1 00:00:00,440 --> 00:00:02,800 Speaker 1: Nine Days in July is a production of I Heart 2 00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:06,920 Speaker 1: Radio and trade Craft Studios in association with High five Content. 3 00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,520 Speaker 1: April twenty third, nineteen sixty seven, cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhailovitch Camrav 4 00:00:13,800 --> 00:00:16,320 Speaker 1: has been in space for more than twenty four hours. 5 00:00:16,800 --> 00:00:19,560 Speaker 1: It has been the longest day of his life. No 6 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:21,639 Speaker 1: sooner had he reached shore of it than one of 7 00:00:21,680 --> 00:00:25,800 Speaker 1: his spacecraft's solar arrays failed to properly deploy. His ship 8 00:00:25,920 --> 00:00:29,520 Speaker 1: is now dangerously low on power. The partially deployed panel 9 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,960 Speaker 1: also obscured some critical navigation equipment, meaning Camrav is finding 10 00:00:33,960 --> 00:00:37,960 Speaker 1: it nearly impossible to steer. To make matters worse, his 11 00:00:38,040 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 1: communications equipment is not functioning properly. His spacecraft is, as 12 00:00:42,440 --> 00:00:45,320 Speaker 1: one Russian official will later call it, a piece of shit. 13 00:00:46,520 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: The thirty seven year old Colonel Camrav had been chosen 14 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: as the cosmonaut to ride aboard so Use, one the 15 00:00:52,200 --> 00:00:55,880 Speaker 1: Soviet's newest and most advanced spacecraft designed as part of 16 00:00:55,920 --> 00:00:59,520 Speaker 1: their effort to beat the Americans to the Moon. Urigageron, 17 00:00:59,760 --> 00:01:02,680 Speaker 1: the first man in space, and Camarad's best friend, was 18 00:01:02,800 --> 00:01:06,399 Speaker 1: chosen as his backup. As the launch day approached, it 19 00:01:06,440 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: was clear to Camrav and Gagaron that the spacecraft was 20 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:13,560 Speaker 1: not yet ready. The untested space vehicle was shodily constructed, 21 00:01:13,720 --> 00:01:16,959 Speaker 1: and the engineering team identified more than two hundred serious 22 00:01:16,959 --> 00:01:21,759 Speaker 1: structural problems, including the parachutes, which repeatedly failed to deploy correctly. 23 00:01:22,360 --> 00:01:26,080 Speaker 1: The three previous unmanned soy U's test flights had all failed. 24 00:01:26,800 --> 00:01:30,560 Speaker 1: Camarav and Gagaron drafted a letter outlining their concerns and 25 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,480 Speaker 1: asking that the mission be postponed until the issues could 26 00:01:33,480 --> 00:01:37,360 Speaker 1: be properly addressed, but it was quickly buried. The powers 27 00:01:37,400 --> 00:01:40,320 Speaker 1: that be wanted a bold triumph to celebrate the fiftieth 28 00:01:40,360 --> 00:01:44,640 Speaker 1: anniversary of the Communist Revolution, the mission would go forward. 29 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:48,560 Speaker 1: Before he departed, Comrade told a colleague that he was 30 00:01:48,600 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: not going to make it back from this flight. When 31 00:01:51,080 --> 00:01:53,920 Speaker 1: asked why he did not simply refuse the mission, Comrof 32 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:56,760 Speaker 1: said that if he did, Gagaron would go and die 33 00:01:56,840 --> 00:01:59,120 Speaker 1: in his place, and he could not do that to 34 00:01:59,240 --> 00:02:03,560 Speaker 1: his best friend. The previous morning, as Camrav waited inside 35 00:02:03,600 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: his Soyuz capsule conducting his pre flight checks, several witnesses 36 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,720 Speaker 1: claimed that Gagaron arrived at the launchpad demanding to take 37 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: his friend's place, but Gagarin was a national hero, and 38 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: there was no way that was ever going to happen. 39 00:02:17,320 --> 00:02:20,079 Speaker 1: After more than a day in orbit, wrestling with malfunction 40 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,280 Speaker 1: after malfunction, Soviet ground control orders Camrav to cut his 41 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:29,080 Speaker 1: mission short and return to Earth. After eighteen agonizing orbits, 42 00:02:29,280 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: Camarad fires his retrorockets and heads for home. After making 43 00:02:33,400 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: it safely through the Earth's supper atmosphere and with the 44 00:02:36,040 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: Russian countryside opening up beneath him, Camarav deploys his pear 45 00:02:39,680 --> 00:02:45,000 Speaker 1: shutes to slow his descent, but nothing happens. The shoot deploys, 46 00:02:45,000 --> 00:02:48,919 Speaker 1: but it doesn't inflate. Kamrav has a manually activated reserve 47 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:52,120 Speaker 1: shoot for just this sort of emergency. He yanks at loose, 48 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:55,440 Speaker 1: but it instantly becomes tangled with the trailing primary shooting, 49 00:02:56,400 --> 00:02:59,280 Speaker 1: Traveling at nearly ninety miles per hour, so use one 50 00:02:59,400 --> 00:03:02,720 Speaker 1: smashes into the Russian steps like a three ton meteorite. 51 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,639 Speaker 1: Rescue helicopter finds the wreckage by following a massive tower 52 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,880 Speaker 1: of black smoke. The capsule is burning so hot that 53 00:03:13,960 --> 00:03:18,120 Speaker 1: the metal has gone molted. What's left of Camrath looks 54 00:03:18,160 --> 00:03:21,760 Speaker 1: like a massive marshmallow burned to a misshapen cinder over 55 00:03:21,760 --> 00:03:25,799 Speaker 1: a campfire. Before his departure, he stipulated that if anything 56 00:03:25,800 --> 00:03:28,520 Speaker 1: should happen to him, his funeral would be open casket, 57 00:03:28,840 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: so that the Soviet leadership would be unable to hide 58 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:34,880 Speaker 1: what they had done. Vladimir Conrad is the first person 59 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:40,880 Speaker 1: to die in the Race for space. This is Apollo 60 00:03:40,960 --> 00:03:45,120 Speaker 1: control of one, seven hours, thirty nine minutes. Flight surgeon 61 00:03:45,160 --> 00:03:52,800 Speaker 1: reports that all three crewmen now are awake. Good morning eleven, 62 00:03:53,880 --> 00:03:57,560 Speaker 1: and about twenty four seconds from now, the spacecraft will 63 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: pass the imaginary line into the Earth's sphere of influence. 64 00:04:02,480 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: Mark you're leaving the learned there of influence over. This 65 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,120 Speaker 1: is the point that the Earth's gravity becomes stronger than 66 00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: that of the Moon and begins tugging our astronauts homeward. 67 00:04:11,680 --> 00:04:15,480 Speaker 1: At the time the spacecraft across to the Earth's sphere 68 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:20,479 Speaker 1: of influence Pollow eleven was about one seventy four thousand 69 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:25,400 Speaker 1: nautical miles from Earth. At the present time, the spacecraft 70 00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:28,240 Speaker 1: is traveling at a speed of three thousand, nine hundred 71 00:04:28,480 --> 00:04:32,320 Speaker 1: ninety four per second with respect to the Earth. If 72 00:04:32,360 --> 00:04:34,240 Speaker 1: you're not busy now, I can read you up the 73 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:39,960 Speaker 1: morning news. A follow eleven and still dominates the news 74 00:04:40,000 --> 00:04:43,760 Speaker 1: around the world. Only four and a commun China and 75 00:04:43,800 --> 00:04:47,839 Speaker 1: North Korea, North Vietnam in Albania have not yet informed 76 00:04:47,839 --> 00:04:50,040 Speaker 1: their citizens of your flight and landing on the Moon. 77 00:04:50,640 --> 00:04:53,520 Speaker 1: Can you imagine not knowing that such an astonishing feet 78 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:57,239 Speaker 1: took place, one of the greatest accomplishments in human history, 79 00:04:57,640 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: and hundreds of millions of people where didn't I had 80 00:05:00,200 --> 00:05:03,240 Speaker 1: the opportunity to celebrate the accomplishment with the rest of 81 00:05:03,240 --> 00:05:06,520 Speaker 1: the planet. Tonight, President Nix and the scheduled to watch 82 00:05:06,600 --> 00:05:10,120 Speaker 1: the All Star Baseball game in Kington. After the game, 83 00:05:10,160 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: he will depart for the Pacific Recovery Area and flying 84 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: to the Hornet in time to witness your flashdown. The 85 00:05:16,480 --> 00:05:19,279 Speaker 1: USS Hornet is the aircraft carrier in charge of recovering 86 00:05:19,279 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: Apollo eleven when it splashes down in two and a 87 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:25,599 Speaker 1: half more days. McCandless has one last bit of news. 88 00:05:26,240 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: Lunar fifteen is believed to have cracked into the state 89 00:05:28,960 --> 00:05:32,520 Speaker 1: of crisis yesterday, after all being the Moon fifty two times. 