Pictures of moscows moon rocket images that were to be among the soviet unions most closely guarded state secrets. And pictures of cars minots training for a moon landing in the socalled star city near moscow the soviet union was determined to beat the United States in the race to put a man on the moon a race that would cost russian and american lives. The russians had always set the pace but in the end they ultimately lost the 20th centurys most prestigious race. I am. Opened in 1957 Baikonur Cosmodrome was moscows gateway to the stars. After the launch of several sputnik satellites and unmanned moon probes in the late 1950 s. The whole world assumed that the soviets would also be using baikonur to send cosmonauts to the moon. There were certainly concrete plans but nothing was leaked there were no official statements nothing to indicate the soviet unions plans step of. All decisions on the Space Program were classified top secret including the moon program that. One day program much in fact if you browse the newspapers of this time you wont find anything not even iraq the plans for the unmanned probes were flipped and there were no america there for the go nowhere did it indicate we were working on moon projects. More than. Secrecy was the order of the day there were no preliminary briefings before the moon probes in 1959 nothing was to be revealed until the sensational mission was complete. Sergei kind of the off the father of the soviet union space triumphs had been wondering for some time how to approach a moon landing was. Images from early soviet Science Fiction films inspired the imagine. Nations of moonstruck rocket man like. One or rather that theyve got the way he said to me then in 25 years man will be on the moon. I said no that Science Fiction maybe it will happen someday but we want to experience that. And he said it will happen in our lifetime is that the pigeon that. But the vision of landing on the moon was still pure speculation perhaps simply outlandish dreams coverly of realized that he needed a completely new rocket and a convincing argument. His legendary r 7 sputnik carrier rockets was too weak to transport people to the moon but he hadnt even started yet his next triumph came in 1961 with you what he got in the 1st man in space. The kremlin boss was delighted with the coup whereas sputnik success had shocked the americans they got in flight humiliated them. Just a few days after the soviet triumph president kennedy announced a bold sunset foolhardy plan. American enterprise. I believe a bit nation should commit. Would. And returning him safely to the year. There was no official reaction from the kremlin but soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev called in missed his love kell dish president of the soviet academy of sciences and asked him how serious kennedy. Does. It go to chicago. Or the city or killed this reply or that this was a serious statement on your data and that the americans were highly capable but that he didnt believe they would reach their goal by the end of the decade. Or their god in any case he said we were all ready to take on such a challenge either construct said well then we must think about it what the mayor. So while it wasnt yet clear what the kremlin leader would decide it was clear that the u. S. Program would soak up huge resources and any soviet moonshot would cost at least as much. Was very torn did he want to could he even invest so much in such a vague project. He was ready to be forced. To swallow what i mean but if you will have a bad 1000000000 in the arena of the bin to. Me that theyve got i will. Give the. Go forward. To ensure that they can believe. Whatever thought but also competition at that time was compared to show over the but ducked. Mail but and meet. You think its silly. Wholl be the 1st to seduce. For agriculture was in a very bad state there was almost a famine the problem had to be solved. The fabric of the socialist economy was starting to unravel production plants were falling behind and there were widespread shortages of many come arties agriculture was failing even after the major maize planting campaign ordered by khrushchev himself a campaign that prompted germanys newsmagazine desh to ask in 1962 maize or the moon. By that time kennedy had already inspected a mock up of the apollo space ship. The u. S. Was forging ahead while the soviets hadnt decided whether to join the race at all let alone whether they could afford it. At the vienna summit a year earlier the u. S. President had twice offered to Work Together with the soviets to send a man to the moon. Whether he meant it seriously or not khrushchev twice said nyet. Back home near moscow the rocket men were already in the starting blocks and raring to go the kremlins refusal to commit left them frustrated and angry. But chief designer left no stone unturned in his attempts to persuade the kremlin boss to change his mind. He wasnt. Here but it was here for official but i would read it carlo. Told here were both told his story of. Courage of knew quite well how to sell his moon project which he promised that the armed forces would be able to use the. Technology afterwards which made the project seem relatively inexpensive but that was a lie. 1962 finally brought the 1st ray of hope. Was told to come up with more precise plans for his in one moon rocket. Meanwhile his r 7 rocket was knocking up new records and creating new heroes for public consumption tito of poets nikolayev and in the summer of 63 Valentina Tereshkova the 1st woman in space. But colonel yobs moon landing project continued to lose ground to the americans the teams at the Baikonur Cosmodrome were ready and waiting for their marching orders which