Author Topic: The Space Race on National Geographic  (Read 49343 times)

Offline Bob B.

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The Space Race on National Geographic
« on: May 30, 2006, 03:25:55 PM »
This weekend I saw advertisements for the folllowing program on the National Geographic Channel:

Space Race: The Untold Story
Secret Weapons [TV-PG]

Part one delves into the story of the two men at the center of the race - ex-Nazi Wernher von Braun on the American team and the Sergei Korolev, the Soviet project leader. Technical director of Hitler's V2 Rocket program, von Braun realized Germany's defeat was inevitable and set off to place himself under American protection. Ironically, heading the Soviets' chase was Sergei Korolev, recently freed from a prison camp where he had been confined during one of Stalin's purges.

Airing: June 4 & 5 (see listings for other times)

In Part Two, viewers see the Space Race intensifying as the Cold War escalates with rare footage of the Russian program, including the Nedelin disaster, the N-1 disaster, and the R7 launches. Race for the Moon also shows how the U.S. system of research and leadership continued to build momentum while, in contrast, the USSR's program was slowing, beset by funding cuts, bureaucratic in-fighting, and technological breakdowns.

Airing: June 5 & 6 (see listings for other times)

-------------------------------------------------

Also on June 4 is a rerun of the following program.  Jay Windley, who is known to the Apollohoax.com members, is one of the featured experts.

Conspiracy Moon Landing
Conspiracy Moon Landing [TV-G]

In 1969, millions watched Neil Armstrong stepped onto the moon live on television. Why then do some people claim this monumental achievement never really happened? Conspiracy Moon Landing explores why, so many years later, there are those who claim that the moon landings are a fraud on a huge scale.

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #1 on: May 30, 2006, 06:15:26 PM »
I've seen both programs and I thought they were very well done. "The Space Race" should eventually show up on DVD but I'm not sure about the other, but I would gladly buy both.
" We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
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Offline Bob B.

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #2 on: May 30, 2006, 07:14:10 PM »
I've seen the conspiracy one.  I thought that maybe the space race one was new, but apparently not.  It's new to me though. :wink:

Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #3 on: May 30, 2006, 07:44:43 PM »
Maybe I'm thinking of a different program, but if it is the same one then there was some discussion on the Apollo Hoax forum about the way it depicted Von Braun.
" We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
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Offline DonPMitchell

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #4 on: May 31, 2006, 12:25:03 AM »
It got one very bad review in IMDB by a Russian (it was played on their 1st channel last month):

Quote
My comment is for the Russian version of Space Race named Bitva za Kosmos (Battle for Space) shown on Russia's First Channel on April 10-13, 2006. Bad translation could have ruined some details but I doubt it's the case. The number of factual errors is such that it's impossible to list them, especially in the first episode (the development of first missiles). Even the U.S. half of the film contains multiple errors and omissions. The audience is not told of any V-2/A-4 launches from the U.S. Three different Jupiter C rockets are launched with the same serial number 'UE' onboard. Apollo 1 is to be launched to the Moon, etc. In the Russian half, each and every person is ludicrous. Korolev is scared of NKVD, Glushko is saboteur and traitor, Mishin is alcoholic etc. Men as functions; no motivation, no life at all. Uniform and decorations are awful. Gagarin sings a frivolous song awaiting launch (I think this was added specially for Russian version).
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Offline LunarOrbit

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #5 on: May 31, 2006, 09:23:28 AM »
I think it is difficult for anyone, even a Russian, to know exactly how accurate the depiction of the Soviet program was since it was so secretive. Most people didn't even know who Korolev was until after he died.

I also think it's hard for some Russians to believe their heroes had problems (like alcoholism) because their government spent so much time trying to make them appear perfect. I guess the same could be said about the Americans to a certain extent, but the astronauts were exposed to the public much more so any problems they had would be known to some people.
" We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard..."
 - John F. Kennedy

Offline DonPMitchell

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #6 on: May 31, 2006, 12:30:33 PM »
It is difficult to know the truth sometimes, but there is also a continuing Western tradition, originating int he cold-war era, of portraying the Soviet program in an inaccurate manner.
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Offline spacecat27

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #7 on: May 31, 2006, 03:56:47 PM »
I wonder if "The Space Race" is based on James Schefter's book, "The Race" since he seems to take that Von Braun vs Korolev approach through much of it?
While I still think the Murray & Cox book is probably the most complete & accurate account of the Apollo era- every time the story is told- by an astronaut, program manager, reporter or researcher- it gives a different viewpoint to it all, and adds little details & behind the scenes anecdotes.
Schefter's book (he was a reporter for Time-Life) has been out since '99 but I just got around to reading it.  He does give it his own slant- which is interesting, but I did find a few inaccuracies; and he sometimes injects his own politics by claiming Nixon was a big supporter of the Program (!, ?)  Still, it was a fun read to get yet another take on it all.