90 00:05:32,760 --> 00:05:35,599 Speaker 1: When Apollo eleven reached the Moon three days ago, the 91 00:05:35,680 --> 00:05:38,560 Speaker 1: Russians were already there, or at least one of their 92 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:44,200 Speaker 1: spacecraft was Luna fifteen was launched just days before Apollo 93 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:49,640 Speaker 1: eleven launch, so you had essentially in July nine two 94 00:05:49,800 --> 00:05:53,560 Speaker 1: missions to the Moon. That's awesome, Siddiki. I'm a professor 95 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:56,320 Speaker 1: of history at Fordam University in New York. I reade 96 00:05:56,400 --> 00:05:59,400 Speaker 1: quite a bit about the history of space exploration, including 97 00:05:59,480 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: the Russians side of things. The Americans sent Neil Buzz 98 00:06:02,440 --> 00:06:05,760 Speaker 1: and Michael Apollo eleven, and the Russians, in a last 99 00:06:05,880 --> 00:06:09,400 Speaker 1: ditch effort to win the space race, launched Lunar fifteen, 100 00:06:09,480 --> 00:06:12,240 Speaker 1: which was essentially designed to go to the Moon. Going 101 00:06:12,279 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 1: to its orbit, the lander was supposed to come down, 102 00:06:15,080 --> 00:06:18,320 Speaker 1: scoop up some soil, and lift off and fly directly 103 00:06:18,360 --> 00:06:20,960 Speaker 1: back to the Earth, so they would bring back lunar 104 00:06:21,040 --> 00:06:23,919 Speaker 1: soil before Apollo leven, showing the world that you know, 105 00:06:24,040 --> 00:06:26,880 Speaker 1: you guys wasted all this money to lend guys on 106 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:28,800 Speaker 1: the Moon, but we got it back, you know, cheaper 107 00:06:28,839 --> 00:06:36,400 Speaker 1: and safer. That's not what happened. Bernard Level at General 108 00:06:36,520 --> 00:06:39,720 Speaker 1: Blank Observatory said that Lunar fifteen hit the surface of 109 00:06:39,800 --> 00:06:43,360 Speaker 1: the Moon at a speed of about three as it 110 00:06:43,440 --> 00:06:48,080 Speaker 1: was descending to the Moon. It essentially crashed into a mountain. 111 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 1: It's July nineteen sixty nine, day seven of the Apollo 112 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: eleven mission. It's time to talk about the space race. 113 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,880 Speaker 1: That's a term we're all familiar with, but for most Americans, 114 00:07:00,200 --> 00:07:02,160 Speaker 1: the only part of the space race they really know 115 00:07:02,640 --> 00:07:06,000 Speaker 1: is who crossed the finish line first. But that means 116 00:07:06,040 --> 00:07:08,680 Speaker 1: that everything that led up to that moment is overlooked. 117 00:07:09,240 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: After all, a race presupposes more than one competitor. Today, 118 00:07:13,760 --> 00:07:15,920 Speaker 1: we are going to take a look at what launched 119 00:07:15,960 --> 00:07:18,720 Speaker 1: the space race and some of the major milestones that 120 00:07:18,840 --> 00:07:21,760 Speaker 1: built up to the moon landing. And we'll be paying 121 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:25,600 Speaker 1: special attention to the Russian side, because the USSR beat 122 00:07:25,640 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: America to just about every significant first in space milestone 123 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:32,640 Speaker 1: there is. But to really understand where all this starts, 124 00:07:33,080 --> 00:07:35,160 Speaker 1: we have to go back to the end of World 125 00:07:35,200 --> 00:07:38,040 Speaker 1: War Two. Even though the Soviets have been our allies 126 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 1: during World War Two, it becomes quickly apparently the Soviets 127 00:07:40,640 --> 00:07:42,840 Speaker 1: keeps saying, you know, they're going to crush the West 128 00:07:42,880 --> 00:07:45,600 Speaker 1: and communism will rule in the future, and the U 129 00:07:45,680 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: s s, oh, you want that's NASA historian Bill Berry. 130 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,320 Speaker 1: The Cold War happens after the end of World War Two, 131 00:07:52,400 --> 00:07:56,120 Speaker 1: largely because nuclear weapons appearing, and people realize that World 132 00:07:56,120 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: War two is bad enough to start with, but then 133 00:07:57,760 --> 00:08:01,600 Speaker 1: it ends with with these city killer weapons, and people 134 00:08:02,160 --> 00:08:04,040 Speaker 1: are scared it. It's like, we can't afford to have 135 00:08:04,040 --> 00:08:06,840 Speaker 1: another war like this again. It's just too destructive. So 136 00:08:07,080 --> 00:08:11,320 Speaker 1: lines get drawn, armies are built on both sides with 137 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:13,840 Speaker 1: you know, nuclear weapons pointed at each other, but nobody 138 00:08:13,880 --> 00:08:16,880 Speaker 1: wants to actually engage in a fight. The Communist Party 139 00:08:16,920 --> 00:08:19,800 Speaker 1: of the United States is far better organized and where 140 00:08:19,800 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: the next is in occupied countries prior to their capitulation, 141 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:28,000 Speaker 1: their goal is the overthrow of our government. But we're 142 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:31,240 Speaker 1: getting a bit ahead of ourselves. Germany had developed a 143 00:08:31,400 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: terrifying new weapon in the final days of World War Two, 144 00:08:34,880 --> 00:08:38,120 Speaker 1: the V two, or Vengeance Weapons. The V two was 145 00:08:38,160 --> 00:08:42,679 Speaker 1: the world's first long range, supersonic guided ballistic missile. At 146 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:46,360 Speaker 1: the end of World War Two, the Allies decided, we 147 00:08:46,400 --> 00:08:47,719 Speaker 1: need to go find out what the heck they were 148 00:08:47,720 --> 00:08:50,600 Speaker 1: doing and make sure this technology gets gets collected for us, 149 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,080 Speaker 1: because it's clear at the end of the war with 150 00:08:53,200 --> 00:08:56,440 Speaker 1: nuclear weapons that if you get surprised in warfare after 151 00:08:56,440 --> 00:08:59,160 Speaker 1: World War Two, it's likely to be over. You know, 152 00:08:59,200 --> 00:09:01,120 Speaker 1: if somebody launches bunch of nuclear weapons and you get 153 00:09:01,160 --> 00:09:04,400 Speaker 1: caught by surprise. That's it. One of the men responsible 154 00:09:04,440 --> 00:09:07,240 Speaker 1: for the creation of the V two was Werner von Braun. 155 00:09:07,840 --> 00:09:11,000 Speaker 1: He came from an aristocratic German family. He was what 156 00:09:11,040 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 1: we would today called maybe a space enthusiast. From a 157 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,880 Speaker 1: young age, he was willianto cosmic things. Um he gets 158 00:09:16,880 --> 00:09:20,840 Speaker 1: involved in an amateur rocketry group. He realizes that the 159 00:09:20,840 --> 00:09:22,840 Speaker 1: only way he's going to get money to build rockets 160 00:09:22,840 --> 00:09:25,200 Speaker 1: is to work with the German military. About the time 161 00:09:25,200 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: he does that, the Nazi Party takes over. They see 162 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: that this is a very bright young guy, and he 163 00:09:31,240 --> 00:09:34,560 Speaker 1: good moves upward through their rocket program until he's heading 164 00:09:34,840 --> 00:09:37,440 Speaker 1: the V two design projects. He wants to go to space, 165 00:09:37,480 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: but he's now building rockets for this regime. Hitler directed 166 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:44,760 Speaker 1: thousands of V two attacks against targets in Belgium, France, 167 00:09:44,960 --> 00:09:48,200 Speaker 1: the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. London was among the 168 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,160 Speaker 1: city's most heavily bombed, killing more than twenty people and 169 00:09:52,280 --> 00:09:55,800 Speaker 1: injuring three times that amount. In all, it is estimated 170 00:09:55,840 --> 00:09:59,040 Speaker 1: that nine thousand civilians and military personnel were killed in 171 00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 1: V two attacks too. Another holy indiscriminate weapon. It's a 172 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,320 Speaker 1: truly typical effort of the immortally injured Nazi beast to 173 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:10,679 Speaker 1: attempt to tear down everything as he goes under. And 174 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:14,439 Speaker 1: actually actually more people died building V two rockets than 175 00:10:14,640 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: died in the attacks with the V two rockets. Some 176 00:10:17,080 --> 00:10:21,280 Speaker 1: twelve thousand concentration camp prisoners and forced laborers perished building 177 00:10:21,280 --> 00:10:25,120 Speaker 1: the V two and von Braun clearly knew about this stuff. 178 00:10:25,400 --> 00:10:27,040 Speaker 1: He knew what he wanted to do, which was to 179 00:10:27,040 --> 00:10:30,360 Speaker 1: get to space, and I think he made compromises along 180 00:10:30,360 --> 00:10:33,600 Speaker 1: the way to achieve that goal. I think, ultimately I 181 00:10:33,600 --> 00:10:36,560 Speaker 1: would say he's an opportunist in the sense that he 182 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:39,160 Speaker 1: was willing to compromise in order to achieve his dream 183 00:10:39,160 --> 00:10:41,319 Speaker 1: of space, and I think to the end of his 184 00:10:41,720 --> 00:10:45,560 Speaker 1: days he probably believed that his compromises were worth it. 185 00:10:46,040 --> 00:10:49,400 Speaker 1: The military had a list of German scientists and engineers 186 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 1: that they wanted to interrogate, and Verne von Braun was 187 00:10:52,440 --> 00:10:55,240 Speaker 1: at the top of that list. When it was clear 188 00:10:55,280 --> 00:10:57,920 Speaker 1: that Germany was about to fall, von Braun, in more 189 00:10:57,960 --> 00:11:00,679 Speaker 1: than one hundred of his V two colleagues sought out 190 00:11:00,679 --> 00:11:04,559 Speaker 1: American forces and surrendered. They wanted to avoid falling into 191 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:06,720 Speaker 1: the hands of the Soviet Army, which was less than 192 00:11:06,760 --> 00:11:10,200 Speaker 1: one hundred miles away. They provided the Americans with rocket 193 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:14,079 Speaker 1: blueprints and many of the missiles themselves generalize and hower 194 00:11:14,200 --> 00:11:18,120 Speaker 1: and farms. May that the forces of German they have surrendered. 