1 00:00:13,440 --> 00:00:15,920 Speaker 1: Twenty seven year old Helen Charman makes her way to 2 00:00:15,960 --> 00:00:19,200 Speaker 1: her car. She's a chemist at the Mars Chocolate factory 3 00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,080 Speaker 1: and she's on the way home. Her days are filled 4 00:00:22,120 --> 00:00:24,520 Speaker 1: with questions about the right kind of toffee to use 5 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,360 Speaker 1: on chocolate ice cream, or how long a Mars bar 6 00:00:27,440 --> 00:00:33,120 Speaker 1: will survive in the heat. She likes her job. Get up, 7 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:37,000 Speaker 1: go to work, come home a regular nine to five 8 00:00:38,560 --> 00:00:41,080 Speaker 1: that day. Helen turns out of the factory car park 9 00:00:41,120 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: and quickly hits the rush hour traffic. She sighs and 10 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,680 Speaker 1: turns the radio up loud. On it, a newscaster is 11 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:52,600 Speaker 1: going through the day's headlines. It's early summer nineteen eighty 12 00:00:52,640 --> 00:00:56,160 Speaker 1: nine and in Hungary, the communist regime has just been overthrown, 13 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,320 Speaker 1: which could end forty years of one party rule. An 14 00:00:59,400 --> 00:01:02,000 Speaker 1: Ira bar has gone off at a British military base. 15 00:01:02,120 --> 00:01:04,920 Speaker 1: Please believe the tech, May Harold as summer of terror. 16 00:01:04,959 --> 00:01:07,960 Speaker 1: Two hundred and sixty people arrested at Stonehenge for celebrating 17 00:01:07,959 --> 00:01:12,960 Speaker 1: the Summer Solstice. Protesters moving towards Stonehenge. Helen starts flicking 18 00:01:13,000 --> 00:01:15,280 Speaker 1: through the channels. I means number one, the new single 19 00:01:15,520 --> 00:01:20,520 Speaker 1: yeahde and she just wants to listen to some music, 20 00:01:25,120 --> 00:01:28,959 Speaker 1: and that's when she hears it. I was driving my 21 00:01:29,000 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 1: car home from work and flicking through the stations, trying 22 00:01:32,280 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: to find some music, and I heard an announcement, A 23 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:38,480 Speaker 1: suppose an advert really, and it said started off with 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:44,080 Speaker 1: astronaut wanted, no experience necessary. Suddenly Helen's staring at the 25 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:52,360 Speaker 1: radio an astronaut. Now, lots of kids me included dream 26 00:01:52,480 --> 00:01:56,920 Speaker 1: of being an astronaut, but not Helen. She might work 27 00:01:56,920 --> 00:01:59,880 Speaker 1: for a company called Mars, but she's never thought about 28 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:05,600 Speaker 1: going into space. Being British, who was no job for 29 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:08,920 Speaker 1: an astronaut. Growing up in the nineteen sixties nineteen seventies, 30 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:12,079 Speaker 1: Britain didn't even have a space program, so it wasn't possible. 31 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 1: It wasn't part of my agenda. But now Helen's listening 32 00:02:15,720 --> 00:02:18,960 Speaker 1: hard as the voice on the radio continues and then 33 00:02:19,000 --> 00:02:22,520 Speaker 1: went on to describe they wanted people to go over 34 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 1: to Star fifteen year Moscow, train with the cosmonauts and 35 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,560 Speaker 1: do experiments on the Mere Space station Cosmonauts Star City, 36 00:02:31,240 --> 00:02:37,519 Speaker 1: Mere Space Station. These were words Helen hardly knew. They're 37 00:02:37,560 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: looking for someone between twenty one and forty with scientific 38 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,920 Speaker 1: training and the ability to learn a foreign language, and 39 00:02:44,040 --> 00:02:47,640 Speaker 1: Helen thinks, I'm twenty seven, and I have a degree 40 00:02:47,680 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: in chemistry, and I know French and German. And then 41 00:02:55,320 --> 00:02:58,080 Speaker 1: this idea begins to form in the back of her mind. 42 00:03:00,040 --> 00:03:05,480 Speaker 1: What if the traffic light turns red before she can 43 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:07,840 Speaker 1: talk herself out of it. Helen reaches for a scrap 44 00:03:07,880 --> 00:03:10,120 Speaker 1: of paper and scribbles down the number from the radio. 45 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:15,720 Speaker 1: She has no idea that this moment, stuck in traffic 46 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: is about to change her life. That not only will 47 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,160 Speaker 1: she be soon going to space, but she's about to 48 00:03:23,200 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 1: get a front row seat to one of the most 49 00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,960 Speaker 1: important events of the twentieth century, the collapse of the 50 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,520 Speaker 1: Soviet Union, and by her side will be a Russian 51 00:03:34,560 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: cosmonaut called Serge Kracole from Kaleidoscope. iHeart podcasts and exile content. 