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Space Race (TV series)
Encyclopedia
Space Race is a BBC
docudrama
series first shown in Britain on BBC2
between September and October 2005, chronicling the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race
up to the first landing of a man on the moon. It focuses on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun
, his American counterpart. The series was a joint effort between British, German, American and Russian production teams.
at Mittelwerk
and Peenemünde
, and his final activities within Germany during the last years of the Second World War, as both American and Soviet forces race to capture German rocket technology. When the Americans gain the upper hand by recovering von Braun and most of his senior staff, along with all their technical documents and much other materiel, we see Sergei Korolev's release from the Gulag
to act as the Soviets' rocketry expert alongside former colleague Valentin Glushko
, and how he is set to work bringing Soviet rocket technology up to date with that of von Braun, working with what material and personnel are left after von Braun's escape to the US.
intensifies, Korolev is asked to build a rocket capable of carrying a five-ton warhead
to America - he designs and constructs the R-7 Semyorka
, the first ICBM, and is later allowed to use it to launch the first satellite
, Sputnik 1
, quickly following up with the rushed Sputnik 2
. Meanwhile, von Braun struggles to persuade the US government to allow him to launch his own satellite - after Sputnik's launch and the failure of the US Navy to launch a Vanguard satellite
, he is finally allowed to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1. Korolev announces that the Americans have evened the score and that they are in a space race which they intend to win. At the end of the episode we see the silhouettes of two men walking down a corridor, one appears to be in a space-suit. This could be Yuri Gagarin
.
(USSR) and Project Mercury
(USA). As well as basic details about the capsules and their delivery vehicles, we also see some of the selection and training of the Russian cosmonauts, and rather less of that of their counterparts in the US. After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin
into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard
up shortly afterwards.
- the Americans pull ahead in the space race with Project Gemini
, but then suffer a disaster with the Apollo 1
fire. Meanwhile, despite a few notable successes such as the first space walk by Alexei Leonov, the Soviet space programme struggles to keep up amid internal strife. Glushko and Korolev permanently fall out in an argument about fuel; Korolev turns to Nikolai Kuznetsov
to develop engines instead. Kuznetsov delivers the NK-33
, very efficient but much less powerful than the Americans' F-1
. The Soviet program suffers further blows when Korolev dies during surgery, Gagarin dies in a jet crash, Soyuz 1
crashes and kills Vladimir Komarov, and the prototype booster for the moon shot, the N-1 rocket, fails to successfully launch. In America, von Braun has continuing difficulties with the Saturn V
, especially combustion instability in the large F-1 engine, but these are ultimately overcome almost by brute force at great expense, and the rocket successfully launches the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 8
, and the first manned lunar landing, Apollo 11
. The final episode finishes with brief textual summaries of the remaining careers of the various people involved.
(a region of Romania). Romania has signed the EU co-production treaty which allows for EU co-productions. Compared to other locations, Romania attracted BBC with unspoiled natural locations, experienced crews and moderately priced production facilities.
The series was filmed with the Panasonic SDX 900 DVCPro 50 professional camcorder. This allowed keeping to the speedy shooting schedule and provided the ‘gritty’ look appropriate to the time period. Shot in widescreen 25fps progressive mode, the series deliver rich, filmic feel, which compares favourably with high definition.
to develop aircraft jet boosters. In 1942, at Glushko’s request, NKVD transferred Korolev from another prison to Glushko’s OKB.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
docudrama
Docudrama
In film, television programming and staged theatre, docudrama is a documentary-style genre that features dramatized re-enactments of actual historical events. As a neologism, the term is often confused with docufiction....
series first shown in Britain on BBC2
BBC Two
BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...
between September and October 2005, chronicling the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
up to the first landing of a man on the moon. It focuses on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun
Wernher von Braun
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,...
, his American counterpart. The series was a joint effort between British, German, American and Russian production teams.