195 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:23,080 Speaker 1: The flags of freedom fly all over Europe. The Nazis 196 00:11:23,080 --> 00:11:26,560 Speaker 1: surrendered late in April of nineteen forty, the same month 197 00:11:26,640 --> 00:11:29,880 Speaker 1: that Franklin Delano Roosevelt died and Harry Truman took over 198 00:11:29,880 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 1: in the Oval Office. The War Department secretly smuggled von 199 00:11:33,400 --> 00:11:36,240 Speaker 1: Braun and more than three hundred rail cars of his 200 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:39,439 Speaker 1: hardware out of Germany. They didn't even tell the new 201 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: president what they were doing. Somebody in the US government 202 00:11:42,440 --> 00:11:45,120 Speaker 1: decides that they're The connections of these people to the 203 00:11:45,240 --> 00:11:47,679 Speaker 1: Nazi Party in Germany is not something we really want 204 00:11:47,720 --> 00:11:50,040 Speaker 1: to talk about anymore, because they're kind of useful to us, 205 00:11:50,040 --> 00:11:52,560 Speaker 1: and we want to have them stay here and help 206 00:11:52,600 --> 00:11:54,959 Speaker 1: with our missile programs, and so they go to work 207 00:11:55,000 --> 00:11:58,040 Speaker 1: for the U. S. Army. This was Operation paper Clip, 208 00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:01,560 Speaker 1: a covert American program to use the Nazis knowledge and 209 00:12:01,640 --> 00:12:05,400 Speaker 1: know how to design weapons for the United States. The OSS, 210 00:12:05,440 --> 00:12:08,760 Speaker 1: which is the predecessor to the CIA. They basically whitewashed 211 00:12:08,800 --> 00:12:10,800 Speaker 1: a lot of the personal records as a lot of 212 00:12:10,800 --> 00:12:13,960 Speaker 1: these engineers, and some of whom were rather dubious. The 213 00:12:14,000 --> 00:12:17,320 Speaker 1: Germans ended up at Fort Bliss in Texas. For the 214 00:12:17,320 --> 00:12:19,599 Speaker 1: first several years, they were not allowed to leave the 215 00:12:19,640 --> 00:12:23,160 Speaker 1: base without a military escort. They referred to themselves as 216 00:12:23,200 --> 00:12:27,520 Speaker 1: p o p s Prisoners of peace. Used to being coddled, 217 00:12:27,800 --> 00:12:30,520 Speaker 1: von Braun now had to answer to far younger, far 218 00:12:30,600 --> 00:12:34,800 Speaker 1: less experienced Army officers. But what truly rankled him was 219 00:12:34,840 --> 00:12:37,040 Speaker 1: the fact that the Army was only interested in his 220 00:12:37,160 --> 00:12:41,600 Speaker 1: missile technology and continually dismissed every proposal he put forward 221 00:12:41,880 --> 00:12:45,800 Speaker 1: for rockets designed for space. Launching human beings into the 222 00:12:45,800 --> 00:12:51,000 Speaker 1: cosmos was still his overwriting ambition. When the Korean War 223 00:12:51,080 --> 00:12:53,760 Speaker 1: broke out in nineteen fifty, von Braun and his team 224 00:12:53,800 --> 00:12:57,040 Speaker 1: were transferred to Huntsville, Alabama. He was put in charge 225 00:12:57,040 --> 00:13:00,720 Speaker 1: of the Army's rocket development team, designing a Erica's first 226 00:13:00,960 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 1: large ballistic missile, the red Stone. Finally, he saw a 227 00:13:05,320 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 1: way to begin setting the stage for lift vehicles capable 228 00:13:08,720 --> 00:13:13,400 Speaker 1: of handling massive payloads. The stuff of popular science fiction 229 00:13:13,720 --> 00:13:24,040 Speaker 1: suddenly felt within Arm's reach. This is a follow Control 230 00:13:24,120 --> 00:13:27,920 Speaker 1: at one eight hours, fifty eight minutes. At the present 231 00:13:27,960 --> 00:13:31,040 Speaker 1: time of follow eleven has one seventy two thousand, six 232 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,200 Speaker 1: hundred fifty four nautical miles from the Earth, traveling at 233 00:13:35,200 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 1: a speed of four thousand seventeen ft per second. Given 234 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:41,320 Speaker 1: that there is little to do in the spacecraft, mission 235 00:13:41,320 --> 00:13:44,040 Speaker 1: Control decides it's the perfect time to pick Neil and 236 00:13:44,080 --> 00:13:48,719 Speaker 1: Buzz's brains about some nagging Moon questions. Under sixty four 237 00:13:48,760 --> 00:13:52,079 Speaker 1: thousand dollars, we're still trying to work out the location 238 00:13:52,120 --> 00:13:55,320 Speaker 1: of your landing site. We think it is located on 239 00:13:55,600 --> 00:14:00,360 Speaker 1: l am To chart at Juliett Desmal five and seven 240 00:14:00,520 --> 00:14:03,240 Speaker 1: point eight. For the twenty one hours that the Eagle 241 00:14:03,320 --> 00:14:05,680 Speaker 1: was on the Moon, no one knew where they were. 242 00:14:06,400 --> 00:14:09,720 Speaker 1: Remember that they overshot their landing site by four miles 243 00:14:09,840 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 1: and had to set down at the first available opening 244 00:14:12,320 --> 00:14:15,400 Speaker 1: given their fuel state. While he was in orbit, Michael 245 00:14:15,400 --> 00:14:17,600 Speaker 1: had been tasked to look for his colleagues with each 246 00:14:17,640 --> 00:14:20,200 Speaker 1: pass he made over the Sea of Tranquility, but he 247 00:14:20,280 --> 00:14:22,960 Speaker 1: was never able to find them. Bruce McCandless and the 248 00:14:23,000 --> 00:14:25,520 Speaker 1: rest of Mission Control is still trying to figure out 249 00:14:25,600 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: where humanity's first lunar footprints are the position which I 250 00:14:30,240 --> 00:14:35,680 Speaker 1: just gave you is plightly. What of West Crater? I 251 00:14:35,720 --> 00:14:37,760 Speaker 1: think that it's flagly that that might have been West 252 00:14:37,800 --> 00:14:41,640 Speaker 1: Crater that we went across the landing. The flight plan 253 00:14:41,760 --> 00:14:46,520 Speaker 1: has relatively few activities scheduled for now through the beginning 254 00:14:46,520 --> 00:14:50,560 Speaker 1: of the cruise sleep period. Tonight boredom. That's not something 255 00:14:50,560 --> 00:14:53,080 Speaker 1: these guys, be they in Apollo eleven or Mission Control, 256 00:14:53,280 --> 00:14:55,720 Speaker 1: are used to feeling. But I'm sure it's a welcome 257 00:14:55,840 --> 00:14:59,840 Speaker 1: change from the past week. So let's oh, we were 258 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:06,240 Speaker 1: think you up there there getting writer and writer, and 259 00:15:08,160 --> 00:15:10,920 Speaker 1: we're not done talking about Verner von Braun, But right 260 00:15:10,920 --> 00:15:13,160 Speaker 1: now it's time to take a peek behind the Iron 261 00:15:13,200 --> 00:15:16,800 Speaker 1: curtain and check in on the Soviets. As it turned out, 262 00:15:17,040 --> 00:15:19,680 Speaker 1: the Soviets had their own version of Operations paper Clip, 263 00:15:19,960 --> 00:15:24,480 Speaker 1: dubbed Operation Asiovikim. On a single night in nineteen forty six, 264 00:15:24,840 --> 00:15:27,800 Speaker 1: the Soviets recruited more than twenty two hundred German V 265 00:15:27,880 --> 00:15:31,240 Speaker 1: two rocket scientists. And when I say recruited, I mean 266 00:15:31,680 --> 00:15:35,480 Speaker 1: kidnapped several hundred Germans and put them on trains and 267 00:15:35,520 --> 00:15:38,680 Speaker 1: took them back to the Soviet Union, and they put 268 00:15:38,720 --> 00:15:41,680 Speaker 1: them in teams through reverse engineering this rocket. The man 269 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:46,160 Speaker 1: in charge of operation Asiovikim was Sergey Pavlovitch Korlev Serga 270 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:50,600 Speaker 1: Karlov in many ways of counterpart to von Braun, very 271 00:15:50,680 --> 00:15:54,360 Speaker 1: charismatic person like von Braun, a very good organizer. He 272 00:15:54,640 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 1: was able to inspire people even when he was really young. 273 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,280 Speaker 1: He walked in the room, people knew that this guy 274 00:15:59,320 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: was something special. Kra Lev was born in nineteen o seven. 275 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:05,440 Speaker 1: He fell in love with flying as a child and 276 00:16:05,520 --> 00:16:09,600 Speaker 1: began taking flying lessons at sixteen. He later studied under 277 00:16:09,600 --> 00:16:13,440 Speaker 1: the pioneering Soviet aviation designer Andre Tupolev, who would go 278 00:16:13,480 --> 00:16:17,400 Speaker 1: on to design many of Russia's most iconic aircraft. His 279 00:16:17,520 --> 00:16:20,320 Speaker 1: interest in space began while working as the lead engineer 280 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:24,640 Speaker 1: on one of Tupolev's bombers. What if he wondered, liquid 281 00:16:24,720 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: fueled rocket engines could be used to allow the bomber 282 00:16:27,680 --> 00:16:31,960 Speaker 1: to fly higher, further faster forms. This amateur group in 283 00:16:33,840 --> 00:16:36,080 Speaker 1: just a bunch of young guys in their twenties getting 284 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:40,000 Speaker 1: together building rockets on their own, you know, melting silverware 285 00:16:40,360 --> 00:16:42,600 Speaker 1: at home to build rocket carts and things. And then 286 00:16:42,640 --> 00:16:45,920 Speaker 1: they get snatched up by the Stalinist government who recognizes 287 00:16:46,000 --> 00:16:49,160 Speaker 1: that these guys are smart, and they get repurposed into 288 00:16:49,200 --> 00:16:52,840 Speaker 1: an actual design institute to build rockets. There's no space 289 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:56,040 Speaker 1: at this moment. It's about rockets for war. Cora Leev 290 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,800 Speaker 1: was not interested in making weapons, but his group saw 291 00:16:58,840 --> 00:17:01,760 Speaker 1: the research as a means to an end, and then 292 00:17:02,120 --> 00:17:05,000 Speaker 1: his life took a darker turn. The shadow of the 293 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:09,879 Speaker 1: Great Purge those upon the nation. There's a nationwide great 294 00:17:10,040 --> 00:17:13,240 Speaker 1: purge going on in nineteen thirty eight. Hundreds of thousands 295 00:17:13,240 --> 00:17:16,000 Speaker 1: of people are arrested on false charges. It's kind of 296 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,200 Speaker 1: the apex of Stalinist paranoia, but a lot of people 297 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:21,159 Speaker 1: lose their lives. Karlav was one of those sort of 298 00:17:21,200 --> 00:17:25,880 Speaker 1: caught up stadions. Enemies real and imaginary are executed hundreds 299 00:17:25,920 --> 00:17:29,840 Speaker 1: of thousands tall in the Blood Path. Korlv was falsely 300 00:17:29,880 --> 00:17:33,160 Speaker 1: accused and the newly married father of an infant daughter 301 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:35,840 Speaker 1: was sentenced to be shot, but on the day of 302 00:17:35,840 --> 00:17:39,119 Speaker 1: the execution, his actual sentence was commuted and he was 303 00:17:39,160 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 1: a sentenced to ten years in a gulaub camp. So 304 00:17:41,400 --> 00:17:45,280 Speaker 1: he got sent off to Siberia, a brutal, brutal camp 305 00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:49,159 Speaker 1: where he works as a gold digger, and he loses 306 00:17:49,200 --> 00:17:51,880 Speaker 1: a lot of his teeth has scurvy, he has injuries 307 00:17:51,920 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 1: on his head and neck, and all sorts of horrible 308 00:17:54,400 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: things happened to him. Emaciated and near death, Korlav was 309 00:17:58,359 --> 00:18:01,159 Speaker 1: saved when he was transferred to a special gulag for 310 00:18:01,320 --> 00:18:04,000 Speaker 1: learned intellectuals who might be of use to the state. 