| Summary: | When, in July 1969, Neil Armstrong made one giant leap for mankind, America went down in popular history as the winner of the space race. But the real space pioneers of the 20th century were the Soviets. Between 1961 and 1966, they realized a number of spectacular historical achievements, including the first man and woman in space. Up to that point, they seemed unstoppable. Then a string of misfortunes struck. The deaths of two key figures, Sergei Korolev, the godfather of the programme, and hero and icon Yuri Gagarin, were followed by a series of mechanical setbacks. This allowed the Americans to streak ahead and ultimately claim victory. But it did not end there. The Russians recalibrated their space programme in the 1970's, achieving more success and coming in many ways to dominate modern space exploration. Covering all these events and more, this series uses unseen archive and compelling interviews to reveal the story of the space race from the other side of the iron curtain. Cosmonauts Episode 1 is part of the compelling BBC history series Cosmonauts which explores the Russian attempt to win the space race in the 1960's and 1970's.
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