Awards
- Royal Television SocietyRoyal Television SocietyThe Royal Television Society is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present and future. It is the oldest television society in the world...
2006- Nominated: RTS Television Award for Best Production Design (Drama): Alan Spalding
- Sir Arthur Clarke AwardSir Arthur Clarke AwardThe Sir Arthur Clarke Award is a British award given in recognition of notable contributions to space exploration, particularly British achievements. It is owned by the Space Education Trust and is independent of and separate from . Founded in 2005, the awards are an annual event. They take place...
2006- Won: Sir Arthur Clarke Award for Best Presentation (TV & Radio)
Episode one: Race For Rockets (1944–1949)
We see the results of Wernher von Braun's work on the V-2 for the NazisNazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
at Mittelwerk
Mittelwerk
Central Works was a World War II factory that used Mittelbau-Dora forced labor in 2 main tunnels in the Kohnstein. The underground facility produced V-2 rockets, V-1 flying bombs, and other Nazi weapons.-Mittelwerk GmbH:...
and Peenemünde
Peenemünde
The Peenemünde Army Research Center was founded in 1937 as one of five military proving grounds under the Army Weapons Office ....
, and his final activities within Germany during the last years of the Second World War, as both American and Soviet forces race to capture German rocket technology. When the Americans gain the upper hand by recovering von Braun and most of his senior staff, along with all their technical documents and much other materiel, we see Sergei Korolev's release from the Gulag
Gulag
The Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
to act as the Soviets' rocketry expert alongside former colleague Valentin Glushko
Valentin Glushko
Valentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko was a Soviet engineer, and the principal Soviet designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.-Biography:...
, and how he is set to work bringing Soviet rocket technology up to date with that of von Braun, working with what material and personnel are left after von Braun's escape to the US.
Episode two: Race For Satellites (1953–1958)
As the Cold WarCold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
intensifies, Korolev is asked to build a rocket capable of carrying a five-ton warhead
Warhead
The term warhead refers to the explosive material and detonator that is delivered by a missile, rocket, or torpedo.- Etymology :During the early development of naval torpedoes, they could be equipped with an inert payload that was intended for use during training, test firing and exercises. This...
to America - he designs and constructs the R-7 Semyorka
R-7 Semyorka
The R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...
, the first ICBM, and is later allowed to use it to launch the first satellite
Satellite
In the context of spaceflight, a satellite is an object which has been placed into orbit by human endeavour. Such objects are sometimes called artificial satellites to distinguish them from natural satellites such as the Moon....
, Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1
Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
, quickly following up with the rushed Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2
Sputnik 2 , or Prosteyshiy Sputnik 2 ), was the second spacecraft launched into Earth orbit, on November 3, 1957, and the first to carry a living animal, a dog named Laika. Sputnik 2 was a 4-meter high cone-shaped capsule with a base diameter of 2 meters...
. Meanwhile, von Braun struggles to persuade the US government to allow him to launch his own satellite - after Sputnik's launch and the failure of the US Navy to launch a Vanguard satellite
Project Vanguard
Project Vanguard was a program managed by the United States Naval Research Laboratory , which intended to launch the first artificial satellite into Earth orbit using a Vanguard rocket as the launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Missile Annex, Florida....
, he is finally allowed to launch the first American satellite, Explorer 1. Korolev announces that the Americans have evened the score and that they are in a space race which they intend to win. At the end of the episode we see the silhouettes of two men walking down a corridor, one appears to be in a space-suit. This could be Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
.
Episode three: Race For Survival (1959–1961)
Both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and we see both sides preparing to do so with the development of the Vostok programmeVostok programme
The Vostok programme was a Soviet human spaceflight project that succeeded in putting a person into Earth's orbit for the first time. The programme developed the Vostok spacecraft from the Zenit spy satellite project and adapted the Vostok rocket from an existing ICBM design...