311 00:18:04,200 --> 00:18:06,040 Speaker 1: I don't think he ever got over that. He was 312 00:18:06,080 --> 00:18:09,359 Speaker 1: a very hard hitted, you know, rude person. He didn't 313 00:18:09,359 --> 00:18:11,880 Speaker 1: have time for people who were just screwing around wasting time. 314 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:15,760 Speaker 1: In ninety four, shortly before the end of World War Two, 315 00:18:16,280 --> 00:18:19,960 Speaker 1: kor Lev was freed and ordered to begin designing ballistic missiles. 316 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,439 Speaker 1: One of his first duties was traveling to Germany to 317 00:18:23,480 --> 00:18:27,840 Speaker 1: help the Soviets collect as much information, manufacturing, and engineering 318 00:18:27,880 --> 00:18:31,240 Speaker 1: on the V two program as possible. The Russians started 319 00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:34,600 Speaker 1: by reverse engineering the V two, creating ever larger, more 320 00:18:34,640 --> 00:18:38,440 Speaker 1: powerful vehicles, and he rose through the ranks until he 321 00:18:38,480 --> 00:18:41,080 Speaker 1: was a really important guy by the mid fifties. Tis 322 00:18:41,080 --> 00:18:44,440 Speaker 1: passed in the prison was eventually sort of blotted out. 323 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,040 Speaker 1: While the Soviet government was keen on intercontinental ballistic missiles, 324 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:52,040 Speaker 1: kor Lev, like von Braun, recognized that the same technology 325 00:18:52,080 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: could with only a few modifications launch probes or even 326 00:18:56,160 --> 00:19:00,560 Speaker 1: people into space, but the Kremlin had no interest in 327 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:04,520 Speaker 1: his outlandish ideas. That was until the US declared its 328 00:19:04,520 --> 00:19:08,359 Speaker 1: intent to launch the first ever artificial satellite into outer space. 329 00:19:09,000 --> 00:19:12,040 Speaker 1: It was mostly hot air. The Americans technology did not 330 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,640 Speaker 1: yet match their robust rhetoric, but coral V was confident 331 00:19:15,720 --> 00:19:17,880 Speaker 1: that with what he and his team had already designed, 332 00:19:18,080 --> 00:19:26,280 Speaker 1: Russia could embarrass the Americans and get to space first. Today, 333 00:19:26,320 --> 00:19:28,400 Speaker 1: a new moon is in the sky, a twenty three 334 00:19:28,440 --> 00:19:31,359 Speaker 1: inch metal sphere placed in orbit by a Russian rocket. 335 00:19:31,880 --> 00:19:34,560 Speaker 1: You are hearing the actual signals transmitted by the Earth 336 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:38,840 Speaker 1: circling satellite, one of the great scientific feats of the age. 337 00:19:39,160 --> 00:19:43,399 Speaker 1: On October fifth, ninety seven, the Soviet Union stunned the 338 00:19:43,400 --> 00:19:47,080 Speaker 1: world by launching Sputnik, the first human made object to 339 00:19:47,200 --> 00:19:50,520 Speaker 1: ever orbit the Earth. As it did so, Sputnik sent 340 00:19:50,560 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: out a distinctive beeping sound that could be heard by 341 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:57,520 Speaker 1: anyone with a simple Ham radio. For Washington, the sound 342 00:19:57,640 --> 00:20:00,640 Speaker 1: was terrifying. When the news gets to the s all 343 00:20:00,680 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: held bricks loose and people are kind of freaking out 344 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 1: because if they can put a satellite into space, they 345 00:20:06,080 --> 00:20:07,880 Speaker 1: could put a bomb into space and they could land 346 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:10,800 Speaker 1: on you know, Oklahoma, ar Kansas. America wouldn't get its 347 00:20:10,800 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: first satellite, Explore one, into space until four months later, 348 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:18,400 Speaker 1: aboard a Jupiter sea rocket designed by who else, Erni 349 00:20:18,440 --> 00:20:22,680 Speaker 1: von Braun. Do you have ange an American? I've been 350 00:20:22,760 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 1: so await, pray for work for as the Army successful 351 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:32,200 Speaker 1: launching a Victor one, but by that time Russia had 352 00:20:32,240 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: already one up to them. Sputting one is launched on 353 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 1: October four, and once the Soviets realized that it was 354 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:44,320 Speaker 1: a very powerful pr tool, they wanted to do it again. 355 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 1: And Nikita Krushchov, who was the chairman of the Communist 356 00:20:46,920 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 1: Party at the time, he calls in carla Evin says 357 00:20:49,720 --> 00:20:52,479 Speaker 1: can you do this again? And Carlos says yes, and 358 00:20:52,520 --> 00:20:54,439 Speaker 1: I can do you one better. I could put a 359 00:20:54,480 --> 00:20:58,640 Speaker 1: little animal into this satellite. And so Sputting two was designed, 360 00:20:58,640 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: built and launched, and US than a month nine fifty 361 00:21:05,080 --> 00:21:08,680 Speaker 1: seven year of space and Sputnik dogs, like a first 362 00:21:08,720 --> 00:21:11,800 Speaker 1: space traveler, was ready for the takeoff. Nestled the board 363 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:16,360 Speaker 1: was like a stray dog plucked off the streets of Moscow. Unfortunately, 364 00:21:16,640 --> 00:21:19,040 Speaker 1: the Soviets had not yet developed the technology to get 365 00:21:19,080 --> 00:21:21,480 Speaker 1: like a back home again. And she died in orbit. 366 00:21:21,840 --> 00:21:24,640 Speaker 1: And some people say, wow, okay, I think that goes 367 00:21:24,680 --> 00:21:26,920 Speaker 1: deep in the night is one thing. But a live 368 00:21:26,960 --> 00:21:28,720 Speaker 1: dog go on into space. What does that tell us 369 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:31,360 Speaker 1: about how advanced their program is and what their objectives 370 00:21:31,400 --> 00:21:35,320 Speaker 1: are in space? And suddenly the Sputnik situation goes from 371 00:21:35,359 --> 00:21:38,879 Speaker 1: being sort of a curiosity a concern to being a 372 00:21:38,920 --> 00:21:42,760 Speaker 1: major crisis. Sputnik one and two were like giant wrecking 373 00:21:42,760 --> 00:21:46,719 Speaker 1: balls to America's pride. Suddenly a new front was opened 374 00:21:46,720 --> 00:21:50,040 Speaker 1: in the Cold War. The space race. In the rocket's 375 00:21:50,080 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 1: finery wake was America's sober realization that the battle had 376 00:21:53,640 --> 00:21:56,600 Speaker 1: just been joined and that the work of self preservation 377 00:21:56,760 --> 00:22:01,840 Speaker 1: was at hand. It's based historian Amy share a title. 378 00:22:02,200 --> 00:22:05,320 Speaker 1: So it became this push to figure out, well, you know, 379 00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,960 Speaker 1: we have to show our dominance in space, because dominance 380 00:22:07,960 --> 00:22:11,760 Speaker 1: in space is dominance in technology, dominance in rockets which 381 00:22:11,760 --> 00:22:15,520 Speaker 1: are missiles, dominance and our ability to solve problems and 382 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:19,240 Speaker 1: show that we're the strongest, best nation. And so the 383 00:22:19,320 --> 00:22:22,040 Speaker 1: United States and the Soviet Union, their competition on which 384 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:25,439 Speaker 1: system or government is going to win out gets tied 385 00:22:25,480 --> 00:22:28,040 Speaker 1: to space. And of course The Soviets love this idea 386 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 1: at the beginning, because they're ahead, von Braun and corals 387 00:22:30,840 --> 00:22:34,360 Speaker 1: wacky ideas about humans in space didn't sound so wacky 388 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,440 Speaker 1: to their respective governments anymore. One of the things that 389 00:22:37,680 --> 00:22:40,800 Speaker 1: happens as a response to spot Nick is the creation 390 00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:44,040 Speaker 1: of NASA immediately within less than a year in October. 391 00:22:45,200 --> 00:22:47,520 Speaker 1: But now we have come to a new day, and 392 00:22:47,600 --> 00:22:50,200 Speaker 1: I say it is to become part of a new agency, 393 00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:54,359 Speaker 1: the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Right out of the gate, 394 00:22:54,680 --> 00:22:59,080 Speaker 1: NASA launched the Mercury program, developing one man space capsules 395 00:22:59,160 --> 00:23:01,879 Speaker 1: designed to prove that humans can live and work in space. 396 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:05,520 Speaker 1: Von Braun and his team were moved under NASA's umbrella. 