five thirty am in moscow the zero r.t.s. headlines the first u.n. monitors arrived in syria after saturday's unanimous security council vote for an observer mission they arrived as damascus warns it will retaliate if attacks by armed groups continue amid reports of fresh confrontations between demonstrators and security forces. a series of attacks the afghan capital with the presidential palace western embassies and nato bases being the focus of a large scale taliban assault militants claim this in retaliation for recent actions and killings by u.s. troops in afghanistan. foreign activists arrive in israel holding peaceful

demonstrations in support of the palestinian people and they need a tough response from israeli police dozens who took part in an international campaign dubbed welcome to palestine barred from entering the country nine israeli activists were also arrested more than a half century after mankind first headed towards the stars are to reveal some of the secrets behind a famous soviet space program. but so who will go first you first know you only five out of twenty are still alive. five participants of one of the most secret and vicious missions of the soviet union leaders to talk about it in moscow they dared to do all kinds of experiments testing the limits of human insurance. every one of them wanted to be the first. they were all ready to risk their life.

they were the first cosmonauts one of these men were chosen to prepare for the first ever human spaceflight every year the five remaining members of the group gathered together on the birthday of the first cosmonaut in his native city but now bears his name. alexei allman troop was an engineer and a helicopter pilot just eighteen months ago now he was a candidate to become a cosmonaut. frankly speaking i never thought i was suitable for becoming a cosmonaut but after a little training i saw they were human beings just like anybody else. if you stop sending it progress and. the simulators are constructed especially for the cosmonauts they have no electronics or digital technology involved cosmonauts said the speed with their own movement this is about the only way to keep muscles toned

in a weight loss environment future cosmonaut alexei exercises three times a week but for those from the first squad this kind of training would be considered a walk in the park. here not there they go first cause hunters are too many physical exercises but the most because people did not know from was a stunt a she was. here they are the men from the very. first top secret soviet squad of cosmonauts this video footage was for exclusive internal use only nobody was supposed to know anything about their mission not even their family or friends all twenty men were finally approved less than a year before one of them flew into orbit they were selected from thousands of the best flight schools across the country all of them were flying aces under the age of thirty five with impeccable profiles and in perfect health. if you could fill in as in seven out of thirty three teeth or had some little articles or gentle

carries that was enough to completely rule you out of the running of with uppers as . eight months until liftoff time was running out the united states was also preparing its own first human space flight a soviet presidium secretly ordered that a soviet man must be the first one to fly into space at any cost as the physical tests on the first cosmonaut squad increased so did the mental stress there was not a single minute of downtime for the men the in georgia tests and medical examinations followed by flights to the maximum heights possible and parachute training all on top of their daily exercise. this footage shows the first disc one taking a rare day off in the moscow region but before it ended one of the twenty squad members had wrecked his chances of flying into a little bit. we had just arrived when that hot headed didn't look before he

tried to leap into the water war though he ended up with a broken cervical vertebra and spent several months in hospital after that he was discharged from duty. valentino vita lum off was the first one to drop out from the cosmonaut squad for medical reason. alexi home in chalk is undergoing centrifuge training they are judging if he can bear the extreme forces of gravity during take off. during will change because we're not must not only keep conscious but also be able to distinguish and remember letters and symbols after the ordeal the amount of force inside a centrifuge is measured in g. an average person can sustain it no more than five g. in other words five times the force of gravity for today's cosmonauts the highest

as a go is e.g. but the first squad was put through the absolute maximum of twelve g. . twelve g. was very scary they spun us in a centrifuge captured from germany after the second world war it was the only one we hands in addition it was an open centrifuge and it was cracked all over by nine g. it was creaking and when it hit twelve g. i didn't care about the force anymore i was more concerned about whether it would fly all over everything was applied to collapse. as reported here. yuri gagarin was insuperable physical shape but even those tests were torture for him as the speed in the centrifuge grows it becomes harder to breach the head feels heavy as if it is filled with lead. or did it but they carried out a research on it how long a person can stand it they decided out on me yet the direction of the force from step the pelvis go a bit foggy for thirty seconds then at sixty for thirty seconds at seventy for

thirty seconds. at age she i began to pull it out and went almost blind after just thirty seconds i had completely passed out. the cosmonauts underwent hundreds of thousands of tests on various machines as it turned out later the only thing they did was harm their health. or a great number of doctors we appeared to carry out serious scientific experiments on human beings. but over we were guinea pigs that's what they called us to tell the truth. seven months until lift off. six men were selected out of the remaining nineteen the rest were supposed to act as backup but they continued the preparations without any breaks one of the six

could have been replaced at any time it was joked that all of them would fly into space in a couple of years and that more people would be needed because space ships would be more tyson needed. until he comes ashore was among the top six cosmonauts he was considered one of the strongest in the team and literally could easily end george well geez time and again but his medical results proved otherwise. than as any blood vessels on his back had cursed me and that means if those on his back burst they could burst in the brain this can be carefully it was dismissed from the cosmonauts and continued working as a pilot's. because

the show of that was replaced by glee gordy know you want it was he who was bold enough to say what many were afraid to at a reception held by the commander of the air force. and from the new group here in new you wolf stood up and said come race chief marshal we have an impression that they do not prepare us for space flight books while the test what we can survive. the commander appointed a responsible person and said look they had selected those people from three thousand pilots not for one single flights and that they would need them in the future. he ordered a review of the training program to be less of a strain on their health. here you can see the meter of space exploration the youngest and the strongest man

