down to twenty-three.

Five hundred and forty feet at a fifteen.

Ten and fifty feet down at four.

Altitude velocity light.

But, while struggling
to find a landing site,

the fuel runs dangerously low.

Coming down nicely, two hundred feet.

Four and a half down.

Five and a half down.

Hundred feet,

three and a half down,

nine forward.

Okay, seventy-five feet.

That is looking good, down a half.

Six forward.

Fifty seconds of fuel.

Lights on.

Forward. Forward.

Forty feet down two and a half.

Picking up some dust.

Faint shadow.

Four forward,
drifting to the right a little.

Thirty seconds of fuel.

Contact light.

Okay, engine stop.

We copy you down, Eagle.

Houston uh, Tranquillity Base here.

The Eagle has landed.

Yes!

Roger Tr- Tranquillity,
we copy you on the ground.

You got a bunch of guys
about to turn blue.

We're breathing again.

Thanks a lot.

Although the surface appears to be uh,
very, very fine grained as you get close to it,

it's almost like a powder.

It's uh, it's very fine.

Okay, I'm gonna step off the ladder.

That's one small step for man.

One giant leap for mankind.

While Armstrong and Aldrin
are on the moon,

a Soviet probe, sent in a last-ditched
effort to steal some glory,

overshoots their landing site.

It crashes in the appropriately
named Sea of Crises.

Von Braun would mastermind

another five successful
manned missions to the moon.

His greater vision of a base on the moon

and manned flights to other planets,

is yet to be fulfilled.