397 00:23:05,880 --> 00:23:08,840 Speaker 1: He became the director of the new Martial Space Flight Center, 398 00:23:09,080 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 1: developing ever larger rockets, and though no one was asking 399 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:15,600 Speaker 1: for it yet, he began drafting plans for his magnum Opus, 400 00:23:16,080 --> 00:23:20,040 Speaker 1: the Saturn operations paper clips. Former Nazis were no longer 401 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:25,120 Speaker 1: advising Americans, they were leading them back in Russia. Korlav 402 00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:29,040 Speaker 1: was also promoted. He essentially leads the Soviet space program 403 00:23:29,080 --> 00:23:32,280 Speaker 1: for the next ten years or so, not that anyone 404 00:23:32,320 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: in the West knew who he was. His name was 405 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:38,800 Speaker 1: never mentioned in Russian newspapers anywhere. He was just called 406 00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:43,360 Speaker 1: the chief designer. Official reason given why they didn't disclose 407 00:23:43,440 --> 00:23:45,840 Speaker 1: his name was that, you know, they were afraid that 408 00:23:45,880 --> 00:23:49,159 Speaker 1: the CIA would come and kidnap him or something terrible 409 00:23:49,200 --> 00:23:52,200 Speaker 1: would happen. In fact, even many of the Russian engineers 410 00:23:52,200 --> 00:23:55,800 Speaker 1: who worked beside Karlav didn't know who he was. This 411 00:23:56,000 --> 00:23:58,920 Speaker 1: only added to his mystique. And the Soviets they didn't 412 00:23:58,920 --> 00:24:01,360 Speaker 1: have anywhere near the side program at the United States had. 413 00:24:01,600 --> 00:24:04,160 Speaker 1: They were brilliant, and they were very nimble, and they're 414 00:24:04,200 --> 00:24:06,400 Speaker 1: watching very carefully what the United States just doing to say, 415 00:24:06,440 --> 00:24:08,479 Speaker 1: what can we do to outdo the United States? Up 416 00:24:08,520 --> 00:24:12,560 Speaker 1: until nineteen so we didn't really have a human spacefight program. 417 00:24:12,600 --> 00:24:14,240 Speaker 1: They had a what can we do to embarrassing the 418 00:24:14,280 --> 00:24:17,480 Speaker 1: United States program. Nineteen fifty nine was a very good 419 00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,400 Speaker 1: year for coral Lev and the Russians. The Luna program 420 00:24:20,480 --> 00:24:23,800 Speaker 1: was their robotics program to explore the Moon. The first 421 00:24:23,880 --> 00:24:26,280 Speaker 1: goal they wanted to do us to just impact the 422 00:24:26,280 --> 00:24:29,000 Speaker 1: surface of the Moon, which was a very difficult navigational 423 00:24:29,000 --> 00:24:31,480 Speaker 1: problem because the Moon is moving around the Earth. And 424 00:24:31,520 --> 00:24:34,199 Speaker 1: they did that with Luna to the Luna three was 425 00:24:34,240 --> 00:24:37,040 Speaker 1: a really ingenious spaceship essensed to spun around the back 426 00:24:37,040 --> 00:24:39,560 Speaker 1: of the Moon, photographed it, and transmitted the picture back 427 00:24:39,600 --> 00:24:42,040 Speaker 1: to the Earth. This was the first time anyone had 428 00:24:42,040 --> 00:24:45,240 Speaker 1: seen the Moon up close. In addition to the Luna probes, 429 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:48,280 Speaker 1: Coral lev also began working on the N one, a 430 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:52,679 Speaker 1: profoundly powerful rocket capable of escaping Earth's gravity. Well, the 431 00:24:52,840 --> 00:24:55,400 Speaker 1: end one was the response to the Saturn five. It's 432 00:24:55,440 --> 00:24:59,880 Speaker 1: a giant rocket capable of ultimately launching about metric ton 433 00:25:00,040 --> 00:25:11,240 Speaker 1: since Earth or bid. Truly a great leader, a great name. 434 00:25:11,840 --> 00:25:17,720 Speaker 1: Yah MC president to John F. Canada as a new 435 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,760 Speaker 1: decade dawn. John F. Kennedy ran for President of the 436 00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,960 Speaker 1: United States on a platform pledging to close the space 437 00:25:24,040 --> 00:25:28,480 Speaker 1: race gap and move America into first place. The Americans 438 00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:31,719 Speaker 1: ushered in nineteen sixty one, not with a dog in space, 439 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:35,919 Speaker 1: but with a chimp named ham M has done it. 440 00:25:36,080 --> 00:25:39,119 Speaker 1: He has moved man closer than ever before to his 441 00:25:39,240 --> 00:25:42,879 Speaker 1: age old dream of traveling the heavens Now it was 442 00:25:42,920 --> 00:25:46,360 Speaker 1: time to send a human being. That human was Alan Shepherd, 443 00:25:46,560 --> 00:25:50,120 Speaker 1: one of the original Mercury seven astronauts. When Shepherd informed 444 00:25:50,160 --> 00:25:52,400 Speaker 1: his wife that she was hugging the very first man 445 00:25:52,440 --> 00:25:55,679 Speaker 1: to go into space. She replied, who let a Russian 446 00:25:55,720 --> 00:25:59,200 Speaker 1: in here? More prophetic words could not have been spoken. 447 00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,680 Speaker 1: First success in space when the Russians pushed a man 448 00:26:02,720 --> 00:26:06,520 Speaker 1: across the po he was Yuri Gagara. In April twelfth, 449 00:26:06,600 --> 00:26:10,119 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty one, twenty seven year old Yuri Gagarin became 450 00:26:10,160 --> 00:26:12,600 Speaker 1: the first human who travel to space and orbit the 451 00:26:12,640 --> 00:26:16,240 Speaker 1: planet in Vostok One. He remains to this day, I 452 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,359 Speaker 1: think one of the most recognized names in all of 453 00:26:19,440 --> 00:26:22,800 Speaker 1: Russian history. Most Russians, if you asked who won the 454 00:26:22,840 --> 00:26:25,000 Speaker 1: space race, they would say, well, we want it. We 455 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:27,679 Speaker 1: got the first guy in space. As with Sputnik just 456 00:26:27,720 --> 00:26:30,480 Speaker 1: two and a half years earlier, America had its collective 457 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,920 Speaker 1: breath knock out of it. When Alan Shepherd heard the news, 458 00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:36,480 Speaker 1: he slammed his fist on the table so hard that 459 00:26:36,520 --> 00:26:39,199 Speaker 1: others in the room were certain he'd broken it. The 460 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: mood of the White House was no less volatile. Kennedy 461 00:26:42,640 --> 00:26:46,280 Speaker 1: ordered Vice President Lyndon Johnson to figure out something dramatic 462 00:26:46,359 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: that the United States could do to best the Soviets. 463 00:26:49,480 --> 00:26:52,200 Speaker 1: Johnson met with a number of NASA officials for ideas 464 00:26:52,640 --> 00:26:55,639 Speaker 1: but it was Verde von Braun who most impressed him. 465 00:26:55,800 --> 00:27:00,760 Speaker 1: Von Braun pitched something outlandish, a moon landing. The ex 466 00:27:00,880 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: Nazi was confident that he could get Americans to the moon. 467 00:27:03,600 --> 00:27:07,439 Speaker 1: By nineteen sixty eight, Johnson passed von Braun's recommendations to 468 00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 1: the President, who signed off on it. The United States 469 00:27:11,040 --> 00:27:14,680 Speaker 1: was going to the Moon. Three weeks after Euryga Geron's 470 00:27:14,720 --> 00:27:17,960 Speaker 1: history making flight, Alan Shepard became the first American in 471 00:27:18,000 --> 00:27:22,080 Speaker 1: space aboard Freedom seven. His flight lasted only fifteen minutes. 472 00:27:29,440 --> 00:27:32,320 Speaker 1: He was launched into space on a Redstone rocket, the 473 00:27:32,359 --> 00:27:35,639 Speaker 1: direct descendant of von Bronze V two. Now it was 474 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,920 Speaker 1: time to sell America on von Bron's big idea. On 475 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:44,440 Speaker 1: nine sixty one, just twenty days after Shepherd's fifteen minute flight, 476 00:27:44,840 --> 00:27:48,320 Speaker 1: President Kennedy stood before Congress and said, I believe that 477 00:27:48,400 --> 00:27:52,840 Speaker 1: this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before 478 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:55,719 Speaker 1: this decade is out of landing a man on the 479 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,120 Speaker 1: Moon and returning him safely to the Europe. We think 480 00:27:59,119 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 1: of Kennedy as the space races loudest and most ardent cheerleader, 481 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 1: and he was at least in public. But on a 482 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:09,640 Speaker 1: day in nineteen sixty two, Shortly after John Glenn became 483 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:12,560 Speaker 1: the first American to orbit the Earth, Kennedy sat down 484 00:28:12,640 --> 00:28:16,200 Speaker 1: with NASA Administrator James Webb, arguing that all of NASA's 485 00:28:16,200 --> 00:28:20,880 Speaker 1: scientific and technological efforts should be subservient to Apollo. Let's 486 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: listen in on a recording only made public in two 487 00:28:23,680 --> 00:28:26,080 Speaker 1: thousand and one. I think it is the top priority 488 00:28:26,080 --> 00:28:29,359 Speaker 1: that we had that very clear. This is uh important 489 00:28:29,400 --> 00:28:32,240 Speaker 1: for in an act of political reasons and whether we 490 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:34,320 Speaker 1: like it or not, in intensive race. So I think 491 00:28:34,320 --> 00:28:36,879 Speaker 1: we have to take the US the top priority. NASA 492 00:28:36,880 --> 00:28:41,240 Speaker 1: Administrator Webb and Jerome Wisner, the President's scientific advisor. We're 493 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:43,840 Speaker 1: arguing that before the United States could land on the Moon, 494 00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,320 Speaker 1: NASA would first need to come to grips with a 495 00:28:46,400 --> 00:28:49,960 Speaker 1: lot of unknowns about outer space. But Kennedy didn't want 496 00:28:49,960 --> 00:28:53,360 Speaker 1: to hear any of it that we do or to 497 00:28:53,360 --> 00:28:56,160 Speaker 1: really be hie and getting onto the mole ahead of 498 00:28:56,160 --> 00:29:00,360 Speaker 1: the writing why can't space we join a lot? Because 499 00:29:00,360 --> 00:29:03,600 Speaker 1: by guys? Would women tell? Everybody reamed the space boys. 500 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 1: Nobody believe that the policy ought to be a position 501 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:10,280 Speaker 1: of the