didnt come. Their u. S. Challengers were baffled theyd been flying espionage missions since the 1950 s. And had assumed the soviets would not let them win without a fight. Despite planes had been monitoring the r 7 launch facility since the outset and it was thought that a moon shot could not be launched from there. Often the cias analysts couldnt believe their eyes. The thing about it go with the satellites or youre a same a same thing about iraq 3rd 4th and that that you have to if youre down or constructing something. Youve got to do it well because weve got are. But the u. S. Just couldnt find anything there was simply no evidence of a Lunar Program. Then in 1964 they saw a lot of new activity and construction sites at baikonur. It was the 1st indication that moscow was planning something bigger after all. In fact the construction work had been running at full speed since august when khrushchev had finally given the green light for a manned moon mission. Soviet cosmonauts would be working around the clock from then on. Move it to be me see if we had 24 hour shifts sometimes we couldnt go home for several weeks but we slept at work on the tables covered with a fur jacket and with a cap under our heads. But. After the birth of my 1st child with the king i couldnt pick my wife up from the hospital because i had to work. With. Them. And we had to make a lot of sacrifices you know. But i still look back on this time as the happiest time of my life. So weve rooted. The kremlin had decreed that karl yard would deliver the new n one moon rocket by 966 but everyone knew that was just an illusion. In fact there is much to suggest that the race to the moon had been lost before it had even begun. Not only because the americans were 3 years ahead. But also because of valentino. The gifted engineer had worked for coral yard for years but now refused to continue developing engines for him. A brutal power struggle between 2 alpha males had begun. Oh i dont know what in there mile the main culprit here wasnt karloff but gross go. Mainly due to his difficult character. Glasgow thought rather highly of himself. And because of his character was unwilling to make compromises. At one meeting in moscow the 2 almost came to blows in front of those present not even the kremlin leader himself could reconcile the squabbling technocrats it was an argument neither could win and a fatal disaster for the soviets moon program. The dispute was triggered by the question as to whether korolyov would be prepared to use those new engines which made use of some highly toxic components. Ever since a devastating missed launch of a military missile had killed more than 100. 00 people including some of his staff karl yob had been convinced that close close engines were too dangerous for the launch stages of manned moon missiles. The images he had witnessed at the inferno had left deep scars in carl yards mind he was convinced that a false start would result. In more deaths. So he needed to find someone else to build the engines for him even though there was actually no replacement for klitschko in the end the contract went to nicole like his next of a designer who had previously only worked in the aircraft industry. But i look told off i will do with the Cruise Missile was his hope was new car was one of the best design as but he was the best captains and as they. Do the same is you will fly the best. Design they will though you will build the cruise ship. Will take when he will do it or maybe for will he will never do it. Those werent the best conditions for a race where your competitor has been steadily working through its test program for the last 3 years. Each component would be tested until everything worked perfectly the soviets needed a miracle. But i dont. Want to preview. If it will be the part of this competition that he would have been kind of a bit was and what if you think that you will fail. Not that i know my dear would. Call you off for us absolutely convinced that the moon landing would work through did it at the end it was also convinced he would experience it himself on another his powers of persuasion or so great that we believed it too. As long as calling off was a lie or there was no doubt in our minds that the. 7 anybody who worked with. Chief designer sergey cut on the off had to be both magician and manager. Could in fact everyone with his enthusiasm the people surrounding him or his true disciples. My oath of you would have given your life for him. More which. Why it was he could have been a divisional commander to that quibble are you neither was or he was a real leader thats what they say a later version when you me it but people followed him they believed in him unconditionally. They thought he was doing everything right. Despite all the setbacks and delays the soviet Lunar Program slowly got going in 1965 alex aly owner of was the 1st man to float freely in space. A space walk outside the orbiting those cards spacecraft was an important step on the way to the moon. Landings were obviously progressing. Soon the cia Reconnaissance Aircraft were also monitoring the construction of the huge new hangar in baikonur where the n one moon rocket was due to be assembled although they could only assume that that is what it was meant for the Americans Still had no contacts or sources in the inner esle nons of soviet power. Thousands of soviet workers and technicians were forbidden to speak about the new moon rocket. Everything was kept strictly under wraps. In the Us Government we were under constant pressure from the k. G. B. If we went on vacation and didnt tell anyone we were censored as a young kids. If you were traveling on the train and you went to the restaurant car to