(USSR) and Project Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
(USA). As well as basic details about the capsules and their delivery vehicles, we also see some of the selection and training of the Russian cosmonauts, and rather less of that of their counterparts in the US. After difficulties and failures on both sides, the Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Gagarin
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
into space first, with the Americans putting Alan Shepard
Alan Shepard
Alan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
up shortly afterwards.
Episode four: Race For The Moon (1964–1969)
Both sides now plan to put a man on the MoonMoon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
- the Americans pull ahead in the space race with Project Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
, but then suffer a disaster with the Apollo 1
Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
fire. Meanwhile, despite a few notable successes such as the first space walk by Alexei Leonov, the Soviet space programme struggles to keep up amid internal strife. Glushko and Korolev permanently fall out in an argument about fuel; Korolev turns to Nikolai Kuznetsov
Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov
Nikolai Dmitriyevich Kuznetsov was a Chief Designer of the Soviet Design Bureau OKB-276 which deals with the development, manufacture and distribution of equipment, especially aircraft engines, turbines and gearboxes.-Biography:...
to develop engines instead. Kuznetsov delivers the NK-33
NK-33
The NK-33 and NK-43 are rocket engines designed and built in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau. They were intended for the ill-fated Soviet N-1 rocket moon shot. The NK-33 engine achieves the highest thrust-to-weight ratio of any Earth-launchable rocket engine, whilst...
, very efficient but much less powerful than the Americans' F-1
F-1 (rocket engine)
The F-1 is a rocket engine developed by Rocketdyne and used in the Saturn V. Five F-1 engines were used in the S-IC first stage of each Saturn V, which served as the main launch vehicle in the Apollo program. The F-1 is still the most powerful single-chamber liquid-fueled rocket engine ever...
. The Soviet program suffers further blows when Korolev dies during surgery, Gagarin dies in a jet crash, Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1
Soyuz 1 was a manned spaceflight of the Soviet space program. Launched into orbit on April 23, 1967 carrying cosmonaut Colonel Vladimir Komarov, Soyuz 1 was the first flight of the Soyuz spacecraft...
crashes and kills Vladimir Komarov, and the prototype booster for the moon shot, the N-1 rocket, fails to successfully launch. In America, von Braun has continuing difficulties with the Saturn V
Saturn V
The Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
, especially combustion instability in the large F-1 engine, but these are ultimately overcome almost by brute force at great expense, and the rocket successfully launches the first manned lunar mission, Apollo 8
Apollo 8
Apollo 8, the second manned mission in the American Apollo space program, was the first human spaceflight to leave Earth orbit; the first to be captured by and escape from the gravitational field of another celestial body; and the first crewed voyage to return to Earth from another celestial...
, and the first manned lunar landing, Apollo 11
Apollo 11
In early 1969, Bill Anders accepted a job with the National Space Council effective in August 1969 and announced his retirement as an astronaut. At that point Ken Mattingly was moved from the support crew into parallel training with Anders as backup Command Module Pilot in case Apollo 11 was...
. The final episode finishes with brief textual summaries of the remaining careers of the various people involved.
Production details
BBC filmed the Space Race in and around the town of Sibiu, TransylvaniaTransylvania
Transylvania is a historical region in the central part of Romania. Bounded on the east and south by the Carpathian mountain range, historical Transylvania extended in the west to the Apuseni Mountains; however, the term sometimes encompasses not only Transylvania proper, but also the historical...
(a region of Romania). Romania has signed the EU co-production treaty which allows for EU co-productions. Compared to other locations, Romania attracted BBC with unspoiled natural locations, experienced crews and moderately priced production facilities.
The series was filmed with the Panasonic SDX 900 DVCPro 50 professional camcorder. This allowed keeping to the speedy shooting schedule and provided the ‘gritty’ look appropriate to the time period. Shot in widescreen 25fps progressive mode, the series deliver rich, filmic feel, which compares favourably with high definition.