52 00:03:50,680 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 1: This is the last Soviet I'm Lance Bass. So actually, 53 00:04:04,280 --> 00:04:07,839 Speaker 1: Helen Sharman and I have pretty similar stories. We grew 54 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:11,360 Speaker 1: up in very different worlds and had very different jobs, 55 00:04:11,400 --> 00:04:14,680 Speaker 1: but we both somehow ended up in the same strange place, 56 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:19,800 Speaker 1: a secret town outside of Moscow, doing the same insane thing, 57 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: training to go to space. We were both young, myself 58 00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:28,040 Speaker 1: twenty three, Helen twenty seven, and we left everything we'd 59 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,880 Speaker 1: ever known behind us to see that electric blue light 60 00:04:30,920 --> 00:04:33,960 Speaker 1: of our planet from orbit. We were actually at the 61 00:04:34,000 --> 00:04:37,480 Speaker 1: frontier of something that today is a familiar idea, paying 62 00:04:37,520 --> 00:04:40,719 Speaker 1: to go to space, except in our case it was 63 00:04:40,760 --> 00:04:44,120 Speaker 1: TV companies who were paying for us. It was CBS 64 00:04:44,160 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: and MTV fronting the money for my trip and for 65 00:04:46,760 --> 00:04:49,480 Speaker 1: Helen a bunch of companies with backing from a British 66 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:52,760 Speaker 1: TV channel. We were fish out of water, and both 67 00:04:52,800 --> 00:04:57,719 Speaker 1: of our journeys started completely by chance. For me with 68 00:04:57,839 --> 00:05:00,719 Speaker 1: a call from my agent Lance. What would you say 69 00:05:00,720 --> 00:05:02,599 Speaker 1: if I told you I've got you a ticket on 70 00:05:02,640 --> 00:05:06,480 Speaker 1: a Russian space rocket for Helen? Sitting in her car 71 00:05:06,560 --> 00:05:09,159 Speaker 1: one day in nineteen eighty nine, It all began with 72 00:05:09,240 --> 00:05:16,000 Speaker 1: that radio ad astronaut wanted new experience necessary. Helen keeps 73 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:18,239 Speaker 1: the application for him in her bag for weeks before 74 00:05:18,279 --> 00:05:21,800 Speaker 1: she sends it in a few weeks later, she gets 75 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:26,080 Speaker 1: a call. A woman's voice says, I'm telephoning on behalf 76 00:05:26,120 --> 00:05:29,800 Speaker 1: of Air Vice Marshal Peter Howard and would like to 77 00:05:29,839 --> 00:05:32,440 Speaker 1: ask if you would come for a medical for the 78 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:40,080 Speaker 1: Anglo Soviet Juno's space mission. Hotline has been buzzing continuously 79 00:05:40,120 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: with hopeful astronauts. The mission was a joint project between 80 00:05:43,520 --> 00:05:46,880 Speaker 1: the Brits and the Soviets. They called it Project Juno, 81 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:50,080 Speaker 1: and the idea was to hold a contest to try 82 00:05:50,080 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: to find the best person in Britain to go to space, 83 00:05:52,760 --> 00:05:56,560 Speaker 1: retracting applications from, among others, a city brokers, a tax inspective, 84 00:05:56,800 --> 00:06:01,080 Speaker 1: a baker. There were commercials on posters, in newspapers, on 85 00:06:01,120 --> 00:06:04,880 Speaker 1: TV and of course on the radio. With nearly twelve 86 00:06:05,000 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: thousand enthusiastics making contact, the chance of success is six 87 00:06:08,680 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 1: thousand to one. There was a selection process and medical 88 00:06:12,600 --> 00:06:16,760 Speaker 1: psychological tests and then gradually whittled us down. This morning, 89 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:19,159 Speaker 1: it was only a small step onto the platform for 90 00:06:19,200 --> 00:06:22,760 Speaker 1: the four who've beaten thirteen thousand candidates in the space race. 91 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,440 Speaker 1: A documentary film crew even followed their every move. It 92 00:06:27,560 --> 00:06:29,640 Speaker 1: was kind of like an early version of a reality 93 00:06:29,680 --> 00:06:33,400 Speaker 1: show which one would make it to space. Not quite 94 00:06:33,400 --> 00:06:36,320 Speaker 1: The Bachelor, but you know what I mean. Helen Sharman's 95 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,520 Speaker 1: a research technologist for a confectionery firm and is already 96 00:06:39,600 --> 00:06:42,440 Speaker 1: used to comments about her being the woman from Mars. 97 00:06:42,680 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: I know we have to be fit, we have to 98 00:06:44,160 --> 00:06:46,279 Speaker 1: be able to run the Russian language. So I have 99 00:06:46,320 --> 00:06:50,560 Speaker 1: to be able to be perhapsing scientists fell in sextus annually. Yeah, 100 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:54,000 Speaker 1: I think I've got it now. Helen is pretty understaid. 101 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:57,440 Speaker 1: In fact, I would say she's quite tipathy British. She's 102 00:06:57,480 --> 00:06:59,520 Speaker 1: not like US Americans, always saying we are the best 103 00:06:59,560 --> 00:07:02,720 Speaker 1: at everything. But she had done pretty damn well to 104 00:07:02,760 --> 00:07:06,599 Speaker 1: get to this stage. Thirteen thousand people had applied, and 105 00:07:06,680 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: now she's just one of four. He only obstacle. Three 106 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:13,400 Speaker 1: other equally determined to spurring astronauts or four have the 107 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:21,880 Speaker 1: same ambition to join the Juno mission. They were tested 108 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:26,280 Speaker 1: and tested, intelligence, reasoning power, how they work under pressure. 109 00:07:26,680 --> 00:07:29,600 Speaker 1: They asked Helen about her motivations. Why she was doing 110 00:07:29,640 --> 00:07:33,720 Speaker 1: this money, fame, the good of science, the thawing of 111 00:07:33,760 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: East West relations. This was, after all, a rare opportunity 112 00:07:38,040 --> 00:07:40,320 Speaker 1: for people from the West to go behind the Iron 113 00:07:40,320 --> 00:07:44,280 Speaker 1: Curtain to experience a slice of the Soviet way of life. 114 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,920 Speaker 1: Helen thought about these questions for a while, and in 115 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,640 Speaker 1: the end she answered, honestly, after doing all this work, 116 00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:55,080 Speaker 1: all these tests, and getting excited, she just wanted to 117 00:07:55,080 --> 00:07:58,480 Speaker 1: go to space, blast off in a rocket, see the 118 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:04,360 Speaker 1: Earth from above. Just like me. She had been bitten 119 00:08:04,400 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: by the space bug from starting out, not really believing 120 00:08:08,120 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 1: that space was for someone like her. Now it was 121 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:14,800 Speaker 1: all she could think about and it was almost within reach. 