top priority program of the agency and one 502 00:29:10,320 --> 00:29:12,920 Speaker 1: of the two to the fan the top priority United 503 00:29:12,920 --> 00:29:16,440 Speaker 1: States government sending it's kind of funny because I'm not 504 00:29:16,520 --> 00:29:20,320 Speaker 1: that interested in space. Let me repeat Kennedy's words, I'm 505 00:29:20,400 --> 00:29:24,480 Speaker 1: not that interested in space. The view that I grew 506 00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,760 Speaker 1: up with in the nineteen sixties was that Kennedy was 507 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:29,360 Speaker 1: this guy who was really interested in space and was 508 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: a leader in the space program, and and saw human 509 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,800 Speaker 1: destiny in space and all these things that people imagined 510 00:29:35,240 --> 00:29:37,240 Speaker 1: um and that that sort of myth grew for a 511 00:29:37,320 --> 00:29:39,320 Speaker 1: long time. Now, when those tapes came out, it became 512 00:29:39,360 --> 00:29:42,680 Speaker 1: really crystal clear Kennedy's goal wasn't to send people to 513 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:44,480 Speaker 1: the Moon, or to explore space or any of the 514 00:29:44,600 --> 00:29:47,120 Speaker 1: other stuff. What he really had was a political problem 515 00:29:47,240 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 1: with the Soviets beating us up over space spectaculars on 516 00:29:50,720 --> 00:29:52,680 Speaker 1: a regular basis, and he just wanted it to stop. 517 00:29:53,240 --> 00:29:56,480 Speaker 1: Despite his stirring rhetoric. That's all the space race was 518 00:29:56,640 --> 00:29:59,120 Speaker 1: to Kennedy, and he had good reason to think the 519 00:29:59,200 --> 00:30:02,120 Speaker 1: Soviets were win that race. In the summer of nineteen 520 00:30:02,160 --> 00:30:05,640 Speaker 1: sixty three, they launched Vostok three and four. The two 521 00:30:05,720 --> 00:30:08,840 Speaker 1: craft met in space with just four miles separating them, 522 00:30:09,080 --> 00:30:12,680 Speaker 1: and engaged in the first ship to ship communications. One 523 00:30:12,760 --> 00:30:15,320 Speaker 1: of the two cosmonauts would later marry a woman named 524 00:30:15,400 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 1: Valentina Tereshkova. Tereshkova became the first woman to fly in 525 00:30:19,320 --> 00:30:22,960 Speaker 1: space aboard Vostok six in November of that year. The 526 00:30:23,160 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 1: twenty six year old textile worker was the first woman 527 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:29,760 Speaker 1: in space, A feat of dubious scientific value perhaps, but 528 00:30:30,120 --> 00:30:33,120 Speaker 1: what is its rather in propaganda another first for the 529 00:30:33,200 --> 00:30:36,920 Speaker 1: Soviet 'gen She made nearly fifty orbits over three days 530 00:30:37,280 --> 00:30:39,720 Speaker 1: and is still the only woman to ever undertake a 531 00:30:39,840 --> 00:30:43,240 Speaker 1: solo mission. America wouldn't put its first woman into space, 532 00:30:43,400 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: Sally Ride, until nineteen eighty three, a full twenty years later. 533 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:52,320 Speaker 1: Kennedy soon began to regret endorsing von Braun's crazy moonshot idea. 534 00:30:52,840 --> 00:30:55,960 Speaker 1: He and others were beginning to realize just how unrealistic 535 00:30:56,080 --> 00:30:59,040 Speaker 1: the plan was. Kennedy has a realization that Apollo is 536 00:30:59,120 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: super expensive, might even bankrupt the budget, and he floats 537 00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:06,040 Speaker 1: this idea of a giant project with the Soviets. While 538 00:31:06,080 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: speaking before the United Nations, Kennedy said, finally, in a 539 00:31:09,280 --> 00:31:12,400 Speaker 1: theod why the United States and the Soviet Union of 540 00:31:12,520 --> 00:31:15,600 Speaker 1: a special capacity in the field of space, there is 541 00:31:15,720 --> 00:31:19,880 Speaker 1: room for new co operations. I include among these possibilities, 542 00:31:20,240 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 1: a joint expedition to the Moon. Premier Nikita Krushcheff ignored 543 00:31:24,800 --> 00:31:27,920 Speaker 1: him if America was going to save face, he was 544 00:31:27,960 --> 00:31:30,720 Speaker 1: going to have to make good on Kennedy's promise. On 545 00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,960 Speaker 1: November six, seven months after the launch of Gemini one, 546 00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:38,200 Speaker 1: Kennedy visited Cape Canaveral and toured the facility with von Braun, 547 00:31:38,760 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 1: inspecting the extraordinary hardware already in use and the Saturn 548 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:46,760 Speaker 1: one rocket, the predecessor to the Saturn five. The President 549 00:31:46,840 --> 00:31:49,680 Speaker 1: came away from his visit with the renewed enthusiasm for 550 00:31:49,720 --> 00:31:53,280 Speaker 1: the Apollo program, designed to follow after Gemini. He was 551 00:31:53,440 --> 00:31:57,840 Speaker 1: back on board. Five days later. President John F. Kennedy 552 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:10,240 Speaker 1: was shot and killed. Back aboard Apollo eleven, the crew 553 00:32:10,320 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 1: sets up for another television transmission. Charlie Duke is now 554 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:16,280 Speaker 1: in the capcom set all you're packing our part names. 555 00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,520 Speaker 1: That's the focus A little bit out the way through 556 00:32:20,560 --> 00:32:23,080 Speaker 1: the Earth in the center of the brain lemming it 557 00:32:24,680 --> 00:32:28,240 Speaker 1: came from it is huh, Well, I'm really looking at 558 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,080 Speaker 1: a bad brain here, then, might want The image is 559 00:32:31,120 --> 00:32:34,240 Speaker 1: blurry enough that Duke has confused the Moon for the Earth. 560 00:32:35,000 --> 00:32:36,840 Speaker 1: Bad enough not fun in the right landing. But when 561 00:32:36,840 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 1: I got to that the right planet, Buzz decides to 562 00:32:39,600 --> 00:32:42,000 Speaker 1: poke Duke a bit and remind him that he doesn't 563 00:32:42,000 --> 00:32:44,120 Speaker 1: even know where in the moon he and Neil were. 564 00:32:44,680 --> 00:32:47,920 Speaker 1: I'll have a little that one down. We're making it 565 00:32:48,080 --> 00:32:50,560 Speaker 1: get tomorrow and tomorrow and itbody here that it really 566 00:32:50,680 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: is the one we're leaving. Oh not the guy. Neil 567 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:57,600 Speaker 1: starts the broadcast, showing off boxes of moon rocks and 568 00:32:57,720 --> 00:33:00,320 Speaker 1: soil samples that they're bringing back to Earth for Judy. 569 00:33:00,640 --> 00:33:03,600 Speaker 1: We know a lot of scientists standard by to be 570 00:33:03,760 --> 00:33:07,520 Speaker 1: the later example, and incidic we get onto the ship. 571 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:11,400 Speaker 1: I'm sure these boxes will need with the transferred and 572 00:33:11,680 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 1: deliberate started to the later receiving laboratory. Now it's Buzzes turn, 573 00:33:16,600 --> 00:33:19,640 Speaker 1: but he's not thinking about moon relics. He's thinking with 574 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,560 Speaker 1: his stomach. And I'd like to take through a little 575 00:33:23,600 --> 00:33:28,240 Speaker 1: bit for you. Development taken place and a department. He 576 00:33:28,440 --> 00:33:34,080 Speaker 1: unwraps a food cube. Designs, uh, we're designed to remove 577 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,560 Speaker 1: the problem of ad income. Many problems voting around in 578 00:33:36,640 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: the cabin, so I designed a particular side that would 579 00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:42,920 Speaker 1: be able to go into the mouth all at once. 580 00:33:43,360 --> 00:33:46,080 Speaker 1: Michael decides to take a quick detour and become a 581 00:33:46,160 --> 00:33:50,000 Speaker 1: science teacher. Is in effect, is a little down a 582 00:33:50,160 --> 00:33:52,520 Speaker 1: rating for the kids at home, all kids everywhere for 583 00:33:52,640 --> 00:33:55,800 Speaker 1: that matter. I was gonna tell you how you drank 584 00:33:55,840 --> 00:33:58,480 Speaker 1: water out of a book, but I'm afraid I built 585 00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:01,560 Speaker 1: a bone to foe and uh, if I'm not careful, 586 00:34:01,600 --> 00:34:04,120 Speaker 1: I'm gonna go right over the dot. Can you can 587 00:34:04,160 --> 00:34:06,080 Speaker 1: you do the water lapping around at the top of 588 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:09,880 Speaker 1: the kid. That's the permanend of eleven. I'll tell you 589 00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:12,759 Speaker 1: what I just I just turned that point over and 590 00:34:12,880 --> 00:34:16,000 Speaker 1: I get out of the water over again. Okay, okay. 591 00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:19,480 Speaker 1: Michael flips the spoon over and the water resting in 592 00:34:19,560 --> 00:34:22,880 Speaker 1: it now hovers in the air as tiny spherical globules 593 00:34:23,080 --> 00:34:25,040 Speaker 1: and say, up there, and we don't know where over 594 00:34:25,200 --> 00:34:28,360 Speaker 1: at the one up it is good in another And 595 00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:32,240 Speaker 1: that really is what Michael swallows several of the tiny 596 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:35,320 Speaker 1: water spheres in midair. A couple of decades into the 597 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:38,080 Speaker 1: twenty one century, we're used to images like this from 598 00:34:38,120 --> 00:34:41,320 Speaker 1: the astronauts aboard the International Space Station, But in nineteen 599 00:34:41,400 --> 00:34:45,800 Speaker 1: sixty nine, images like this we're downright magical. Thank you 600 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,920 Speaker 1: for malla kids in the world who gave l from 601 00:34:50,200 --> 00:34:51,759 Speaker 1: all right, get damn, I want to I'll get you 602 