The Space Race in Colour

Overview

The 1950s and 1960s witnessed an unprecedented surge in space exploration, led by the USA and the USSR. This rivalry aka the ‘Space Race’ – climaxed with the greatest technological achievement in human history: the Apollo Moon Landings. The doc recaptures the drama of this competition for supremacy, which went on to define the nuclear age and explores the uneasy alliance between visionary rocket engineers and politicians’ desire for military supremacy. From the first satellite to the first man on the moon, and its impact on the Cold War, the doc shows how the race was about more than missiles: it was also a question of surveillance, espionage, and the possibilities for living in space.

Channel 4