122 00:08:16,280 --> 00:08:20,280 Speaker 1: The final announcement was made in the Science Museum in London. 123 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,200 Speaker 1: There was a big sort of glitzy TV show and 124 00:08:24,240 --> 00:08:27,000 Speaker 1: we were being encouraged to tryand and be terribly excited. 125 00:08:27,760 --> 00:08:30,800 Speaker 1: Helen isn't really one for the cameras or glitz and glamour, 126 00:08:31,080 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: so she isn't really feeling it. She's sitting there just 127 00:08:34,080 --> 00:08:36,080 Speaker 1: trying to remember what to do if they call her name, 128 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:38,560 Speaker 1: and trying not to think about how many people are 129 00:08:38,600 --> 00:08:44,080 Speaker 1: watching at home. Helen Charmotte. When day and asked my name, 130 00:08:44,080 --> 00:08:46,440 Speaker 1: I just knew I had to stand up, go to 131 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,240 Speaker 1: the stage, shake hands, turned to face the cameras, smile 132 00:08:50,280 --> 00:08:52,280 Speaker 1: a lot. And it was only really when the whole 133 00:08:52,280 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: thing finished when I could relaxing people. I'm going to 134 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,840 Speaker 1: train with the cosmonauts and it could really start to 135 00:08:58,840 --> 00:09:06,920 Speaker 1: sink in them. Helen was off to train for eighteen 136 00:09:06,960 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: months with a team of cosmonauts for omission to the 137 00:09:09,200 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: Mere Space Station, the Soviet's most advanced piece of space technology. 138 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:16,719 Speaker 1: It's a huge floating network of tubes and wires in 139 00:09:16,840 --> 00:09:20,439 Speaker 1: orbit around the Earth where multiple cosmonauts can live, work 140 00:09:20,559 --> 00:09:24,520 Speaker 1: and perform experiments. Helen had forty eight hours to pack 141 00:09:24,600 --> 00:09:27,480 Speaker 1: up her life and move to the Soviet Union. I 142 00:09:27,520 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: had to resign from my job. I closed for the 143 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:33,040 Speaker 1: Moscow winter. Eighteen months in Moscow. She was going to 144 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:35,680 Speaker 1: need a thick coat and sell my car. You know 145 00:09:36,559 --> 00:09:39,000 Speaker 1: all that. She even got her affairs in order in 146 00:09:39,000 --> 00:09:41,320 Speaker 1: case she died in training or on her emission, the 147 00:09:41,360 --> 00:09:43,680 Speaker 1: arrange power of attorney. It was before internet banking, before 148 00:09:43,679 --> 00:09:46,520 Speaker 1: the internet as we know it now, no emails, no 149 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:50,600 Speaker 1: mobile phones. It was all very very weird, a feeling 150 00:09:50,600 --> 00:09:53,240 Speaker 1: of being cut off, I think, very much from everything 151 00:09:53,240 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: that's had known in the UK. For Helen, the Soviet 152 00:09:56,720 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 1: Union was very much an alien land. It fell very 153 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:04,560 Speaker 1: exotic and very very exciting. It was going to some 154 00:10:04,679 --> 00:10:07,600 Speaker 1: other world. Really. Helen had grown up in the nineteen 155 00:10:07,679 --> 00:10:10,480 Speaker 1: seventies where we were told that the Soviets were all 156 00:10:10,640 --> 00:10:13,200 Speaker 1: nasty and they were going to come in Boma country 157 00:10:13,240 --> 00:10:17,760 Speaker 1: with new clibombs. So she was already nervous. Then in 158 00:10:17,840 --> 00:10:21,000 Speaker 1: November nineteen eighty nine, just as she's preparing to leave 159 00:10:21,080 --> 00:10:25,440 Speaker 1: everything she knows. She hears this news from ABC This 160 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:29,520 Speaker 1: is World News Tonight with Peter Jennings reporting tonight from 161 00:10:29,520 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 1: Berlin from the Berlin Wall specifically, take a look at them. 162 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,240 Speaker 1: They've been there since last night. They are here in 163 00:10:36,400 --> 00:10:39,000 Speaker 1: the thousands, They are here in the tens of thousands. 164 00:10:39,120 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 1: The Berlin Wall was coming down. Thousands and thousands of 165 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,160 Speaker 1: West Germans come to make the point that the wall 166 00:10:45,200 --> 00:10:49,319 Speaker 1: has suddenly become irrelevant. Earlier that summer, a peaceful revolution 167 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:53,680 Speaker 1: began in East Berlin calling for more freedom, and finally, 168 00:10:53,679 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: on the night of November ninth, the checkpoints were overrun 169 00:10:57,400 --> 00:11:00,360 Speaker 1: and the gates of the wall were swung wide. For 170 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,240 Speaker 1: the hapless East German border guards at Checkpoint Charlie, they 171 00:11:04,240 --> 00:11:07,800 Speaker 1: were swamped. They simply gave up, opened the gate and 172 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:11,400 Speaker 1: allowed thousands through the one crossing point that had remained 173 00:11:11,679 --> 00:11:16,080 Speaker 1: firmly closed. The news was beamed across the globe in 174 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:28,200 Speaker 1: deep indimenticab Checkpoint Charlie day, the government of East Germany 175 00:11:28,240 --> 00:11:37,280 Speaker 1: announced that its borders are open for Helen's family and friends. 