Offline DonPMitchell

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #8 on: May 31, 2006, 11:40:27 PM »
I'm skeptical about histories that try to make the space race into a contest between just two men.  It was a lot more complex than that, and the German rocket scientists were not as essential and von Braun's and Willy Ley's books make them out to be.
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Offline Bob B.

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #9 on: June 06, 2006, 11:14:19 AM »
I finished watching Space Race: The Untold Story last night.  The program was a narrated documentary that included a lot of dramatization.  Overall I enjoyed it, but it wasn’t without its problems.  I noticed several errors, particularly in the second part.  The first part may have had just as many errors but I’m not knowledgeable enough about the history to have noticed.  I found part one very enjoyable but the errors in part two made it much less so.  I have to wonder about the competence of their proof readers and fact checkers.

I can’t remember all the errors but here are a few that come to mind:

* At one point they say Alan Shepard had a chance to be the first man to orbit the Earth.  Shepard had a chance to be first in space, but his flight was never planned to be orbital.

* They say Apollo 1 was going to be launched by a Saturn V.  Apollo 1 would have been launched by a Saturn 1B.

* At one time they say the Saturn V weighed 12,000,000 lbs and at another time they say 6,000 tons.  This is twice the actual weight.

* They say during Apollo 8’s first pass behind the Moon it was out of radio contact for 3 minutes.  This is probably confusion with the 3-minute ionization blackout during reentry.  Apollo 8 was in fact out of contact for much longer (probably about 35-40 min).

* They devote considerable time to explaining how a deorbiting spacecraft can “skip off the atmosphere into a higher orbit” if the retro burn is not correct.  Unfortunately this is wrong.  Grazing the atmosphere decreases the momentum and energy of the spacecraft, thus it can never go into a higher orbit as a result.  The spacecraft’s orbital radius will gradually decrease, grazing the atmosphere at each perigee passage until drag eventually overtakes it and forces it down.

(edit spelling)
« Last Edit: June 08, 2006, 03:36:06 PM by Bob B. »

Offline SCEtoAUX

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #10 on: June 06, 2006, 12:01:04 PM »
FWIW, they are airing shows on the Columbia and Challenger accidents tonight, starting at 8 PM eastern.

Offline Satanic Mechanic

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #11 on: June 06, 2006, 12:51:30 PM »
I wish I got the National Geographic Channel on the Dish but it is on the Premium list of channels I don't get. :(

SM

Offline spacecat27

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #12 on: June 08, 2006, 02:54:30 PM »
One of my spies with cable recorded this for me (without me even asking- that was nice!) so I sat through the whole thing last night.  I'd tend to agree with all the critiques here.  Under my feelings that 'any show about space is better than no show about space' I'd say it was pretty good entertainment; and very bad history.  This is based on a book by Deborah Cadbury which I haven't heard much good about either.  Like Bob, I'm apalled at National Geo's lack of fact-checking.... guess the Grovsner days there are gone....
For us space fans, it's sometimes fun to see dramatizations of things we've only read about- a few of the actors playing real people were good likenesses, e.g. Von Braun, Debus or Gagarin.... while others were completely off, e.g. Korolev, Craft or Gilruth.  For the sake of fun, those of us who know better can overlook some historical and technical errors.... but it's sad that those who do not know better will take it all as gospil truth.

Offline Bob B.

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #13 on: June 08, 2006, 03:59:27 PM »
Under my feelings that 'any show about space is better than no show about space' I'd say it was pretty good entertainment; and very bad history.
I think the above statement is a pretty good summation of my feelings about the program as well.

.... but it's sad that those who do not know better will take it all as gospil truth.
I don’t know how often I’ve heard someone repeat a false “fact” they heard on television -- too many times I’m sure.  This is the reason I get so perturbed when hearing mistakes in what is supposed to be a documentary.  I started out really enjoying the program but by the time the errors started to pile up I became disappointed with it.  Particularly since most of the mistakes were pretty basic stuff for which there was no good excuse getting it wrong.  I can usually forgive one or two small errors, but by the time the count gets to five or six it’s too much.

Offline Bob B.

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Re: The Space Race on National Geographic
« Reply #14 on: June 08, 2006, 04:24:37 PM »
...a few of the actors playing real people were good likenesses, e.g. Von Braun, Debus or Gagarin.... while others were completely off, e.g. Korolev, Craft or Gilruth.
The movie I thought did a great job matching physical appearances was The Right Stuff.  For the number of characters involved, it was probably the best job of casting I can recall in any movie.