Cast
- Richard DillaneRichard DillaneRichard Dillane is an English actor. He appeared as Merv, the husband of Margaret Humphreys in Jim Loach's fact-based movie Oranges and Sunshine, as Wernher von Braun in the BBC television docudrama Space Race, as Nero in Howard Brenton's play Paul at the National Theatre of GB and as Stephen...
– Wernher von BraunWernher von BraunWernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun was a German rocket scientist, aerospace engineer, space architect, and one of the leading figures in the development of rocket technology in Nazi Germany during World War II and in the United States after that.A former member of the Nazi party,... - Steve NicolsonSteve NicolsonSteve Nicolson is an English actor. He has appeared in the BBC docudrama Space Race , and in single episodes of Silent Witness, Whitechapel, The Bill, Made in Romania, The Take, Blackwater, White Lightnin, The Fixer, Casualty, Spooks, Vital Signs, Im Auftrag des Vatikans, Rose and Maloney, Murphy's...
– Sergei Korolev - John WarnabyJohn WarnabyJohn Warnaby is a British actor who has appeared extensively in film and television.In Nicholas de Jongh's 2009 stage hit in London Plague Over England, Warnaby plays both 1950s Home Secretary David Maxwell Fyfe and an acerbic theatre critic.-References:...
– Vasily MishinVasily MishinVasily Pavlovich Mishin was a Soviet engineer and a prominent rocketry pioneer.... - Ravil Isyanov – Valentin GlushkoValentin GlushkoValentin Petrovich Glushko or Valentyn Petrovych Hlushko was a Soviet engineer, and the principal Soviet designer of rocket engines during the Soviet/American Space Race.-Biography:...
- Rupert Wickham – Kurt H. DebusKurt H. DebusKurt Heinrich Debus was a German V-2 rocket scientist during World War II who, after being brought to the United States under Operation Paperclip, became the first director of NASA's Kennedy Space Center in 1962. Debus' U.S...
- Tim WoodwardTim Woodward-Biography:Woodward was born in London, England, the son of actors Edward Woodward and Venetia Mary Barrett.He is probably best known for his roles in the 1970s BBC drama Wings, the 1990s ITV soap opera Families and the 2000s ITV police drama Murder City...
- Marshal Mitrofan NedelinNedelin catastropheThe Nedelin catastrophe or Nedelin disaster was a launch pad accident that occurred on 24 October 1960, at Baikonur Cosmodrome during the development of the Soviet R-16 ICBM... - Eric LorenEric LorenEric Loren is a London-based American actor and musician. He played Mr Diagoras and the Dalek Sec Hybrid in the long-running British TV series Doctor Who. He also played Kurtis Trent in Tomb Raider: The Angel of Darkness and a War Department Lieutenant in Saving Private Ryan...
– Castenholz - Chris RobsonChris RobsonChris Robson is an English stage, television and film actor. He was born in Newcastle upon Tyne in the United Kingdom.His work has spanned genres from Shakespearean and modern theatre to popular fantasy and science fiction....
– Dieter Huzel - Mark DexterMark DexterMark Dexter is a British RADA trained actor.Dexter's early successes were on stage, in particular with two high-profile productions of Tennessee Williams plays, beginning with Sam Mendes' 1995 Olivier Award winning production of The Glass Menagerie at the Donmar Warehouse, in which he played The...
– Staver - Oliver de la Fosse – Staver's Lieutenant
- Vitalie Ursu – Yuri GagarinYuri GagarinYuri Alekseyevich Gagarin was a Soviet pilot and cosmonaut. He was the first human to journey into outer space, when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth on April 12, 1961....
- Oleg StefanOleg StefanOleg Stefan is a film actor. He has appeared in a number of popular television series, including Frasier and JAG. He had a role in Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd opposite Matt Damon.-External links:...