. three occupation was top secret. and we asked people if they could recognize any of them in the picture and they could not change everything about them with classify it. this is a museum in the city of good baron devoted to the first space flight the famous cosmonauts home city here you can see the training simulators the first squad actually used this rotating chair test and yuri gagarin himself a unique exhibit finally appeared in the museum's collection in two thousand and eleven. you can see the low pressure chamber in which you regarding also underwent a test. there was an accident in this very isolation chamber which. is what happened in this chamber was kept secret for a long time an isolation chamber is

a special airtight soundproof room in which low pressure conditions are created a cosmonaut would be left here all alone for ten to fifteen days only the essentials were inside the room food water and a cooking stove communication was one way the cosmonaut was to report regularly on his condition to take readings of his organs with the help of sensors talking to the cosmonaut was forbidden lab assistants could only monitor him through a small window but on one fateful day when the cosmonaut urgently needed help none of the researchers was close by. well i'm i'm very i'm good dear valentine wondering and court was going to take any she had to do this one has to put on a special cap with sensors. for this it is necessary to rub the skin with alcohol to ensure good contact with the sensors. but the media world at the time there was

a cooking still decide him. and we knew he was going to cook himself a meal and a piece of cotton wool dip in alcohol fell down on to the heated stove there was a higher oxygen content inside the chamber than a normal sort of cotton wool caught fire instantly. and with. those on jupiter you were meant to be watching him through the window so if anything were to happen they were to open the door to meet children and misty but they noticed it too late. when they managed to pull him out his whole body was burned with only his columns were intact more than seventy five percent of his skin would have been scorched. when he was stricken out of the chamber he said steps he was the only one to blame rather than anybody else.

valentina bundling called died in hospital several hours later he was not even among the top six valentini was part of the backup team and was supposed to fill in for one of the favorites should anything happen among the other cosmonauts valentino was the youngest he was only twenty four. at the time even the death of the cause menard could not put a holes to the program. there were only three weeks before liftoff. for bush. bush bush always adds i want to vote for kerry for character so the people that are going to be validating this machine can stand there all day long and vote for somebody and it will be right every time but the guy can walk up here and if he hits the right buttons he can flip the boat that he's.

saying. it's.

three weeks until liftoff six men were still preparing for the flight we thought. we were unaware of who would be the first one until the very last moment. because i know i read that in your ego guardian should be the one. because the others said that the you want to should go to get a month off. and then marse rafique arthur said that you had to be the first to fly because his first name was the same name as of mine a beer or a mortal. in your mouth. of the sister but when the six men were taken to the hangar where the first stock spacecraft was being prepared chief rocket designer sergei color your of us would like to get inside to see the. good of our

inquiry doubts that she did. before getting in the garden took off his shoes and only then got inside. coverly off used to say that was when guarin stood out from the crowd and got a lawyer there were two with one week until lift off the names of the first three candidates for the space flight were finally announced but senior lieutenant yuri gagarin. senior lieutenant given to it off. and kept wondering or a new book. the goal of the three men was to survive in extreme conditions they were put through an emergency landing in had to endure freezing cold temperatures as minus twenty degrees celsius in a forest they would have to wait for two days before rescue arrived the basic survival kit was on board an x. a stock of food and first aid supplies there was

a good reason for testing the cosmonauts in this way. after the emergency landing of the voice hold two spacecraft a nine hundred sixty five cosmonaut a veil of both the area of and alexi north also had to wait for two days for rescue weekend after the flight they found it difficult to move from. grow weary of the first night we slept in this place should come on the second day the rescuers foreigners and they built us a small wooden hut we washed ourselves cure. brought a huge cauldron. we heated the snow and power and i were sitting in this corner and like to devil's. care. after the incident they decided at the center that all cosmonauts should acquire the skills necessary for surviving in extreme conditions . for days until lift off. the land of the

state commission recommends the first person to fly into space should be senior lieutenant yuri gagarin and it did. gillum teed off was named bank of pilot log liguori know you both was in third place of the three cosmonauts he saw neither glory nor honors know your wife was the only one never to perform a space flight his name was almost completely erased from the history of space exploration. known your will he was our agent. i remember how without having flown into space eva hey versus if he had done so. well in april nine hundred sixty two was expelled along with iran i think a over involved in the philosophy of from the first cosmonauts wired for breaching discipline and if he did they were sitting in a cafe drinking beer despite the fact that they were wearing uniform patrol