176 00:11:37,400 --> 00:11:41,000 Speaker 1: It was worrying, would it be dangerous going to Moscow 177 00:11:41,080 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 1: at this totally uncertain time, and I expected a sort 178 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:50,080 Speaker 1: of harsh exterior, perhaps people who were a bit secretive, 179 00:11:50,640 --> 00:11:55,880 Speaker 1: people who didn't want to share much. But Helen was determined. 180 00:11:57,160 --> 00:11:59,600 Speaker 1: She realized not only did she have the chance to 181 00:11:59,600 --> 00:12:02,760 Speaker 1: become a cosmonaut, but she could find out what was 182 00:12:02,840 --> 00:12:09,120 Speaker 1: really happening behind the iron curtain that's coming up after 183 00:12:09,160 --> 00:12:35,520 Speaker 1: the break. Star City, the secret cosmonaut training facility. I 184 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:37,720 Speaker 1: remember arriving there in two thousand and two for my 185 00:12:37,880 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: very first days of training. They shipped me out there 186 00:12:42,160 --> 00:12:45,080 Speaker 1: in the dead of night, to a place about twenty 187 00:12:45,080 --> 00:12:48,240 Speaker 1: miles north of Moscow, in the middle of a forest. 188 00:12:49,160 --> 00:12:51,880 Speaker 1: It was a place that until the nineties was completely 189 00:12:51,920 --> 00:12:54,760 Speaker 1: off the map. It felt like I was arriving at 190 00:12:54,760 --> 00:12:59,120 Speaker 1: the Russian version of Area fifty one. When you get there, 191 00:12:59,280 --> 00:13:03,320 Speaker 1: there are these huge iron gates and guards standing there. 192 00:13:04,120 --> 00:13:08,240 Speaker 1: Helen remembers the same thing soldiers with their guns at 193 00:13:08,280 --> 00:13:11,400 Speaker 1: the gates and bobbed while around the edge of Star City. 194 00:13:14,280 --> 00:13:16,960 Speaker 1: But once you got inside the walls of Star City, 195 00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:20,120 Speaker 1: I remember it had the feel of kind of a 196 00:13:20,240 --> 00:13:23,240 Speaker 1: movie set, cut off from the rest of the Soviet Union. 197 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:28,080 Speaker 1: There was a bank, shops, a movie theater, a railway, 198 00:13:28,120 --> 00:13:32,720 Speaker 1: station sports fields. But if that sounds quaint, it wasn't. 199 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 1: All the buildings were gray Brutalis blocks, and let me 200 00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:39,760 Speaker 1: tell you, on a cloudy day, the whole place felt 201 00:13:39,760 --> 00:13:46,959 Speaker 1: pretty bleak. But there also was this big sense of community. 202 00:13:47,520 --> 00:13:50,920 Speaker 1: Everybody knew everybody because the only people allowed to live 203 00:13:50,960 --> 00:13:53,880 Speaker 1: there were cosmonauts and their families. The fact that there 204 00:13:53,880 --> 00:13:56,520 Speaker 1: were customauts wool king around who I'd read about and 205 00:13:56,559 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: who I could see in space magazines, and something that 206 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:01,920 Speaker 1: I was cute in the post office behind them. Helen 207 00:14:02,040 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 1: was star struck. But before she could meet her heroes 208 00:14:05,040 --> 00:14:08,520 Speaker 1: and her future crew, she had to train. Training to 209 00:14:08,559 --> 00:14:10,800 Speaker 1: be a cosmonaut is one of the hardest things I 210 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:14,400 Speaker 1: have ever done, no doubt about it, more physically and 211 00:14:14,440 --> 00:14:17,959 Speaker 1: mentally grueling than any INSYNCT world tour. And those were rough. 212 00:14:21,520 --> 00:14:25,360 Speaker 1: Days of Star City started at about five am. First 213 00:14:25,400 --> 00:14:28,920 Speaker 1: on the schedule was a Russian language class taught by 214 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,040 Speaker 1: a teacher that only spoke French and Russian. Yeah, and 215 00:14:32,080 --> 00:14:35,720 Speaker 1: I gotta say Russian. It's not easy. In fact, Russian 216 00:14:35,800 --> 00:14:37,960 Speaker 1: is one of the most difficult languages in the world 217 00:14:38,040 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 1: to learn. I didn't even know that I had to 218 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:44,080 Speaker 1: learn a whole new alphabet. I mean it took me 219 00:14:44,160 --> 00:14:48,880 Speaker 1: six months to learn Jagabaru, Pruskin and noshka, which means 220 00:14:49,080 --> 00:14:53,600 Speaker 1: I speak Russian a little. And that's before we even 221 00:14:53,640 --> 00:14:57,440 Speaker 1: started the physical training. There's not so much about running marathons, 222 00:14:57,480 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 1: but it's building up good muscle strength in general fitness. 223 00:15:00,040 --> 00:15:03,520 Speaker 1: All right, Helen's doing that thing we call British understatement 224 00:15:03,600 --> 00:15:07,680 Speaker 1: again because the training it's brutal. We had this machine 225 00:15:07,720 --> 00:15:09,680 Speaker 1: which is meant to recreate what it feels like when 226 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,880 Speaker 1: your rocket is returning to earth. They strapped me into 227 00:15:12,880 --> 00:15:15,600 Speaker 1: a chair, spun me around. I got up to five 228 00:15:15,680 --> 00:15:18,000 Speaker 1: g's which is basically like a grand piano being pressed 229 00:15:18,040 --> 00:15:23,720 Speaker 1: into your chest. Then there was the weightlifting, working so 230 00:15:23,760 --> 00:15:27,160 Speaker 1: hard I was puking like every five minutes. And I 231 00:15:27,200 --> 00:15:30,960 Speaker 1: haven't even told you what happened in the woods. Sometimes 232 00:15:31,080 --> 00:15:33,640 Speaker 1: they would just leave you there after a long run 233 00:15:34,000 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: and say, okay, enjoy your night. And I had to 234 00:15:36,520 --> 00:15:38,880 Speaker 1: build a shelter and start a fire and find food 235 00:15:38,960 --> 00:15:41,480 Speaker 1: all on my own in the deep dark depths of 236 00:15:41,520 --> 00:15:45,640 Speaker 1: a Russian forest. Then there was the technical stuff, which 237 00:15:45,640 --> 00:15:49,800 Speaker 1: you had to totally learn from scratch as to navigation ballistics. 