– Alexey Leonov - Mariya Mironova – Nina
- Jeffrey WickhamJeffrey WickhamJeffrey Wickham is a British film and television actor. He is the father of the actress Saskia Wickham.-Selected filmography:* Before Winter Comes * The Breaking of Bumbo * Waterloo...
– Kuznetsov - Robert JezekRobert JezekRobert Jezek is a Canadian film and television actor based in the United Kingdom.-Career:He is known for playing companion Frobisher in a range of Doctor Who audio dramas produced by Big Finish Productions and based on the BBC television series Doctor Who...
– Robert R. Gilruth - Robert LindsayRobert Lindsay (actor)Robert Lindsay is an English actor who is best known for his television work, especially his roles of Wolfie Smith in Citizen Smith, Michael Murray in G.B.H., Captain Sir Edward Pellew in Hornblower and Ben Harper in My Family which has been on television screens since 2000.-Early life:Lindsay was...
– Narrator - Stuart BunceStuart BunceStuart Alexander Bunce is an English actor who is best known for his portrayal of the First World War poet Wilfred Owen in the film Regeneration directed by Gillies MacKinnon.-Biography:...
– Lev Gaidukov - David Barrass – Helmut GröttrupHelmut GröttrupHelmut Gröttrup was a German electrical engineer and assistant of Wernher von Braun in the V-2 rocket-project. Gröttrup was responsible for the guidance system....
- Simon DaySimon DaySimon Day is a British comedian most famous for his roles in the sketch show The Fast Show, sitcom Grass and a series of comedic adverts for Powergen.-Life and career:...
– Kammler - Nicholas RoweNicholas Rowe (actor)Nicholas James Sebastian Rowe is a Scottish actor.-Biography:Rowe was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, the son of English parents Alison, a singer, and Andrew Rowe, a Member of Parliament and editor. He attended Eton and received a BA in Hispanic Studies from Bristol University...
– R. V. JonesReginald Victor JonesReginald Victor Jones, CH CB CBE FRS, was a British physicist and scientific military intelligence expert who played an important role in the defence of Britain in -Education:... - Mikhail GorevoyMikhail GorevoyMichael Gorevoy is a Russian actor.He is best known for playing Vladimir Popov in the James Bond film Die Another Day. He has appeared in many films in Russia since 1989 when he made his debut on screen in the film Gran.-External links:*...
– Ivan SerovIvan SerovState Security General Ivan Aleksandrovich Serov was a prominent leader of Soviet security and intelligence agencies, head of the KGB between March 1954 and December 1958, as well as head of the GRU between 1958 and 1963. He was Deputy Commissar of the NKVD under Lavrentiy Beria, and was to play a... - Stephen GreifStephen GreifStephen Greif is an award-winning English actor.His television appearances include Waking the Dead , Spooks , Mistresses 2 , He Kills Coppers , Holby City , The Last Days of Pompeii as Sporus, Judge John Deed , Space Race , EastEnders , The Bill and...
– Colonel Holger ToftoyHolger ToftoyMajor General Holger Nelson Toftoy was a United States Army officer linked to early rocketry such as the Redstone missile.... - Anna Barkan – Ksenia Koroleva
- Max Bollinger – Russian cosmonaut (VO)
- Todd BoyceTodd BoyceTodd Boyce was born in December 1960 in Columbus, Ohio.He was raised in upstate New York, Germany, Chicago and Brazil. At age 16 Todd moved with his family to Australia where he finished his schooling at Sydney Church of England Grammar School and promptly joined the Australian soap opera The...
– Alan ShepardAlan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit... - Emil Măndănac – Viacheslav Lapo, Russian sound technician
- Mihai Dinvale – German Scientist
- Anthony Edridge - Chris Kraft
Inaccuracies and errors
Most of the historical and technological data presented in the series is very heavily simplified, and sometimes contains outright untruths or errors. The series would best be described and interpreted as giving a general impression of the subject matter, rather than rigorous factual account.Factual errors
- Key figures are entirely missing from the presented history. Andrei TupolevAndrei TupolevAndrei Nikolayevich Tupolev was a pioneering Soviet aircraft designer.During his career, he designed and oversaw the design of more than 100 types of aircraft, some of which set 78 world records...