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:55,120 Speaker 1: that very quint then I never think youre No, that's 603 00:34:55,200 --> 00:34:57,239 Speaker 1: perimend I repeated to bite on that point. No, you 604 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:03,239 Speaker 1: tell uh uh by getting larger. There the play for 605 00:35:03,320 --> 00:35:06,360 Speaker 1: a coming out there no matter where, rabb all it 606 00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:10,520 Speaker 1: all it bight to good home Lincoln, cer liv being 607 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,120 Speaker 1: happy to have you back. Can you tell the guys 608 00:35:13,120 --> 00:35:15,640 Speaker 1: in the ship are really starting to loosen up after 609 00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: years of intense training. They are finally heading home as 610 00:35:19,560 --> 00:35:28,280 Speaker 1: conquering heroes from Dallas, Texas and the Flash. Apparently official 611 00:35:28,680 --> 00:35:34,840 Speaker 1: President Kennedy died at one Central Standard time some thirty 612 00:35:35,000 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 1: eight minutes ago. When we left off, John F. Kennedy 613 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:42,600 Speaker 1: had been assassinated. Two hours and eight minutes later, Lyndon 614 00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:45,960 Speaker 1: Johnson was sworn into office. One of his very first 615 00:35:46,040 --> 00:35:49,399 Speaker 1: acts was renaming Cape Canaveral. It would now be called 616 00:35:49,480 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: Cape Kennedy. He also doubled Apollo's budget. Johnson comes in 617 00:35:53,800 --> 00:35:56,360 Speaker 1: and he says, Okay, the moon landing program. This is 618 00:35:56,400 --> 00:35:58,600 Speaker 1: our tribute to our Slane President, and we are going 619 00:35:58,680 --> 00:36:01,040 Speaker 1: to the moon. And no, and the Kremlin has any 620 00:36:01,080 --> 00:36:03,279 Speaker 1: doubt in your mind that Lyndon Johnson is out that 621 00:36:03,400 --> 00:36:06,520 Speaker 1: kicked their butts. The Servis realize, Holy Mackarel, Americans are 622 00:36:06,600 --> 00:36:09,880 Speaker 1: really serious about going to the moon. Von Braun Saturn prototype, 623 00:36:10,000 --> 00:36:13,320 Speaker 1: the Saturn one, successfully blasted off into space with a 624 00:36:13,400 --> 00:36:16,520 Speaker 1: dummy Apollo spacecraft to top it. Though the Saturn one 625 00:36:16,640 --> 00:36:18,919 Speaker 1: was only half the size of the future Saturn five, 626 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: it was a validation of everything von Braun had been 627 00:36:22,080 --> 00:36:32,560 Speaker 1: pushing for five four three two one ignition. It was 628 00:36:32,640 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 1: now definitely only a matter of time until man with 629 00:36:35,640 --> 00:36:39,040 Speaker 1: first set foot on the Moon. And yet, despite all 630 00:36:39,120 --> 00:36:42,600 Speaker 1: of America's successes, Sergey Kurliev and the Russians were still 631 00:36:42,719 --> 00:36:47,279 Speaker 1: embarrassing the United States at every turn. In nineteen sixty five, 632 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,799 Speaker 1: Alexei Leonov became the first person to conduct a spacewalk. 633 00:36:52,360 --> 00:36:54,919 Speaker 1: Leonof brought a suicide pill with him just in case 634 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:57,759 Speaker 1: something went wrong, and he very nearly had to use it. 635 00:36:57,920 --> 00:36:59,600 Speaker 1: But when he tried to get back in, he couldn't 636 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 1: get back in the air log because his space suit 637 00:37:02,080 --> 00:37:05,240 Speaker 1: had ballooned. Leonov's space suit became bloated in the vacuum 638 00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: of space. He was literally floating inside of it. His 639 00:37:09,160 --> 00:37:11,879 Speaker 1: hands slipped out of his gloves and his feet came 640 00:37:11,920 --> 00:37:14,200 Speaker 1: out of his boots. The only way he was able 641 00:37:14,239 --> 00:37:17,000 Speaker 1: to get back inside his spacecraft was by releasing his 642 00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,319 Speaker 1: precious oxygen until the suit became compact enough for him 643 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:24,400 Speaker 1: to squeeze through the hatch. The first artificial Earth satellite, 644 00:37:24,719 --> 00:37:27,840 Speaker 1: the first Moon probes, the first animals in space, the 645 00:37:27,920 --> 00:37:30,800 Speaker 1: first man in space, the first woman in space, the 646 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:34,200 Speaker 1: first crew in space, the first spacewalk. So far, the 647 00:37:34,280 --> 00:37:39,040 Speaker 1: space race belonged to the Russians between seven and about 648 00:37:39,120 --> 00:37:43,920 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty six. There's very few firsts that actually belonged 649 00:37:43,960 --> 00:37:47,480 Speaker 1: to the US. If you were watching this happened, you 650 00:37:47,560 --> 00:37:50,279 Speaker 1: would have very little confidence that America would get to 651 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:53,359 Speaker 1: the Moon first. But America was about to close the gap. 652 00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:58,080 Speaker 1: On March nineteen sixty, Gus Grissom and John Young flew 653 00:37:58,160 --> 00:38:00,600 Speaker 1: on the first two man mission J and I. Three. 654 00:38:01,360 --> 00:38:04,560 Speaker 1: Later that summer, ed White conducted a twenty minute spacewalk 655 00:38:04,600 --> 00:38:08,440 Speaker 1: while aboard Gemini four. Finally the United States had caught up. 656 00:38:09,280 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 1: Over the rest of nineteen sixty five, Gemini would continue 657 00:38:12,520 --> 00:38:15,520 Speaker 1: to break records, including the first orbital rendezvous and the 658 00:38:15,640 --> 00:38:18,520 Speaker 1: longest time spent in space up to that point fourteen 659 00:38:18,600 --> 00:38:22,280 Speaker 1: days on Gemini seven, and then tragedy struck the Soviet 660 00:38:22,280 --> 00:38:25,880 Speaker 1: space program. Chief designer Sergey cora Lev went into the 661 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:29,680 Speaker 1: hospital for a routine surgical procedure. He never came out. 662 00:38:30,040 --> 00:38:33,160 Speaker 1: He goes in for surgery to remove like what's what 663 00:38:33,360 --> 00:38:37,080 Speaker 1: was thought at the time, benign growth. But during the surgery, 664 00:38:37,160 --> 00:38:40,640 Speaker 1: the doctor finds that there's a quite large tumor and 665 00:38:40,760 --> 00:38:44,880 Speaker 1: its cancerous. In removing that, they had to anesthetize him obviously, 666 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:47,560 Speaker 1: but he had a very weak heart because of his 667 00:38:47,680 --> 00:38:50,520 Speaker 1: time in the Gulag. Cora Lev was just fifty nine. 668 00:38:51,440 --> 00:38:54,560 Speaker 1: Coral Lev died, and then the whole Soviet program was 669 00:38:54,640 --> 00:38:57,520 Speaker 1: kind of thrown into upheaval. They've lost their their key 670 00:38:57,600 --> 00:39:01,319 Speaker 1: engineering leader, and they replaced them, but nobody was really 671 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 1: a replacement for surgery Corralov. The tide had finally turned. 672 00:39:05,040 --> 00:39:08,160 Speaker 1: Astronauts Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon performed the first ever 673 00:39:08,360 --> 00:39:11,960 Speaker 1: direct descent rendezvous with an uncreweded Gina target vehicle. This 674 00:39:12,160 --> 00:39:14,480 Speaker 1: wasn't just for fun, This was a test run for 675 00:39:14,560 --> 00:39:18,000 Speaker 1: what would later be Apollo's command and lunar modules and 676 00:39:18,040 --> 00:39:21,400 Speaker 1: the Russians. They landed Lunar nine on the Moon, the 677 00:39:21,520 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: first soft landing of a spacecraft. It was their twelfth attempt. 678 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:29,399 Speaker 1: Rocket science is hard. The Russians also put the first 679 00:39:29,440 --> 00:39:34,080 Speaker 1: satellite around the moon, Luna ten. These are hardly minor accomplishments, 680 00:39:34,680 --> 00:39:38,799 Speaker 1: but probes are not people of the moon. It wasn't 681 00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:41,040 Speaker 1: that they didn't spend enough money. Wasn't that they weren't trying. 682 00:39:41,239 --> 00:39:44,840 Speaker 1: They spent a boatload of money, and they had huge programs, 683 00:39:45,040 --> 00:39:49,680 Speaker 1: but they were disorganized and they started late. Their system 684 00:39:49,840 --> 00:39:53,920 Speaker 1: was really chaotic. It works for short term bursts of things, 685 00:39:54,239 --> 00:39:58,120 Speaker 1: but it wasn't suited for long term, sustained periods of innovation. 686 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: The other reason is that there were a lot of 687 00:40:01,040 --> 00:40:05,239 Speaker 1: competing factions within the communist system who had these huge 688 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,040 Speaker 1: engineering empires, and they didn't get along. They were constantly 689 00:40:09,120 --> 00:40:12,279 Speaker 1: fighting for the same resources. While he was alive, korl 690 00:40:12,360 --> 00:40:15,880 Speaker 1: Lev was only occasionally successful at unifying the various factions. 691 00:40:16,480 --> 00:40:19,719 Speaker 1: Once he died, none of his predecessors seemed capable of 692 00:40:19,920 --> 00:40:24,880 Speaker 1: navigating those fraud political waters. Nineteen sixty seven nearly derailed 693 00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:27,680 Speaker 1: both countries space programs. This was the year of the 694 00:40:27,719 --> 00:40:30,120 Speaker 1: Apollo one fire. It was also the year in which 695 00:40:30,160 --> 00:40:33,480 Speaker 1: Sawyer was one crashed that's the story that opened this podcast. 