the conquest of space was one of the main goals for the soviet union in the u.s. during the cold war and r.t. special report is all about that next. that was in the sixteenth century. once there lived a chinese nobleman by the name of one who is most cherished ambition was to go to the moon using the resources available seven powder kegs to a bamboo then he put on his best clothes and ignited the bottles. when the smoke cleared after the explosion there was neither a trace of nor of who. history is rich with ill fated attempts to get into space but in the twentieth century to remarkable men did conquer the skies but this time around they used rocket engines rather than exploding armchairs to propel them into. their names then. they were the architects of the american and russian space programs the two great arrivals in the

battle to reach out to space. made their first attempts to reach for the stars in their childhood as a boy in the soviet union so gay designed simple ideas but as time went by he came up with a more sophisticated propelled craft as for venice at the age of twelve he created a prototype rocket by equipping a crate with fireworks he also. built a walking wagon that he launched in his hometown and apparently this wagon in the ad had. rockets he had made on it and it knighted that ran down the main street of his hometown and. who was von braun's long time private secretary says venet attracted police attention many times for firing things into the air nowadays buckbee often takes people on

a tour of the space museum in huntsville where each exhibit is related to von braun . but the best storyteller of. exploits is his only daughter natalia she wrote about him in three volumes of memoirs simply titled my father. with this this is a picture of the first soviet rocket it was launched on august seventeenth one thousand nine hundred thirty three though it spent only eighteen seconds in the air in the quiet altitude of four hundred meters it was a spectacular success. moscow in the one nine hundred thirty s. was a time of daring ambition and breathtaking endeavor it's one group of young scientists infusing as a model they have to try and turn fantasy into reality they were so desperately short of money that they had to hire a tram to take this second rocket to its launch pad. was the driving force behind the team researching propulsion they kept saying to each other we will go to miles

yes we will. rested for high treason in nineteen thirty eight but for many years he didn't know why he protested his innocence despite brutal questioning and only broke down when interrogators showed him a picture of his daughter saying she'd be orphaned if he didn't confess ten years in prison at the height of stalin's purges. i was five years old when my mother and i went to see him i did not know he had been arrested i had been told that he was away because he was the pilot when we entered small room a warden came in through another door. i said papa how could you possibly lend your airplane in that small courtyard at that moment the warden chipped in you know dear landing here is no problem but getting out of here is a very difficult. after his prison term was moved to russia's remote east where inmates were forced to mine for gold camp in maine died every day. dropped to

just forty five kilos during his time that he lost more than half his teeth due to scale but he survived because stanley needed rocket scientists for the soviet union's meteor shield. was released six years later he told his daughter wife. and mother about his life in the camp only once he asked them not to bring the subject up again and to steer clear of gold ornaments. served his term in a good light then a von braun was in nazi germany rising through the ranks on the s.s. command he started work on a secret project after i had ordered his scientists to create a weapon capable of hitting distant targets.

up to several setbacks the infamous v. two rocket was created it was the world's first ballistic missile ready to fire. and this is an old house in a small provincial town in central germany it's a place of simple beauty and quiet gentle life. the town also has a special museum the wagon outside the entrance is like those used to bring thousands of people to this tranquil place in one nine hundred forty three to a notorious concentration camp and most of the exhibits though are underground. the v. two was made here at this secret some to raney and plant its workman with inmates

from the metal back door of labor camp which was a part of brooklyn both now we're entering the original tunnel a see huge tunnel as you can see with about twelve mistress. and this model you can see two. crossed. a b and forty six cross tunnels built by concentration camp prisoners in the last years of the war if you look don here you can see an origin no and which was moved from the behind here to show it to visitors. the prisoners spent half a year on the ground without seeing so much as a sliver of daylight at the time they didn't know the purpose of the tunnels but they later realized that they had been putting together a monstrous weapon designed to destroy the homes countries and loved ones they had

to sleep in bets with thought any equipment only on a wooden nothing. the senate terry conditions were catastrophic people died after just two or three months of intolerable work the dead were replaced with new inmates soviet people made up one third of the door of prison population. the key to me once were unique weapons because these were the only weapons where more people died building them then people died by using these weapons. half of the six thousand rockets made to the underground plants during the eighteen months of his existence were faulty the inmates did all they could to make sure the weapons remained on the ground they breached production ruse and use defective components. thirty five thousand inmates died during the

