Space Race
Space Race is a BBC docudrama series chronicling the major events and characters in the American/Soviet space race up to the first landing of a man on the moon. Focusing on Sergei Korolev, the Soviet chief rocket designer, and Wernher von Braun, his American counterpart, Space Race tells the story of the struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union's most powerful rocket design and thus to control the world during the Cold War. It consists of four episodes: Race for Rockets (1944-1949); Race for Satellites (1953-1958); Race for Survival (1959-1961); and Race for the Moon (1964-1969).
| Episode 1 - Race for Rockets (1944-1949) |
Episode 1 - Race for Rockets (1944-1949)
This episode shows the results of Wernher von Braun's work on the V-2 for the Nazis at Mittelwerk and Peenemunde, 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.
Episode 2 - Race for Satellites (1953-1958)
In the Soviet Union, Korolev designs and constructs the R-7 Semyorka, the first ICBM. He uses it to launch the first satellite, Sputnik 1. Meanwhile, von Braun struggles to persuade the US government to allow him to launch his own satellite. He launches the first American satellite, Explorer 1.
Episode 3 - Race for Survival (1959-1961)
Both the Americans and Soviets are planning manned space flight, and both sides prepare to do so with the development of the Vostok program (USSR) and Project Mercury (USA). The Soviets succeed in putting Yuri Gagarin into space first, and afterwards the Americans putting Alan Shepard.
Episode 4 - Race for the Moon (1964-1969)
Both the Americans and Soviets plan to put a man on the Moon. The Americans pull ahead in the space race with Project Gemini, and succeed in the first manned lunar landing, Apollo 11. Meanwhile, despite a few notable successes such as the first space walk by Alexei Leonov, the Soviet space program struggles to keep up amid internal strife.
| Related Links |
| Space Race - wikipedia The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States (US) for supremacy in space exploration. |
| When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions This is a Discovery Channel documentary series narrated by actor Gary Sinise, looking at the NASA missions about human spaceflight. |
| Moon Machines This is a Science Channel documentary series documenting the engineering challenges of the Apollo Program to land a man on the Moon. |
| The Planets Using film footage from space missions of the United States and Russia and computer generated graphics, this film tells a story of mankind's exploration of our solar system and reveals the wonders of the planets. |
| Discovering the Cosmos This is a Smithsonian Channel documentary series that urges us to prepare a new generation of space exploration. |
| A Traveller's Guide to the Planets This is a National Geographic documentary series hosted by Bray Poor, exploring the pleasures and pitfalls of travel to the planets of our Solar System. |
| Frontiers of Flight This is a Discovery Channel documentary series hosted by Mason Adams, about the history of aviation and early space flight. |