have dinner or just to sit and talk. With a cagey minder would come up to you these days maybe after half an hour they tap you on the shoulder and tell you it was time you went back to your seat and. The new anyone moon rocket was bigger than anything the soviets had built before. The 1st stage had a diameter of 7000 meters but they had no way of transporting such a colossus. So they decided to build it on site which also meant the vast hangar had to be located right next to the launch pad. It was a big investment that would eat into the already tight budget with sometimes fatal consequences. Especially for the ground testing of the new rocket. That had to do more with that of the board we had big problems with the equipment on the ground it was your belief that unfortunately the entire ground preparation for the flights especially the ground testing of all space here wasnt carried out is normally it should have been your. If you want to be successful you have to carry out the soil tests properly that. There were some test beds but no money for the new ones necessary to complete testing of the 1st stage no money no test beds no test of a gigantic 1st stage that was a new situation for all concerned a kind of intergalactic russian roulette. But everyone drew a cloak of silence over any difficulties. The cia was watching as best it could and trying to make sense out of what it was seeing it wasnt just the Huge Assembly hangar that had now caught its eye but also a big new construction site that suggested a new launch pad bigger than any before. We saw the pair that. They operate sure of the hole in the center we measured it and that was 50 feet. And this obviously was a big mess for they were pretty certain. That this metaphor was a big one. The analysts put together drawings and 3 d. Models from the shadows cast on the ground as a way of estimating the size of structures. It quickly became clear that this launch facility was for a rocket roughly the same size as the american saturn 5. The saturn 5 was already quite well advanced. The engine tests were almost complete the launch vehicle was well on schedule as was the apollo spacecraft itself. Carl youngs t. On the other hand was way behind their competitors as well as their own deadlines. The engines were still the big problem too weak to unreliable and too many 30 of them in the 1st stage alone. There was no one over we knew that using so many engines would make the whole going on reliable for sure so when you got stuck but we had no other solution at the time over the last year we lack the necessary technical and experimental know how we simply did not have the necessary resources. No easy sourcing. Its not just the moon rocket that was causing problems they hadnt even started thinking about the moon capsule. There werent even any models of it it was only on paper. But call young remained optimistic. The walk the play recorder didnt. Break i feel fortunate he was able to motivate his employees. He could appear at the plant in the middle of the night and say. We have to work we have to be the 1st and i saw that the boss was with him. And so they worked hard and put their heart and soul into it. He was able to inspire and organize large collectives. He always knew what he wanted and how to achieve it well what did he got at the. Writing to the new kremlin chief leoni brezhnev in 1965 he guaranteed the soviet union would carry out a moon landing by 968 carl you knew he had to keep the kremlin rulers happy. But he also knew that a manned Lunar Mission was still a long way off. But i look will. Inspire to go real for this very tense and very hard during this time score one vostok you know he didnt like a lot of what was going on knew for sure. That i believe all things werent going the way they should or he was irritable and very disciplined. With your venue just to bring in it. But the chief designer didnt give up theyve been making progress in spite of all the difficulties. But then fate intervened on january 14th 1966 karl young went into the hospital for a routine procedure. The minister of health was to perform the operation himself. Right here if theyre all scared of minister of health pitofsky had a Good Relationship with my father. He thought he should treat a man of such social standing himself thats why he performs the operation he was actually a good surgeon. Careful. But karloff didnt survive the operation. There gaper i was going to go sergei for overage coverage of died because of the failure of our doctors. Came obvious that there were not only disasters with missiles but also with people. The next day karl your body was laid in state in the moscow colum hall his cosmonauts forming an honor guard their chief designer the man responsible for all their cosmic trials sergei puddle of each colony off at last became known to the public. His portrait on the kremlin wall was the 1st time most people had set eyes on this little known hero of the soviet union. And at last the americans found out who had humiliated them so often in the early years of the space race. But there was no word of a successor nothing had been decided. To go to know why because there were 30. Car death was completely unexpected. The owner was. Hard to find someone to match his personality quickly move them in that are there for carli off was simply irreplaceable in many ways. Though you were a good misstep in your. In one fell swoop the soviet moon shot had lost its visionary its clever manager with the links to the kremlin its great motivator and its driving force by stealing machine was appointed the new chief designer. But what it was a mistake. On your he was his deputy who else could it have been in your book tory but he did