238 00:15:49,840 --> 00:15:52,920 Speaker 1: Basically the theory of flying really freaking fast through space, 239 00:15:53,760 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 1: and all of us in Russian. One thing I found 240 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:00,360 Speaker 1: out pretty quickly was that they weren't going to make 241 00:16:00,360 --> 00:16:04,200 Speaker 1: any distinctions between the train cosmonauts and us newbies. Every 242 00:16:04,240 --> 00:16:07,360 Speaker 1: member of the crew would have responsibilities. I was in 243 00:16:07,440 --> 00:16:09,560 Speaker 1: charge of oxygen on the soils, and so I had 244 00:16:09,560 --> 00:16:11,720 Speaker 1: to know exactly how much air was needed to keep 245 00:16:11,760 --> 00:16:14,560 Speaker 1: my crew made safe. I had to calculate all of 246 00:16:14,600 --> 00:16:17,360 Speaker 1: this in my head. And did I mention all of 247 00:16:17,400 --> 00:16:23,720 Speaker 1: this was in Russian. Yeah, if you were even a 248 00:16:23,760 --> 00:16:27,520 Speaker 1: point off, everyone was dead. Because so much can go 249 00:16:27,600 --> 00:16:30,320 Speaker 1: wrong with space travel, we were always having to learn 250 00:16:30,400 --> 00:16:32,360 Speaker 1: what you should do in the event of a disaster. 251 00:16:32,680 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: So some simple things, for instance, say the radio might 252 00:16:35,400 --> 00:16:37,840 Speaker 1: not work, what if you can't speak to ground control? 253 00:16:37,960 --> 00:16:40,040 Speaker 1: But there could be something else more complex, like what 254 00:16:40,080 --> 00:16:42,640 Speaker 1: if your spaceship fails to land on the station? What 255 00:16:42,680 --> 00:16:45,440 Speaker 1: the hell do you do? Then? What if the electricity 256 00:16:45,480 --> 00:16:47,800 Speaker 1: cuts out or one of your fellow crew goes on 257 00:16:47,840 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: a spacewalk and never comes back. So together we would 258 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: work through that. Now, that's the kind of thing that 259 00:16:53,080 --> 00:16:55,440 Speaker 1: we did in the simulators, and you would practice and 260 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:57,680 Speaker 1: practice and practice, and it really was a case of 261 00:16:57,760 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: practice makes perfect. Years and years of Soviet missions to 262 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:04,440 Speaker 1: space meant that if anything went wrong, there was always 263 00:17:04,440 --> 00:17:07,440 Speaker 1: a go to answer. These scenarios are often written down 264 00:17:07,480 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 1: as well. It's part of our manuals, so we don't 265 00:17:10,800 --> 00:17:12,960 Speaker 1: have to remember everything. We just have to remember which 266 00:17:12,960 --> 00:17:15,520 Speaker 1: page we've got to quickly moved to for Plan B 267 00:17:15,720 --> 00:17:19,920 Speaker 1: or Plan and C instead of Plan A. After months 268 00:17:19,920 --> 00:17:22,960 Speaker 1: in Star City, Helen started to believe in herself. She 269 00:17:23,080 --> 00:17:26,120 Speaker 1: was strong, she knew a bit more Russian than I did, 270 00:17:26,440 --> 00:17:28,960 Speaker 1: and she knew how to save the spaceship from disaster. 271 00:17:30,240 --> 00:17:33,280 Speaker 1: And eventually, in the summer of nineteen ninety she was 272 00:17:33,359 --> 00:17:37,520 Speaker 1: ready to meet her crew, the famous cosmonauts, the guys 273 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:40,320 Speaker 1: she had been standing behind in the post office. The 274 00:17:40,359 --> 00:17:43,919 Speaker 1: commander of her mission would be Anatoly Artabaski, and she 275 00:17:43,960 --> 00:17:47,119 Speaker 1: would also ride with an engineer, the hero of the 276 00:17:47,200 --> 00:17:53,760 Speaker 1: Salud seven rescue, sarage Crecovat. Sagey starts off when you 277 00:17:53,840 --> 00:17:57,760 Speaker 1: meet him. He is a very modest kind of character, 278 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,399 Speaker 1: and he's very strong internally, but he's not the kind 279 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,200 Speaker 1: of person who would be the loudest in the room 280 00:18:04,240 --> 00:18:07,320 Speaker 1: by any stretch of the imagination. You could probably go 281 00:18:07,359 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 1: into a room. Unless he's standing up, he's quite tall, 282 00:18:09,560 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: but if he was sitting down, you probably could go 283 00:18:11,840 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 1: pass without even noticing him because he's not shouting, he's 284 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:18,880 Speaker 1: not waving his arms around, so you know, his presence 285 00:18:18,920 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: just sort of creptopotomy. Helen says, there's this thing you 286 00:18:22,920 --> 00:18:26,280 Speaker 1: need to understand about cosmonauts. All the cosmonauts have chosen 287 00:18:26,560 --> 00:18:30,960 Speaker 1: in many respects. We're all quite similar fairly, I would say, 288 00:18:31,040 --> 00:18:35,240 Speaker 1: even tempered, so not too excitable, not too depressive. But 289 00:18:35,359 --> 00:18:38,600 Speaker 1: Sarah Gay stood out. I think Sagey has got a 290 00:18:38,640 --> 00:18:43,480 Speaker 1: particularly high propensity to deal with stress. He's just outwardly 291 00:18:43,600 --> 00:18:45,840 Speaker 1: very calm. He probably deals with it all inside, but 292 00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:48,640 Speaker 1: he does deal with it soon. She was being invited 293 00:18:48,640 --> 00:18:50,880 Speaker 1: to his house to meet his family, and of course, 294 00:18:50,880 --> 00:18:52,760 Speaker 1: the first time that any British person goes to a 295 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,080 Speaker 1: Soviet house for dinner, you think this enormous amount of food, Wow, 296 00:18:56,119 --> 00:18:58,320 Speaker 1: it's this amazing, and then you're offered more and more 297 00:18:58,320 --> 00:18:59,760 Speaker 1: and more. You think, thank you very much, that was 298 00:19:00,040 --> 00:19:03,719 Speaker 1: it's just really feeling super full. That's great, and then 299 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:08,040 Speaker 1: they say, oh, now it's the main course. I can 300 00:19:08,080 --> 00:19:10,720 