The Red Stuff (2002)

Between 1957 and 1965, the Russians had one success after another in their space program, including the first artificial satellite, the first space walk, and both the first living creature and first man in space. They were streets ahead of their archrivals–the Americans. But these successes were soon overshadowed in 1969, when the Americans became the first to set foot on the moon–and were hence deemed to have won the space race.

The Red Stuff is a film about the first heroes of the cosmos from those early years of Russian space travel. Who were the people behind these first successes? Unique archival material reveals the bravery and the unsurpassed stamina of the cosmonauts. What is true and what is false in our view of Russian space exploration? How do those involved look back on their work and their enforced role in the Soviet political machine? Now that the military secrecy and national propaganda of the Soviet Union has crumbled, see the real story of the other side of the space race.

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