not have coddled you off the authority he was a very weak personality. Which will or issue. Will stop at least sheen was a weak leader recorders for them and there was another thing he also had a drinking problem with the more shocking the welcome. Within just a few weeks of taking office however the new chief designer had already knocked up his 1st success the lunar 9 probe made the 1st ever soft landing on the moon surface and sent back the 1st sensational photos. The next leap forward came just weeks later when luna 10 became the 1st satellite to take up a moon orbit. Internet sanaya a bit hard to lay down the drive from the moon orbits. A great moment at the 23rd Party Congress of the communist party of the soviet union. Work on the actual Lunar Landing program may have been hitting snags but it wasnt meant for the headlines anyway. The top secret project was still in the running. Lunar cosmonauts. Were already being recruited no one was supposed to know how well trained cosmonauts already were these are secret pictures from Lunar Landing training. The moon landing in star city near moscow was going perfectly according to plan. But all activity was indoors out of sight of the u. S. Spy planes. U. S. Intelligence was still focusing on baikonur although there was still nothing to suggest that a moon shot would be soaring over the steps of cas us done any time soon. The launch vehicle was far from ready. The americans could breathe easier especially as the Apollo Program already seemed to be on the homestretch they were aiming to launch the new spacecraft in 1967 Virgil Gus Grissom edward white and Roger Chaffee were carrying out final tests on january 27th the crew knew there were issues with the craft. Mere seconds after Mission Control heard the words weve got a fire in the cockpit the astronauts were dead. The tragedy was a huge setback. The u. S. Space program suddenly ground to a complete standstill. Yet. It gave the soviets a chance to make up some lost ground just a week after the apollo disaster the kremlin adopted a decree on the National Importance of soviet Lunar Programs. Spurred on by both new hope and new pressure to perform work on the soyuz spacecraft was accelerated it was a central component of the moon landing. Docking training continued in the simulator. But then came the launch order even though the new spacecraft wasnt fully ready. To come off on his way to his soyuz spacecraft just 3 months after the apollo one accident come out off was to be launched into space his companions tried to cheer him up but despite the fact that all 3 on manned test flights had failed before he was making a manned flight with the new spaceship carl yoffe had always stipulated that manned flights could only take place after 3 successful unmanned flights his successor machine over ruled 10. No we could have it was a new spaceship and a new chief designer they wanted to show that even death wouldnt stop us. Who could show. That sales its not everything went smoothly when we were preparing for the launch was feeling there were a lot of complaints from technicians and engineers or there was a boy check of. Some more pretty serious. But the new chief designer was prepared to take any risks and overruled the objections of his staff. d will come out all things come out of shouldnt have started it all but official i tried everything to make sure the launch did not go ahead and. I contacted all my superiors with a including the head of launch preparation i said to him we cant do this and he said to me a lot of this is a decision of the Central Committee of the party as if we could do anything about it. There was no point in trying anymore. Just to. The big chance to finally make up lost ground in the race to the moon was too tempting. And again fate took its course. The launch sequence continued without any problems reported that everything was fine and going to plan. But then one of the 2 suns sails failed and the Energy Supply started to break down. Was the launch was aborted. Then came disaster soyuz once parachute system failed and the space pod smashed into the ground. Stops there was basically nothing left in. His body it was vaporized and burned. For progress there were some photos that were terrible because there was almost nothing left to see there was practically nothing left at all if everything had been burnt to a crisp and. Sure and you know keeps it in. The secret pictures wouldnt be seen for decades. But there were some official pictures and news. Service complains are concerned we only reported big successes or big tragedies for sure going to get. The reports didnt mention that the soviet unions 1st dead cause may not have been a victim of its moon program. The actual purpose of the mission was also kept dark. Nothing was said about the moon program or the cancellation of the soyuz 2 mission which had been due to take place a day after conrads launch and dock with him later a crucial maneuver on the way to the moon. But in baikonur work on the lunar rocket continued l b it slowly. All the launch schedules were scrapped. New problems were constantly cropping up with the n one rocket problematic brainchild many in the program now had doubts. Recognizes youre going to argue the end one moon rocket was very complicated and required far too many engines 3 years carol you off had lived he would have been fired a few months later anyway. That was how it was. We had reached the limits of the technology. You have too much to everything carl yoffe did was great unfortunately even his mistakes this is in the end one was college golf faulty design you know the kurdish cricketer. No one knew when the mammoth moon rocket would finally be towed from the hangar to the