Speaker 1: tell you what Helen says about the Russians. Is true, 301 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,360 Speaker 1: they love to feed you and they like to get 302 00:19:13,400 --> 00:19:16,960 Speaker 1: a drunk on vaca. But the generosity Helen experienced in 303 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,440 Speaker 1: Saragey's house also made her think, I know they were 304 00:19:21,560 --> 00:19:24,760 Speaker 1: very well off compared to the average Soviet citizen at 305 00:19:24,800 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: that time. I certainly was aware of the difficulty of 306 00:19:28,960 --> 00:19:32,880 Speaker 1: many of them. The queues I hate, standing in lines 307 00:19:33,200 --> 00:19:35,720 Speaker 1: I hated, and some of the hunger that was going around, 308 00:19:35,760 --> 00:19:38,040 Speaker 1: some of the homelessness as well. In Moscow. It caused 309 00:19:38,119 --> 00:19:40,879 Speaker 1: the average Russian a full day's pay for a pound 310 00:19:40,920 --> 00:19:43,840 Speaker 1: of meat at the private markets. And then compared to 311 00:19:43,880 --> 00:19:46,840 Speaker 1: the relatively good standard of living in Star City, and 312 00:19:46,880 --> 00:19:48,800 Speaker 1: the fact that I could go to a canteen rude. 313 00:19:48,880 --> 00:19:52,080 Speaker 1: Star City has looked curious by Soviet standards. The diet 314 00:19:52,160 --> 00:19:55,560 Speaker 1: calculated by scientists to give them and eat my breakfast, 315 00:19:55,600 --> 00:19:58,080 Speaker 1: lunch and dinner there, and so could the other cosmonauts 316 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,560 Speaker 1: without having to worry about where is that food coming from? 317 00:20:00,600 --> 00:20:03,639 Speaker 1: That was a real luxury because in the rest of 318 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:07,320 Speaker 1: the country people were starving, women and children were sleeping 319 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,000 Speaker 1: in Moscow's railway stations. So what do you do now, 320 00:20:10,440 --> 00:20:12,639 Speaker 1: go into I don't even know what I can do, 321 00:20:12,880 --> 00:20:14,280 Speaker 1: I'm going to have to go back to the train 322 00:20:14,320 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 1: station and spend the night there. Thirty two million Russians 323 00:20:17,480 --> 00:20:20,600 Speaker 1: now found themselves below the poverty line. So only one 324 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,919 Speaker 1: in six families has a telephone, only one in twenty 325 00:20:23,920 --> 00:20:27,639 Speaker 1: four owns a car. The quality of most things people 326 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:37,800 Speaker 1: can buy here is third rate. Helen heard about all 327 00:20:37,800 --> 00:20:40,000 Speaker 1: of this from the Western media and her friends from 328 00:20:40,000 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: back home. She knew about the collapse of the Soviet economy, 329 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 1: and she also knew about President Gorbachev and about how 330 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:50,560 Speaker 1: he was trying to change the Soviet Union. So in England, 331 00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:53,800 Speaker 1: in the UK, we'd got these two Russian words, and 332 00:20:54,080 --> 00:20:59,479 Speaker 1: Glasnost and pedestroca. We talked a little bit about this 333 00:20:59,520 --> 00:21:03,280 Speaker 1: in episode to Glasnost generally just means openness and pedestroika 334 00:21:03,320 --> 00:21:07,399 Speaker 1: means rebuilding, and they became synonymous with what Gorbutof was 335 00:21:07,440 --> 00:21:09,840 Speaker 1: trying to do. He was being more open with the West. 336 00:21:10,600 --> 00:21:13,359 Speaker 1: We liked Glasnost and we liked paristroika in the West, 337 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:16,800 Speaker 1: and here was a chance to ask actual Soviets what 338 00:21:16,840 --> 00:21:20,320 Speaker 1: they thought. And so she started going up to the 339 00:21:20,320 --> 00:21:23,320 Speaker 1: cosmonauts in Star City, What do you think about these 340 00:21:23,359 --> 00:21:28,240 Speaker 1: reforms of glasnost of pedestroika, And the response I got 341 00:21:28,280 --> 00:21:30,520 Speaker 1: was a bit of a blank. What's odd? I don't 342 00:21:30,560 --> 00:21:32,960 Speaker 1: people don't normally kind of sort of stum upon me 343 00:21:33,000 --> 00:21:34,840 Speaker 1: when I'm asking them questions and they say, what do 344 00:21:34,880 --> 00:21:38,199 Speaker 1: you mean? She replied, well, you know, I mean like 345 00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:41,560 Speaker 1: society opening up what President Gorbachev was trying to do. 346 00:21:42,960 --> 00:21:46,120 Speaker 1: Aren't we open? We thought we were being quite open 347 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:50,840 Speaker 1: with you. And what about pedestroika rebuilding? Well, but rebuilding 348 00:21:50,840 --> 00:21:52,800 Speaker 1: the school down the road. Isn't that's a good thing, 349 00:21:52,840 --> 00:21:57,400 Speaker 1: isn't it? The political connotations to these two words just 350 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:02,160 Speaker 1: weren't used in the Soviet Union. This made Helen realize 351 00:22:02,720 --> 00:22:06,280 Speaker 1: everything she thought about the Soviet Union was wrong. That 352 00:22:06,480 --> 00:22:11,120 Speaker 1: people in Star City, people like Serage Kreklov cosmonauts, they 353 00:22:11,200 --> 00:22:16,760 Speaker 1: actually liked their lives because their lives were relatively quite 354 00:22:16,760 --> 00:22:20,399 Speaker 1: good and relatively quite stable. They liked the way that 355 00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,399 Speaker 1: they worked and the way that they lived. They weren't 356 00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,400 Speaker 1: aware of any other way to do that, and they 357 00:22:26,400 --> 00:22:28,159 Speaker 1: were very happy with that. And I kind of, I 358 00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:30,399 Speaker 1: suppose I'd always assumed that they would always be trying 359 00:22:30,400 --> 00:22:32,840 Speaker 1: to live more like the life in the West was. 360 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:35,199 Speaker 1: And of course they weren't. They were very happy with 361 00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:38,280 Speaker 1: their lives, happy with their lives and proud to be 362 00:22:38,359 --> 00:22:41,840 Speaker 1: part of the Soviet space program, the most revered men 363 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:46,480 Speaker 1: and the Soviet Union revered and rewarded with comfortable houses, 364 00:22:46,720 --> 00:22:52,840 Speaker 1: food and a good life. The only problem is that 365 00:22:52,920 --> 00:22:56,560 Speaker 1: comfortable life, the one enjoyed by Soviet cosmonauts since the 366 00:22:56,600 --> 00:23:12,680 Speaker 1: age of Uriga Gerin it was in serious jeopardy. So 367 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:17,199 Speaker 1: it's now April nineteen ninety one and the three cosmonauts Sarage, Helen, 368 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:21,040 Speaker 1: and Anatoli are finally ready ready to go to space. 