plant's lifetime. cost six human lives. without doubt venom von braun paid several visits to the facility when he went down into the tunnels he saw hundreds of dead inmates but apparently. did not seem fazed. much later his face appeared on the cover of time magazine he shook hands with president kennedy and was awarded medals his impassioned glorification of american democracy came much later too but in may nine hundred forty five the s.s. major was faced with a choice. did have a choice so. he was reflecting with his colleagues what to do after the german defeat and in forty four they decided most of them decided to go with the americans. surprisingly the americans welcomed their former enemies despite

the fact that a new conflict was on the horizon the cold war. who flew with russians their first job was to learn how to fly an airplane to go bomb russia the american people looked at these these people the local people anyway as being able to assist us in developing a new system for defense of the country the americans won the space race but did we win the space race when you look at the fathers of space in the last century you had one of the was german and then you look at the russians have. he had spent time in the gulag. some of his first designs that he did on aviation where we're from the uk. was eventually released from prison and was no longer an enemy of the soviet people in fact he became his country's protect and made chief

designer of a long range ballistic missile called item number one. even lost his identity and was now a top secret somebody working on a top secret. get a mind when they went to germany they started to study german. technology. was first so long an able to perform his job and diving deeper into the work he loved so much. made a faithful replica of the feet on stalin's orders although it was successfully launched realized that the rocket was not good enough he was sure he could make an even better one and he did it was called the. soviet union in the united states with neck and neck in the construction of long range missiles but that changed in one nine hundred fifty seven in the midst of the

cold. case became the space race. on the morning of october fifth hundred years in the united states began picking up signals from space a couple of hours later president eisenhower was told about the russian of the first satellite he cut short his vacation stock exchange shares took a shop down to exactly that the russians have launched into space was totally unclear we couldn't even figure out what sputnik meant we kept referring to it as a bomb and we were trying to write a headline right soviet union put a bomb in space they said oh no don't call a bomb though we eventually realized it was a scientific satellite. the world sputnik was soon to become familiar with the english language launch numbers of people stayed away from work to try and hear the peeping sound from the satellite they gathered on rooftops in the hope of seeing

a little spot of manmade light blinking up in the sky all they did was take this small extra payload on top of a long range ballistic missile and sent him into orbit and then someone had the idea to do the beat beat so you would hear it and that transform the world as we know. when intestines changed for example head to strike this came into fashion and. only a handful of people at the sputnik being designed by sergei cut you off his name did not appear anywhere it was soviet leader nikita khrushchev that one. would think you were a straight arrow sputnik is certainly the earth and the waiting for american and other sputniks to show up side by side with it before commonwealth of sputnik's. i. won bronze attempt to launch the first u.s. satellite ended in the vanguard exploded.

when you. called my father to tell him that he should launch another sputnik in time for the anniversary of the one nine hundred seventeen october revolution which was close at hand but people had gone on vacation and had to be summoned back. khrushchev wanted something more than just another sputnik she wanted something entirely new. given less than a month to invent one there were neither blueprints no quality control the whole enterprise depended on trust throughout his career it was always looking for people willing to forgo food and sleep and work through the night just to slough folk to chefs is a psychologist from russia's space research center star city he used to work under . oil he was a great man it was enough for him to look at you and you got a wealth of information we didn't even though he was great with his subordinates he

had a very delicate soul. it was a four legged cosmonaut that was the first living creature to head towards the stars a dog called like her when she was launched into space there were tears in her size time magazine called. the world's most lonely and miserable dog that was true it was a one way ticket for like it a monument was unveiled in moscow to mark the fiftieth anniversary of a space mission twitter feed us there is this monument to commemorate the dulux greatest. people bring treats you know what would look someone has even brought a candy here for the. show some even bring salsa just for the. group. at that time it was impossible to retrieve a sputnik from movies people around the world accuse the soviet union of animal cruelty but like his sacrifice was of undoubted benefit to science scientists were unsure whether the biological functions could work in zero gravity i mean there are

so many things we take for granted today but with the heart pump in zero gravity would blood flow and zero gravity would your mind you know be alert in zero gravity meanwhile the americans too were launching animals into the stratosphere notably monkeys they were put on the anesthetic but they also died in their missions. but eventually there was a happy ending with two dogs called delta and that both were well behaved. just as they became fitness even so one day flight was problem free and they became the first creatures ever to safely return from orbit. mongrels one instant faint randomness something the pedigree could ever dream of soon after returning to earth

gave birth to six healthy pups nikita khrushchev gave one of them to president kennedy's daughter caroline it was a constant reminder to us leader of the soviet space program had defeated him in the first round of the space race. wealthy british stock. market. has come to. find out what's really happening to the global economy