, Vladimir ChelomeiVladimir ChelomeiVladimir Nikolayevich Chelomey was a Soviet mechanics scientist and rocket engineer from Ukraine.-Early life:Chelomey was born in Siedlce, Russian Empire into a Ukrainian family...
and Mikhail Yangel are also conspicuously absent, for example, even in the sequence depicting the disastrous explosion of Yangel's prototype R-16R-16The R-16 was the first successful intercontinental ballistic missile deployed by the Soviet Union. In the West it was known by the NATO reporting name SS-7 Saddler, and within Russia, it carried the GRAU index 8K64.- Description :...
ICBM. In the series, Glushko is generally identified with all rocket projects competing with Korolev within the USSR, even those for which he had only partial responsibility or was a subcontractor.
- The narrator said twice that the Mercury-Redstone could put an astronaut into orbit. In reality, the best the RedstoneMercury-Redstone 3Mercury-Redstone 3 was the first manned space mission of the United States. Astronaut Alan Shepard piloted a 15-minute Project Mercury suborbital flight in the Freedom 7 spacecraft on May 5, 1961 to become the first American in space, three weeks after the Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had carried...
rocket could do was putting an astronaut into a 15-minute "suborbital" ballistic trajectory, which peaked out around 120 miles up. The first orbital flight of an American astronaut did not occur until February 20, 1962, when the Mercury capsule was put into orbit with a more powerful AtlasMercury-Atlas 6Mercury-Atlas 6 was a human spaceflight mission conducted by NASA, the space agency of the United States. As part of Project Mercury, MA-6 was the successful first attempt by NASA to place an astronaut into orbit. The MA-6 mission was launched February 20, 1962. It made three orbits of the Earth,...
rocket. Indeed, NASA report TMX-53107 called Mercury-Redstone "a prelude to an orbital flight program" (pg 1-2).
- The narrator states that Gagarin flies "over a sleeping America" even though Vostok's flightpath did not take the craft anywhere near North America, except the Aleutian Islands. Gagarin did say "I'm over America", though. America, of course, includes South America and Vostok 1's flight path did just touch America in that sense. Gagarin spoke at night, while still over the Pacific, but only three minutes from the Straits of Magellan; a little earlier he was near Hawaii, which had become one of the United States of America less than two years earlier.
- Episode One features a map of Europe with wrongly indicated countries. Switzerland is labeled Austria, Austria is labeled Yugoslavia and the Czech Republic is labeled Hungary.
- In the Episode Two the narrator states twice that the R-7R-7 SemyorkaThe R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...
rocket has 32 engines. This is not entirely correct. The R-7 and its successors have four side boosters and a core booster. Each side booster has a single rocket engine with four combustion chambers, two vernier combustion chambers, and one set of turbopumps. The central core has a similar engine but with four vernier combustion chambers instead of two. This makes total of 32 chambers, not engines. In the scene where Glushko is supposedly testing the clustering scheme, only one engine is shown.
- One of the cosmonauts, after seeing the Vostok's cockpit for the first time (Episode Three), asks where the controls are. Also the Gagarin flight scene indicates that there were no controls inside. In fact controls were present on board the Vostoks, but they were blocked to prevent the cosmonauts from manipulating them. A set of codes was placed aboard, so that the cosmonaut could unlock the controls if necessary.
- When the Mission Control is shown for the first time in episode 3 it shows that all the flight controllers have a TV screen showing the launch pad. In reality only the flight director had a TV screen. The other consoles had only meters to measure the various systems.
