Yvan Figueiras

Today we begin with the official start of the Space Race, the launch of Sputnik 1 on October 4, 1957, the event that changed history forever.

But first we will try to understand how the Soviets, who had barely gained access to Nazi missile technology, managed in a very short time and without outside help to surpass von Braun’s designs and his team from Peenemünde.

We will get to know the mysterious character of the “Chief Designer”, the alias that hid the true identity of the great Sergei Korolyov, who would not be known in the West or in the Soviet Union itself until his death in 1966 and the process of creating his R-7, the first rocket to place an artificial object in orbit.

And of course, Sputnik. That glowing sphere with antennae that just beeped, but changed the world while creating widespread hysteria in the West.

See you up there!

Acknowledgements: Mercedes Pullman

The second part of our example mission to the Moon begins in parking orbit around the Earth. From there we will carry out the Translunar Injection, which will take us –if all goes well– to the far side of our satellite.

Along the way we will learn the different maneuvers and procedures used by astronauts and Mission Control, while understanding some of the jargon of this type of business.

All that remains is to start the descent, land on the moon, plant the flag and say a few words, but we will leave the latter for the last chapter of the series.

We hope you enjoy these more than 300,000 km of flight. Remember that if you want to subscribe you have to pet the cat…

See you up there!

With images obtained from NASA and through 3D animations we have tried to recreate a complete Apollo lunar mission, using various moments of each real mission, from the ill-fated Apollo 1, to the last to reach our satellite, Apollo 17.

This video is the prologue to our new series on the space race. Only that in order to better understand that piece of our History we have preferred to start at the end, so we can clearly see what the goal really was.

Comments are welcome, as well as suggestions on any topic related to the Space Race that you would like us to cover in future documentaries. We hope you enjoy.

See you up there!