launch site then finally at the end of 1967 it was time to roll out the soviet super booster. In a ceremony prior to launch the crimean sparkling wine replaced the traditional bottle of champagne to send the vessel on its initial voyage. The spectacle wasnt lost on the american observers on december 11th 1967 they managed to get their 1st photo of the giant and one rock and we had it nailed down we watched that baby and i couldnt get over how big it was it was just like a big cone. And we spotted it and. I always saw it on the pad and then we saw the effects of it are sure that. Nothing went off it just for the hell out of it. And they called me and one big mother as well as jay bird because it was being assembled on launch site j. But what they had actually photographed was just a dummy to train the launch team on ramp procedures it was the same size and have all the fittings that the original had it just didnt fly. Another jaybird was sighted on the launch pad in september 1968 but there was still a long way to go to the actual take off in june the cia had predicted that the soviets would not be able to make a moon landing before mid 1971 it seemed they were right. The Lunar Landing program was still stuck firmly on the ground. The kremlin summoned leading scientists and politicians to a crisis meeting in moscow at the beginning of january 1969. The americans had just entered the homestretch with their apollo 8 lunar orbit the moon seemed close enough to touch the race almost over. The decisive apollo 11 flight was scheduled for summer 969. Chief designer machine came under renewed pressure to finally get the n one airborne and although he was almost resigned to failure the launch date was now slowly approaching. In mid february 1994 locomotives towed the colossus towards the ramp on 2 tracks. On february 21st the long awaited countdown began. The boosters were ready to go. But u. S. Intelligence missed at. Thank ignition. The n one lifts off the 30 engines in the 1st stage straining at their limit. To the level never thing was huge. When the rocket began to lift off everything within a radius of 5 kilometers. Everything rattled and trembled we were filming the start from a long way off and we were very excited tats. Then you were asleep when your bullfight the rockets launched flare was almost 3 times as long as the rocket itself and were a 300 meter long torch that shone a long way. To. 51 seconds then there was an explosion in the 1st stage. Nevertheless the launch team still seemed confident. Rescue mission was a missile it exploded but no one saw it as a catastrophe yet everyone was optimistic that the rocket would fly the next time if you would be sol the 2nd flight was prepared it. Just 5 months before the american scheduled apollo 11 launch the soviets were relaxed and optimistic preparations for the 2nd attempt were already underway in june. The cia knew what was going on this time and were able to warn the u. S. President in advance about the jaybirds forthcoming launch in by canoe on. July 3rd 1969 countdown for the 2nd takeoff attempt. At. This time the 105 metre high colossus only managed to get a few meters off the ground before the engines shut down again the 1st stage had failed i am the entire launch site was wrecked the only thing left working was the escape rocket was. When we watched it and then. We saw the aftereffects of but then burst into flames and here you can clearly see the burnt area. You can see the whole point of them knocked down. It was a rude awakening from the dream of space flight. A few days later Neil Armstrong and buzz aldrin stepped onto the moon surface and sealed americas victory nearly 400000 kilometers from earth. The unofficial race to the moon was over the soviet union had lost. The as a surrogate both were in that if my father had not died in 1966 perhaps we would not have handed the moon to the americans. Or now that. Colonel yobs mighty moon rocket never managed to overcome earths gravity the soviets made several more attempts the final one in 1982 lasting exactly 107 seconds until again the 1st stage exploded. The final end came in 1974 all documents relating to the moon program were destroyed on orders from on high. As silently and secretly as it came into the world the n one disappeared the remains of the gigantic rocket landed on the scrap heap of history some parts gave playgrounds a futuristic look other parts were converted into pics dies. Only the insiders still know the stories connected with the scrap metal and many still firmly believe that the soviet union could have won the race to the moon if calling hadnt died so early if bush had made more of an effort or if the kremlin hadnt been so has a tent. Thats a whole lot of ifs but history has never been written and what if. Sound is spreading ever father across morocco. Away sees in the sahara used to sustain prosperity even in the deserts. Climate change is hastening this terrifying transformation that people here are desperate to find a solution. Moroccos endangered oases close up. 30 minutes on d w. Pick up must take the businesses a. Better frame and still cut my predication nothing from stuff last in color. Where i was just a dog definitely out having lost. You come up with. Mice mindlessness him. She painted me. On the plane i think snakes those who look at me. The secret of mona lisa starts july 3rd w. Place. This is deducted news live from china tightens its grip on hong kong some people in the free welcomed the news account of 2 goals to be imposed by beijing but prodemocracy activists protest that it restricts freedoms and ends the one country 2 systems frame but also coming up. The leaders of germany and france for agree on a plan for ya