369 00:23:21,720 --> 00:23:24,840 Speaker 1: They leave Star City by military plane and three hours 370 00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,000 Speaker 1: later they start their descent to Bikanir, the secret city 371 00:23:28,040 --> 00:23:31,040 Speaker 1: in the desert where the Soviets launched their rockets. From 372 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,800 Speaker 1: Helen clings to her seat. Bikenore is everything she pictured, 373 00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:37,479 Speaker 1: the closest thing on Earth to a Star Wars planet, 374 00:23:37,800 --> 00:23:40,720 Speaker 1: with great hangars and domes jutting out of the reddish 375 00:23:40,720 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 1: brown Earth, and the cosmonauts are going to have to 376 00:23:43,320 --> 00:23:46,639 Speaker 1: spend two weeks there in quarantine. They need to make 377 00:23:46,680 --> 00:23:49,479 Speaker 1: sure that they're not carrying any viruses into the space station. 378 00:23:50,359 --> 00:23:53,399 Speaker 1: Then they have to go through a series of strange rituals, 379 00:23:53,840 --> 00:23:56,080 Speaker 1: rituals that go back to the very early days of 380 00:23:56,160 --> 00:24:01,440 Speaker 1: Soviet space travel. There's a huge number of very traditional 381 00:24:01,640 --> 00:24:04,520 Speaker 1: things that we do before the space flights itself. On 382 00:24:04,600 --> 00:24:07,840 Speaker 1: the day, you wake up whichever bedroom you'd be sleeping, 383 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:11,080 Speaker 1: and you sign the door. Your signature goes on the 384 00:24:11,119 --> 00:24:13,199 Speaker 1: door of that room. Goodnessays what they've done with all 385 00:24:13,200 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: these doors. They must be jampactful of signatures. But the 386 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:20,160 Speaker 1: signatures are only the first part of the ritual. Next, 387 00:24:20,160 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 1: the cosmonauts watch a movie. Picture the scene Helen, Sergei 388 00:24:24,359 --> 00:24:27,840 Speaker 1: and Anatolie all gathered around on this little sofa from 389 00:24:27,880 --> 00:24:31,600 Speaker 1: movie night, maybe eating some popcorn or probably more like 390 00:24:31,680 --> 00:24:35,159 Speaker 1: sunflower seeds. And what was the movie White Sun in 391 00:24:35,200 --> 00:24:37,840 Speaker 1: the Desert. I think it's called to some sort of comedy, 392 00:24:38,400 --> 00:24:42,240 Speaker 1: White Sun in the Desert, very Russian Harley sounds like 393 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:44,960 Speaker 1: me the parents, But you know anyway, Then the next 394 00:24:45,040 --> 00:24:48,080 Speaker 1: day they get up early, get into their spacesuits, they 395 00:24:48,119 --> 00:24:50,440 Speaker 1: get on a bus to the launch site, and then 396 00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 1: comes another ritual. Your Gagarin forgot to go to the 397 00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:56,640 Speaker 1: loo before he went to the rocket, so he needed 398 00:24:56,680 --> 00:24:58,640 Speaker 1: to get out of the bus and have a pee 399 00:24:58,640 --> 00:25:01,720 Speaker 1: on the back wheels, so you will do that. That's right, 400 00:25:01,960 --> 00:25:04,159 Speaker 1: because Juriga Garan forgot to take a leak before his 401 00:25:04,240 --> 00:25:07,720 Speaker 1: flight into space in nineteen sixty one. Every cosmonaut who 402 00:25:07,760 --> 00:25:10,320 Speaker 1: flies in the Soviet Union still has to do this, 403 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: although Helen actually didn't. She's a woman, remember, and she'd 404 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:19,720 Speaker 1: have to take her space suit off. Finally, bathroom bregg Dunn. 405 00:25:20,080 --> 00:25:22,960 Speaker 1: They head to the launch site. There's a television on 406 00:25:23,000 --> 00:25:25,720 Speaker 1: the bus where they watch video messages from Saragei and 407 00:25:25,760 --> 00:25:29,720 Speaker 1: Anatoli's kids. Anatole's little boy tells them, pity you won't 408 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:34,199 Speaker 1: be here this summer. Goodbye. And then there there in 409 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 1: front of the rocket, a rocket plastered with two flags, 410 00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:41,080 Speaker 1: one for Great Britain the Union Jack and the other 411 00:25:41,119 --> 00:25:44,719 Speaker 1: for the Soviet Union the Hammer and Sickle. They climb 412 00:25:44,760 --> 00:25:48,000 Speaker 1: the still stairs and get in the elevator. Up and 413 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: up they travel to the top of the rocket to 414 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:57,080 Speaker 1: their capsule. I was sitting on the right hand side, 415 00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:00,080 Speaker 1: and the commander toleh he had their middle seat, and 416 00:26:00,200 --> 00:26:03,320 Speaker 1: Sigay had this seat on the left. And the hatch 417 00:26:03,359 --> 00:26:07,000 Speaker 1: door closes and that's it, just the three of them, 418 00:26:07,200 --> 00:26:10,439 Speaker 1: all totally focused on the job at hand. The launch, 419 00:26:11,000 --> 00:26:13,639 Speaker 1: the docking, and what they need to do when they 420 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:17,199 Speaker 1: get to the station. After what seems like an age, 421 00:26:17,240 --> 00:26:21,399 Speaker 1: they feel it, the rumble, the shaking, the rockets start 422 00:26:21,440 --> 00:26:24,400 Speaker 1: to fire, the rookie t engines fire. It takes well 423 00:26:24,440 --> 00:26:28,360 Speaker 1: for the thrust to build up one second, two seconds, 424 00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:32,359 Speaker 1: three seconds, probably tens of seconds before the thrust bills 425 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,520 Speaker 1: up enough. Ten seconds of waiting, neither off the ground 426 00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:38,880 Speaker 1: nor attached. If the thrust bills up enough to lift 427 00:26:38,880 --> 00:26:41,240 Speaker 1: you off the ground. But as they wait in this 428 00:26:41,280 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: in between state, about to sever gravity's hold on them, 429 00:26:44,840 --> 00:26:47,960 Speaker 1: to break the tether with Earth, something at the back 430 00:26:47,960 --> 00:26:51,560 Speaker 1: of their mind, something completely out of their control, keeps 431 00:26:51,560 --> 00:27:00,879 Speaker 1: intruding on their thoughts. What are they leaving behind? Because 432 00:27:00,920 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 1: away from the rocket, beyond the Kazakh Desert, outside the 433 00:27:04,800 --> 00:27:09,200 Speaker 1: guarded walls of Star City, the Soviet Union is beginning 434 00:27:09,359 --> 00:27:17,080 Speaker 1: to break down. It covered it all across East Europe. 435 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:19,919 Speaker 1: That searched Memen again. He was the New York Times 436 00:27:19,960 --> 00:27:23,600 Speaker 1: Moscow correspondent who was hungry a few years ago. This 437 00:27:23,800 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 1: march could not have taken place Czechoslovakia. People were standing 438 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 1: on the roofs above. Whence the fast Square. An hour 439 00:27:30,200 --> 00:27:33,840 Speaker 1: before today's demonstration in Romania used the army is now 440 00:27:33,960 --> 00:27:36,240 Speaker 1: firmly on the side of the people. Poland. I spent 441 00:27:36,320 --> 00:27:39,040 Speaker 1: a lot of time in Poland the euphoria over the 442 00:27:39,080 --> 00:27:42,959 Speaker 1: collapse of communism, as it was a period when Gorbatov's 443 00:27:43,240 --> 00:27:49,720 Speaker 1: reforms just swept through the former Soviet Empire. The latest 444 00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:53,880 Speaker 1: surge in the tide sweeping eastern Europe, demanding communist heads 445 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:58,200 Speaker 1: and knocked down wall after wall. In the old days 446 00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:02,360 Speaker 1: when people protested the vie sin in tanks, but Gorbchef 447 00:28:02,400 --> 00:28:06,320 Speaker 1: was all about freedom, and so we said, go ahead, protest, 448 00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:10,280 Speaker 1: take to the streets, and people did in the millions. 449 00:28:10,920 --> 00:28:14,200 Speaker 1: That was at the Hungarian border when people started flooding across. 450 00:28:14,840 --> 00:28:17,879 Speaker 1: I was in Prague when hundreds of thousands of people 451 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:21,760 Speaker 1: went out to wed Sislas Square and jangled their keys, 452 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 1: a dissidence and becoming much more confident, which was assigned. 453 00:28:25,600 --> 00:28:28,120 Speaker 1: You know, the keys are gone and the doors are open. 454 00:28:28,600 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: R if the freedom had been getting loud a here 455 00:28:30,960 --> 00:28:33,959 Speaker 1: all week, there was a feeling of change in the 456 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:37,240 Speaker 1: air and the Soviet system. The main glue had been fear, 457 00:28:37,600 --> 00:28:41,160 Speaker 1: the thing that held people in check and enthralled. Then 458 00:28:41,320 --> 00:28:45,680 Speaker 1: now the fear was gone. What I think nobody understood 459 00:28:46,120 --> 00:28:49,920 Speaker 1: was that this was a system built on repression, that 460 00:28:50,040 --> 00:28:54,080 Speaker 1: if you loosen one grew, they're all going to start loosening, 461 00:28:54,720 --> 00:28:58,760 Speaker 1: and then you can't hold this thing together. The empire 462 00:28:59,040 --> 00:29:05,200 Speaker 1: was rap would lead disintegrating. So as the cosmonauts took off, 463 00:29:06,160 --> 00:29:08,200 Speaker 1: they knew what they were leaving. They knew that they 464 00:29:08,200 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 1: were leaving a country that was in deep into Surrey, 465 00:29:12,800 --> 00:29:26,360 Speaker 1: in deep in existential crisis. That's next time on the 466 00:29:26,440 --> 00:29:38,560 Speaker 1: Last Soviet. The Last Soviet is a Kaleidoscope production in 467 00:29:38,600 --> 00:29:43,320 Speaker 1: partnership with iHeart Podcast and Exile Media, produced by Sama' 468 00:29:43,360 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: Dat Audio and hosted by me Lance Bass. Executive produced 469 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 1: by Kate Osbourne and Mangesh had A Kador with Oz 470 00:29:52,840 --> 00:29:58,160 Speaker 1: Wallashan and Kostas Linos from iHeart Executive produced by Katrina 471 00:29:58,240 --> 00:30:02,880 Speaker 1: Norvelle and Nikki Atore from Sama's Dad Audio Our executive 472 00:30:02,880 --> 00:30:07,880 Speaker 1: producers or Joe Sykes and Dasha Lissina. Produced by Asia Fuchs, 473 00:30:08,160 --> 00:30:13,200 Speaker 1: Dasha Litzitzina and Joe Sykes. Writing by Lydia Marchant, Research 474 00:30:13,320 --> 00:30:18,200 Speaker 1: by Mika Golobovski and Molly Schwartz. Music by Will Epstein. 475 00:30:18,640 --> 00:30:22,120 Speaker 1: Themed by Martin or string sound designed by Richard Ward, 476 00:30:22,600 --> 00:30:26,520 Speaker 1: and special things to Nando Villa, Lyssa Pollock, Will Pearson, 477 00:30:26,760 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 1: Connel BYRNE, Bob Pittman, and Isaac Lead if you want 478 00:30:30,560 --> 00:30:33,320 Speaker 1: to hear more shows like this. Nothing is more important 479 00:30:33,320 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: to the creators here at Kaleidoscope than subscribers, ratings, and reviews, 480 00:30:38,080 --> 00:30:40,280 Speaker 1: so please spread the love wherever you listen.