Unconfirmed statements
The series stresses out multiple times that Korolev was denounced by Glushko. There are no known documents that prove this statement besides rumors and hearsay. Glushko had been imprisoned himself before Korolev was arrested and had been sentenced to eight years in a prison camp “for participating in sabotage organization.” He was retained to work for the NKVDNKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
to develop aircraft jet boosters. In 1942, at Glushko’s request, NKVD transferred Korolev from another prison to Glushko’s OKB.
Filming inaccuracies
- Korolev's last name is mispronounced badly and inconsistently, despite Russian participation in the series. It should be pronounced kor-ol-yoff, but is often mispronounced kor-yel-off.
- It is not explained why Glushko and Korolev wore military uniform during their stay in Germany. They never served in the military, but were issued military uniform and assigned fake military ranks after they arrived to Berlin. In 1945 Berlin was run by military, this way civilian engineers were able to blend in.
- Vasily Mishin is depicted as an unsuccessful drunkard and merely as Korolev's friend and sidekick. In fact Mishin was a gifted engineer, but he did not possess management talent that Korolev had.
- The whole atmosphere of Korolev being threatened and disrespected by the generals is cliché and inaccurate. People were highly impressed by him and his management and engineering skills. After the Second World War Korolev became a creator and a manager of a new industry; he became a powerful figure and was respected by Communist Party leaders and by military command.
- The reason for using staged boostersMultistage rocketA multistage rocket is a rocket that usestwo or more stages, each of which contains its own engines and propellant. A tandem or serial stage is mounted on top of another stage; a parallel stage is attached alongside another stage. The result is effectively two or more rockets stacked on top of or...
is extremely vaguely explained in one sentence by Korolev, as reducing weight and hence increasing range and speed. In reality, the reasons are numerous and more complex, one of the dominant ones being that conventional rocket engines only operate at maximum efficiency at a particular atmospheric pressure, and lose net efficiency when lifting a payload over a large altitude range.
- The depicted final configuration of Sputnik 1Sputnik 1Sputnik 1 ) was the first artificial satellite to be put into Earth's orbit. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957. The unanticipated announcement of Sputnik 1s success precipitated the Sputnik crisis in the United States and ignited the Space...
is oversimplified - it contained two radio transmitters, not one, and the famous beeping signal carried encoded information about temperature and pressure from sensors on board.
- The depiction of the Soviet side of the moon race in episode 4 is extremely simplistic - despite numerous competing programmes within the USSR, only Korolev's N-1 is even mentioned, its developmental history is mostly skipped (along with that of Von Braun's Saturn VSaturn VThe Saturn V was an American human-rated expendable rocket used by NASA's Apollo and Skylab programs from 1967 until 1973. A multistage liquid-fueled launch vehicle, NASA launched 13 Saturn Vs from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida with no loss of crew or payload...
), only one of its four prototype launches is mentioned, and many other underlying causes for the outcome of the moon race are ignored - only the rift between Korolev and Glushko, and the latter's refusal to develop large cryogenic engines for the N-1, is mentioned in any detail, along with Korolev's death. Only the launch vehicles for the moon shots (and the Soyuz capsule) are mentioned in detail; the development of other mission hardware such as the lunar landers themselves is not covered.
- Usage of period footage is inconsistent, in particular with regard to the R-7 and its variants - most often, footage of the R-7R-7 SemyorkaThe R-7 was a Soviet missile developed during the Cold War, and the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile. The R-7 made 28 launches between 1957 and 1961, but was never deployed operationally. A derivative, the R-7A, was deployed from 1960 to 1968...
in its modern Soyuz configuration is used to depict its use in earlier programmes with different hardware.
- During the de-orbit burn of Vostok 1, interior footage looking outward is shown as the de-orbit burn of the unmanned Gemini 2 mission.
- Soldiers from the United States Army shown in action in Germany at the end of the war are carrying a mixture of German World War II weapons, and Soviet post World War II weapons, namely the SKS Carbine.