696 00:40:33,800 --> 00:40:36,400 Speaker 1: The Americans took a long, hard look at their program 697 00:40:36,560 --> 00:40:41,640 Speaker 1: and eventually rallied von Bron's magnificent Saturn program boasted success 698 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:45,240 Speaker 1: after success. In fact, the Saturn five would be launched 699 00:40:45,280 --> 00:40:47,960 Speaker 1: a total of ten times and never once suffer a 700 00:40:48,000 --> 00:40:52,160 Speaker 1: significant failure. The former ss man was now an American hero. 701 00:40:52,719 --> 00:40:55,320 Speaker 1: The United States finally had the Moon in their sights, 702 00:40:56,560 --> 00:40:58,880 Speaker 1: and while the Russian people were convinced that their country 703 00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:01,320 Speaker 1: would still be the first to the Moon, the engineers 704 00:41:01,360 --> 00:41:04,239 Speaker 1: and cosmonauts were not fooled. They could see the writing 705 00:41:04,280 --> 00:41:07,880 Speaker 1: on the wall. After the death of Camrad, Morale plummeted, 706 00:41:08,120 --> 00:41:11,080 Speaker 1: and although the propaganda machine was still going at full power, 707 00:41:11,480 --> 00:41:15,280 Speaker 1: fooling their American counterparts into believing that their communist nemesis 708 00:41:15,440 --> 00:41:18,200 Speaker 1: was still neck and neck with them, they recognized there 709 00:41:18,320 --> 00:41:20,080 Speaker 1: was no way they were going to beat the United 710 00:41:20,120 --> 00:41:22,759 Speaker 1: States to the Moon. The only thing left to do 711 00:41:23,320 --> 00:41:25,800 Speaker 1: was beat them in a circumnavigation of the Moon. But 712 00:41:25,960 --> 00:41:29,400 Speaker 1: fearing just that possibility, NASA pushed the launch of Apollo 713 00:41:29,480 --> 00:41:33,360 Speaker 1: eight up several months and four days before Christmas. Jim Levell, 714 00:41:33,719 --> 00:41:39,160 Speaker 1: Frank Borman, and Bill Anders orbited the Moon method who 715 00:41:39,200 --> 00:41:46,160 Speaker 1: we would like then you God created Earth. Apollo seventeen 716 00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:49,680 Speaker 1: astronaut Harrison Schmidt. Yeah, I think beginning of Apollo eight, 717 00:41:49,960 --> 00:41:53,080 Speaker 1: Americans really started to gain some confidence that the Cold 718 00:41:53,160 --> 00:41:55,760 Speaker 1: War was not going to go on forever. The Russians 719 00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:58,520 Speaker 1: last victory in space came just a few months ahead 720 00:41:58,560 --> 00:42:01,439 Speaker 1: of Apollo eleven, in which soy Use four and soy 721 00:42:01,560 --> 00:42:05,640 Speaker 1: Use five both crude met in space and docked. They 722 00:42:05,680 --> 00:42:08,960 Speaker 1: opened hatches to allow the cosmonauts access to both craft, 723 00:42:09,719 --> 00:42:12,000 Speaker 1: but that was the end of it. In February of 724 00:42:12,120 --> 00:42:16,080 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, five months before Apollo eleven, Russia tested 725 00:42:16,120 --> 00:42:18,759 Speaker 1: coral Lev's powerful AND one rocket for the first time. 726 00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:22,600 Speaker 1: Before he died. Coralav realized that if Russia was going 727 00:42:22,680 --> 00:42:25,600 Speaker 1: to best the Americans into space, they'd have to take 728 00:42:25,640 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: some shortcuts. Rather than a cluster of large, expensive engines 729 00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: as on the Saturn, cora Lev opted to fit the 730 00:42:32,200 --> 00:42:35,640 Speaker 1: N one with thirty small engines, and instead of testing 731 00:42:35,719 --> 00:42:38,560 Speaker 1: each stage of the N one separately as the Americans did, 732 00:42:38,960 --> 00:42:41,480 Speaker 1: Corala Have proposed they build the entire end one and 733 00:42:41,640 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: test it fully assembled. They bring it to the padded 734 00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:50,400 Speaker 1: nineteen sixty nine, they tried to launch it four times, 735 00:42:50,440 --> 00:42:53,480 Speaker 1: and all four times it explodes. The rocket, known as 736 00:42:53,560 --> 00:42:57,440 Speaker 1: kor Lev's last dream, was dead. His vision of men 737 00:42:57,640 --> 00:43:00,239 Speaker 1: visiting the Moon would come to pass, but the flag 738 00:43:00,360 --> 00:43:02,840 Speaker 1: planted there would be the stars and stripes, not the 739 00:43:02,920 --> 00:43:06,520 Speaker 1: hammer and sickle. Von Bronze moon vision was fully realized 740 00:43:06,560 --> 00:43:10,160 Speaker 1: in July of nineteen sixty nine. With Apollo eleven. The 741 00:43:10,280 --> 00:43:13,520 Speaker 1: space race was over. Moon landings wouldn't have happened without 742 00:43:13,600 --> 00:43:16,840 Speaker 1: this intense political issue between the United States and the 743 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:21,200 Speaker 1: Soviet Union. I mean, the space races is, let's not 744 00:43:21,320 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: kid ourselves a product of the Cold War. I mean, 745 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,360 Speaker 1: this had nothing to do with science, or exploration or 746 00:43:26,400 --> 00:43:29,640 Speaker 1: any like goodness of mankind. This was entirely about showing 747 00:43:29,680 --> 00:43:37,160 Speaker 1: the Soviets that were better back on Apollo eleven. The 748 00:43:37,280 --> 00:43:40,480 Speaker 1: guys are still bored. Michael calls Charlie Duke and Mission 749 00:43:40,520 --> 00:43:46,520 Speaker 1: control just to idly chatty on the night. Were really 750 00:43:46,760 --> 00:43:50,120 Speaker 1: booming along here with all activity. Can barely believe it 751 00:43:51,200 --> 00:43:53,040 Speaker 1: are you doing? Then you're made up on the kind 752 00:43:53,080 --> 00:44:02,480 Speaker 1: build drinking. A later, mission Control begins hearing some creepy 753 00:44:02,560 --> 00:44:06,400 Speaker 1: sounds emanating from Apollo eleven. Once again, the guys are 754 00:44:06,440 --> 00:44:08,440 Speaker 1: trying to get a rise out of everyone in Houston. 755 00:44:09,080 --> 00:44:12,200 Speaker 1: The song is music out of the Moon by Less Baxter, 756 00:44:12,560 --> 00:44:16,440 Speaker 1: and Neil loves it all right in a mind about 757 00:44:17,160 --> 00:44:22,239 Speaker 1: an album pointy hair, hand out the man, but it's 758 00:44:22,280 --> 00:44:26,399 Speaker 1: been a little frank or you're bank with a little 759 00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:34,600 Speaker 1: blow that it sounds odd because the primary instrument is 760 00:44:34,640 --> 00:44:37,840 Speaker 1: a theorem, in which, fittingly enough for today's conversation, is 761 00:44:37,880 --> 00:44:40,920 Speaker 1: a Russian musical instrument that to this day is forever 762 00:44:41,120 --> 00:44:45,200 Speaker 1: and inseparably associated with space. Neil may like his therem 763 00:44:45,239 --> 00:44:49,040 Speaker 1: and music, but mission control and not so much thank you. 764 00:44:52,560 --> 00:44:55,680 Speaker 1: As the guys prepare for sleep, Duke relays one last 765 00:44:55,719 --> 00:44:58,360 Speaker 1: piece of news to the crew. President Nixon is the 766 00:44:58,920 --> 00:45:03,239 Speaker 1: preparative cloud. Greek Europe returned convicted that within thirty one 767 00:45:03,320 --> 00:45:05,080 Speaker 1: years the man will have vincit at least one of 768 00:45:05,160 --> 00:45:08,120 Speaker 1: the planets bearing some form of line. In the year 769 00:45:08,160 --> 00:45:10,800 Speaker 1: two thousands, we on this Earth will have been the 770 00:45:10,880 --> 00:45:13,719 Speaker 1: viewer where there will be a form of line. As 771 00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:16,480 Speaker 1: of two thousand and nineteen, when I am recording this podcast, 772 00:45:16,880 --> 00:45:19,719 Speaker 1: that prediction has yet to come true. We will be 773 00:45:19,800 --> 00:45:21,640 Speaker 1: taking a look at the current state of the U. S. 774 00:45:21,719 --> 00:45:26,279 Speaker 1: Crude space program. In our final episode, Day seven is over. 775 00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:30,560 Speaker 1: On day eight July are penultimate episode, We're going to 776 00:45:30,600 --> 00:45:33,680 Speaker 1: look at what happened after the astronauts got home. They 777 00:45:33,800 --> 00:45:37,440 Speaker 1: left as reality stars and returned as the biggest celebrities 778 00:45:37,480 --> 00:45:40,360 Speaker 1: on the planet. But behind the ticker tape parades, the 779 00:45:40,440 --> 00:45:43,800 Speaker 1: world tours, and the White House Dinners lay a dark reality, 780 00:45:44,320 --> 00:45:50,960 Speaker 1: a future riddled with depression, alcoholism, and fractured families. This 781 00:45:51,120 --> 00:45:54,120 Speaker 1: podcast is a production of I Heart Radio and trade 782 00:45:54,160 --> 00:45:59,320 Speaker 1: Craft Studios. Executive producers Ashe Seroia and Scott Bernstein, in 783 00:45:59,400 --> 00:46:03,680 Speaker 1: association with High Five Content and executive producer Andrew Jacobs. 784 00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:08,880 Speaker 1: Amazing research and production assistants by associate producers Brian Showsau 785 00:46:09,239 --> 00:46:13,640 Speaker 1: and Natalie Robomed. Licensing rights and clearances by Deborah Correa. 786 00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:18,560 Speaker 1: Our incredible editor is Bill Lance. Original music by Henry 787 00:46:18,600 --> 00:46:22,200 Speaker 1: ben Wah. The experts who contributed to this episode were 788 00:46:22,280 --> 00:46:26,920 Speaker 1: NASA Chief Historian Bill Berry, Professor Asaf Sadigi, Space historian 789 00:46:26,960 --> 00:46:31,880 Speaker 1: Amy Sherry Title, and Apollo seventeen astronaut Harrison Schmidt. Special 790 00:46:31,960 --> 00:46:34,960 Speaker 1: thanks to everyone at NASA who made this podcast possible, 791 00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:39,800 Speaker 1: especially the incredible technological wizardry of consulting producer Ben Feist, 792 00:46:40,040 --> 00:46:43,720 Speaker 1: who's responsible for organizing and cleaning the eleven thousand hours 793 00:46:43,960 --> 00:46:47,720 Speaker 1: of mission audio you're hearing selections from in this podcast special. 794 00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:52,280 Speaker 1: Thanks also to consultant Gina Delvack Kennedy Election Archive audio 795 00:46:52,440 --> 00:46:56,359 Speaker 1: compliments of the South Carolina Political Collections, University of South 796 00:46:56,400 --> 00:47:01,719 Speaker 1: Carolina Libraries. Licensing rights and clearances by Deborah Correa. This 797 00:47:01,880 --> 00:47:04,200 Speaker 1: is a brand new podcast and we're so excited to 798 00:47:04,239 --> 00:47:06,279 Speaker 1: be sharing it with you. Help us spread it far 799 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:09,560 Speaker 1: and wide, tell your friends, leave ratings and reviews, and 800 00:47:09,719 --> 00:47:12,520 Speaker 1: chat about it on social media. Our hashtag is nine 801 00:47:12,640 --> 00:47:14,960 Speaker 1: D I J. We would love to hear what you think. 802 00:47:15,360 --> 00:47:17,560 Speaker 1: New episodes come out each week, so be sure to 803 00:47:17,640 --> 00:47:21,719 Speaker 1: subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Brandon Phipps. Thanks 804 00:47:21,760 --> 00:47:24,120 Speaker 1: so much for listening, and I'll see you next episode.