with mike stronger for a no holds barred look at the global financial headlines in two cars a report on. his snow white smile could millions of. was a welcome guest around the world and the epitome of mankind's dreams. the first man in space. was among those who wanted to take part in the national celebration. has come down from red square. moving recognized. the music from a skimpy when the nobel committee. to disclose the name of the chief designer who made it possible for the first sputnik and forgotten to go into space. said the entire nation created the advanced technology. never complained about the fact that

his health has been affected by the prison camp all the public could not associate him with the space program he had no time for that he was busy turning extremes into reality. as though he were his own son sylvia. complimented the personalities they were compas of all with each other sometimes they didn't even meet. the first u.s. astronauts alan shepard went into space a month after. only fifteen minutes there. was clearly losing the race. coming in second he was pretty well i think disgusted with with the system the government system that we were operating under not realizing that the russians were really technology smart. very much in the public eye.

and even helped. space travel so the american public he was the first salesman. if we were to stop what they organize and will support that space. i believe a practical passenger rocket could be built and tested within ten years. the press also joined in on the space race italian and american newspapers claimed that . went into space before did and never return to. they were known as the so-called missing cosmonauts. even gave their names to lend credibility to the stories. i was married to one of the names of.

her. under these test tree it was a form of relaxation. it was a test. he often told her about how he had spent six months in a capsule lowered into the ocean he was compelled to live high in the mountains where there was a severe shortage of oxygen and he went through training in a fast spinning centrifuge there they were asked to press a button if the speed was too much for them but they never did because they had an overpowering desire to serve their country in space exploration chose to ignore this train so that they would be allowed to go into space. needless to say. he was stunned by a newspaper report claiming he was dead. he immediately called his mother to tell her he was ok then he at the other supposedly missing cosmonauts wrote an article

for a soviet newspaper headlined the gadhafi says gentleman. i saw it as something of a joke they even liked it because they meant somebody knew them and had put them on the map so to speak as a. husband died in two thousand and two but it had nothing to do with any fabricated space experiments. there was a time when they. wanted to be a minerals a special kind of cosmonaut soon after garden space flight. of announced he was going to draw on engineers at his enterprise to put together a group of cosmonauts their job would be to assemble three parts of a giant ship. the spacecraft would then head to miles from where it was great to dream von braun's ambition of the time didn't extend beyond reaching the moon. spoke of the lunar race was an invention in reality there was no lunar race.

shows off his secret notebook it contains drafts and other details relating to the mars project. i put down a wizard had sold me and launched a morse was scheduled for early one nine hundred seventy four. if his notes are. anything to go by. one thousand nine hundred sixty. present. as his priority objectives. for who. we might script. if we fail. then at least we could fly around it head of them that's who might be nice and. surprisingly don't give the moon away to the americans.

much time wasted. the american flag. i really believe that the soviet union. the us to them. in our day and we did that in the sixty's and i think it was because there was serious competition between the two countries. who. didn't get to see strong take the first step on the surface.

with him and his identity was finally. triggering a wave of. his own even. though he never realized. just one person. from my father liked to say that people can travel into space on doubters issued by train butin and he was absolutely sure that outer space was not empty and people must live and work there he said. could hardly have been magine seeing americans and russians in space together the film brought in one hundred seventy five the so you support their project put an end to the space race. i'm approaching so use. less than five meters.

three meters. i like chocolate smallest of all like the circle of a lot of chocolates a look. cosmonaut valeri could bounce off was part of the soyuz apollo project and often visits this museum he remembers every minute of his mission the food what they talked about and how they welcomed the apollo crew moves their lists aboard which is a good suit vapor labels from ball to ball to go with us. and when we were up there i randomly pasted them on a couple of cubes and one of them turned out to be filled with borsch and the other with some kind of a tomato paste were in there and it went american astronauts stafford and dick

slayton said salad on the table. i show them that you and your oh yeah good idea they said. today new cosmonauts a set to go into space one by one of the countries are creating their space programs india in japan. china has already. moved into space even wealthy tourists pay for a trip to the stasi this filling prophecy. maybe one day the time may come when space flights will be routine excursions curious travelers might take pictures of themselves against the backdrop of an extinct volcano off to venice or in front of a crater to sergei off. every

month we give you the future we hope you understand how to get there and what to mold bring the best in science and technology from across russia and around the world to join us for technology update on our.

latest news of the week's top stories from the sun scorched we show you how one the city of ten million people is coping in the grip of record breaking temperatures. also keep off the grass of peace people protest is this forcibly removed from westminster. sitting target poor securities play for the time hydropower in southern russia that leaves to. rape by deception an israeli court convicts a muslim for sleeping with a woman while pretending to be jewish. fly into trouble the p.r. stunt the outrage with animal lovers and the police also on the tail of the parasailing.