officers came by and asked them to leave because it was against regulations and agree cory started saying something like do you know who i am do you have any idea of what i can do to you of course the head of the patrol did not hesitate to detain me on. the. overall thought or the squad gather together to vote on the matter of their expulsion or the gory violence in in the van acted in a proper manner and they also raised their hands but nearly three years later they were no longer there all three of them were sent to different military units or inscriptions. i know you both together with his wife were sent the farthest to the far east that at least picture was taken when he was in the team i had that much in this kicked or from a news paper. she's face is blurred out. when grigori looked at it and she told me this that i have been deleted here

i am no more. three years later we know you both died he was hit by a train but the wife of cars menard number three is certain that her husband committed suicide her main evidence is a note which says zenaida you have always been the best it is not easy to find a woman like you i am sorry zenaida believes that her husband could not accept the fact that he had been dismissed from the cosmonaut squad so he chose a different path to the heavens. with god's help today alex a has his first training session in so-called open space early ventilation are you comfortable the water is as close to the weightlessness of space as the cosmos

can get on earth a spacecraft compartment is put into a pool this simulator is for cosmonauts to learn how to repair a spacecraft and conduct research outside the capsule. would work. alexei cannot move independently underwater his spacesuit weighs two hundred kilos in open space the cars may not can count only on himself the need for such training became evident already after alexei leonore's first ever spacewalk. march one thousand nine hundred sixty three. looking at these shots it is hard to believe that alexei early on all this struggling to save his life the malfunction in his spacesuit made it difficult to reenter the capsule staying outside it was a risk as there was only enough reserve air in the suit for thirty minutes reducing

pressure was also dangerous as it could cause his blood to boil which could lead it to paralysis or even death to get back into the spaceship he had to take a gamble. got through for sewer i still don't understand how i did it but it cost me so much anarchy that i felt that i was losing strength on my attempts to get inside with my feet first failed so i put my hand inside the airlock rip it with my hand sense started moving chad first but i realised i wouldn't be able to get inside like the earth will go a war hero. alexei harman sure has also faced some problems today the future cosmonaut not only has to forget about the discomfort inside the series but also to quickly focus on his work to avoid mistakes while repairing the outer sheath he must learn to do the simplest operations instinctively to avoid problems in space

your alexei he won't be able to take it there. sorry for being slow what of the title of the. if alexi home in chalk successfully passes his exams in general space training he will be enrolled in two cosmonauts one number fifteen but nobody knows how long he may have to wait for his first flight according to the statistics provided by the russian training center a little more than half of the cosmonauts who finish the program eventually go into space. yuri gagarin became the first and most famous cousin in autumn the squad and god moment the only one. in fact all the other yet unknown cosmonauts of the star squad were also present there in the crowd welcoming

the baron they were wearing civilian clothes for security reasons. and got a little used to tell us that we would have to retire in a couple of years but it so happened that they flew only after eight years passed in fact i was the twenty first to fly even though the first scored consisted of twenty men they were constantly replacing one cosmonaut with another at the for instance after garron came the first woman in space valentino tarrasque over. when the moon program i was preparing for was cancelled out of it i was appointed at the space ship commander of so user level but eleven hours before the launch and my crew was replaced winning flight of the station and the whole crew of so use eleven died in an accident the then the second mission was cancelled the third mission was cancelled. it ten years of continuous training for flights.

but who knows the bucket where you're. waiting for their hour of triumph was a serious psychological challenge many had to wait for years cosmonaut dimitri is akin was a lifelong backup cosmonaut they promised him that he would fly soon but after a regular medical examination he was told that he had an officer according to the decree cosmonauts one cannot fly to space for them. even though you can recover from it in spite of everything dimitri is akin has no regrets in the squad he met his wife tatiana who worked as a nurse and became the light of his life they have their own personal history of flight and space exploration and. she came to work for the squad right before the car in was going to leave for the lord which put them. put them here

in a rowboat that's was when i saw my tom climb up. the this is then at the rally after the gardens flight in one employee told me that there is a young man over there he's got dark glasses on so he thinks that no one can see who he's looking at you never took his eyes over you that's all that. dimitri and i have been together for more than fifty years and they have two sons and four grandchildren. today anyone who dreams about the stars can fulfill his or her ambition. the father and mother of this family are both cosmonauts markets iraq was selected for duty first he immediately decided to become a cosmonaut when he found out that nowadays it is not necessary to be

a military pilot all one needs is a higher technical education and good health. when i was going through the enrollment process later wanted to take part two. i wasn't included in the same group as mock i had just given birth when her daughter was three years old a year not finally passed of the entrance exam today she is the only woman among all the and two cosmonauts though mark enter the service before you enter her first flight is scheduled for two thousand and fourteen today because winans have to spend about seven years training but they are no longer plagued with torturous exercises they learn only what they will really need for spaceflight and it is all thanks to the first team of cosmonauts we endured of the impossible to pave the way to the stars for future generations.