- The scene in the first episode depicts a German V-2 being transported to a firing position. Later the start of the missile is shown. Instead of a V-2 a different missile was used for filming, possibly the R-11, being transported with a Soviet ZiL-157ZIL-157The ZIL-157 is a general purpose 2.5 ton 6x6 truck, produced in post-WW2 Soviet Russia.The ZIL-157 was the standard Soviet truck until it was replaced by the ZIL-131 and Ural-375D series whose became the standard Soviet army trucks alongside with GAZ-66. The People's Liberation Army also produced...
truck. This truck went into production in 1958, its styling was influenced by Studebaker and GMC models, and its look is very un-German. Unlike the V-2, the R-11 did not use liquid oxygen, thus it did not require a time-consuming pre-start fillup. Therefore the launch sequence is not true to historical facts. The same ZIL-157 vehicle is used in the scene of Peenemünde evacuation.
- Some of the inconsistencies appeared in the movie probably because the movie was filmed in Romania. For example, in the sequence with the steam train leaving the German station with scientists, one can read "CFR" on the locomotive, which stands for Căile Ferate RomâneCaile Ferate RomâneCăile Ferate Române is the official designation of the state railway carrier of Romania. Romania has a railway network of of which are electrified and the total track length is . The network is significantly interconnected with other European railway networks, providing pan-European passenger...
(Romanian Railways).
- The scene depicting a launch from Kapustin Yar, which is dated by 1948, includes vehicles that were not produced at that time, in particular the ZiL-157ZIL-157The ZIL-157 is a general purpose 2.5 ton 6x6 truck, produced in post-WW2 Soviet Russia.The ZIL-157 was the standard Soviet truck until it was replaced by the ZIL-131 and Ural-375D series whose became the standard Soviet army trucks alongside with GAZ-66. The People's Liberation Army also produced...
(1958), the ZiL-131 (1967) and the UAZ-469UAZ-469The UAZ-469 is an all-terrain vehicle manufactured by UAZ. It was used by the Red Army and other Warsaw Pact forces, as well as paramilitary units in Eastern Bloc countries. In the Soviet Union, it also saw widespread service in all state organizations that needed a robust off-road vehicle.The...
(1973).
- Gagarin states that he was born in SmolenskSmolenskSmolensk is a city and the administrative center of Smolensk Oblast, Russia, located on the Dnieper River. Situated west-southwest of Moscow, this walled city was destroyed several times throughout its long history since it was on the invasion routes of both Napoleon and Hitler. Today, Smolensk...
, Gzhatsk region. In fact he was born in KlushinoKlushinoKlushino is a village in Smolensk Oblast, Russia, situated on the old road between Vyazma and Mozhaysk, not far from Gzhatsk.It was the site of a major battle during the Russo-Polish War . The village is best known as the birthplace of Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut and the first man in...
, some 250 km east from Smolensk (the village is located within Smolensk OblastSmolensk OblastSmolensk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its area is . Population: -Geography:The administrative center of Smolensk Oblast is the city of Smolensk. Other ancient towns include Vyazma and Dorogobuzh....
).
- The space race is not unanimously considered to have ended with the first moon landing; US-Soviet competition continued with programmes such as the development of space stations and space shuttles. The race could be said to have finally ended with a transition from competition to cooperation in the Apollo-Soyuz joint project, or perhaps with the collapse of the USSR and thus the de facto end of the Soviet space programme, but neither stations, shuttles, Apollo-Soyuz nor Soviet collapse are mentioned in the series.
See also
- From the Earth to the Moon
- When We Left Earth: The NASA MissionsWhen We Left Earth: The NASA MissionsWhen We Left Earth: The NASA Missions or NASA's Greatest Missions: When We Left Earth in the UK is a Discovery Channel HD documentary miniseries consisting of six episodes documenting American human spaceflight, spanning from the first Mercury flights through the Gemini program to the Apollo moon...