The Soviet Space Saga

In this final episode of this miniseries, we get a sense of the magnitude of the Soviet success in space by going through all of their firsts. It's a long list! Thank you so much for listening to this podcast, and I really hope to hear back from you!

Episode 8 - Setbacks

The Soviets paid a price for all their firsts in space, and there were victims to their secrets on both sides of the Space Race. But if we remember them and talk about them now, we do the right thing. Listen to the story about the Soviets' less fortunate firsts!

Episode 7 - To Venus and Mars

The Soviets hoped to put a red cosmonaut on the Red Planet, and this may have lost them the race to the Moon. But their unmanned missions to Venus and Mars were astounding successes, especially in light of the limited technology available in the sixties

In the Soviet Union, everything was different -- even sexism. Sending the first woman to space was a natural fact of Communism, but like everything else in such societies, egalitarianism had a dual, paradoxical nature. Listen to the story of Valentina Tereshkova and other women of the space age!

Until April 12, 1961, nobody had known what the outer space would do to a human being. Some people thought that it would cause insanity; others, blindness. But the first human ever to go there returned home with only the slight side effect of the confusion caused by his sudden promotion to major. Listen to the story of the first man in space, a Soviet pilot named Yuri Gagarin!

Episode 4 - To the Moon

There was a time before July 12, 1969 when the race to the Moon was still very much on -- and the Soviets were winning. Listen to the story of how the Soviets lost the Moon race by winning almost every milestone!

My name is Alex Deva. I am a novelist, and I work as an IT Architect. I live in Sweden. My website is alxx.se and, if you like the way I tell stories, you can look up my books.

The Americans had sent fruit flies to space, and figuring that insects aren't all that closed to humans, the Soviets reused a Sputnik capsule to experiment with dogs instead. Some lived, some didn't, and the most famous of them was Laika, the first living being on Earth orbit. Listen to their stories in this week's episode!

My name is Alex Deva. I am a novelist, and I work as an IT Architect. I live in Sweden. My website is alxx.se and, if you like the way I tell stories, you can look up my books.

The first thing humanity ever sent to Earth's orbit was a shiny metal sphere with four whiskers, and it rocked the world. It was called Sputnik 1, and it led President Eisenhower to declare that "the Soviets had surpassed America and the rest of the free world in scientific and technological advancements in outer space." The New York Times hailed it as "a major triumph for Russian communism", and it prompted the formation of DARPA, which famously contributed to the creation of the Internet -- as well as to one of the COVID vaccines.

My name is Alex Deva. I am a novelist, and I work as an IT Architect. I live in Sweden. My website is alxx.se and, if you like the way I tell stories, you can look up my books.

Episode 1 - The Space Race from the Soviet Side

The story of space exploration begins with bombs -- because of course it does. Listen how the Soviets went from appropriating Nazi research to creating the biggest rocket ever made at its time.

Thank you so much for listening!

The Soviet Space Saga is a podcast written and produced by me, Alex Deva. Find me at alxx.se. I've also composed and produced the original music in the podcast.

Welcome to the Soviet Space Saga, a podcast of nine episodes (plus an introduction) where I tell one of the most fantastic stories in modern history!

My name is Alex Deva. I am a novelist, and I work as an IT Architect. I live in Sweden. My website is alxx.se and, if you like the way I tell stories, you can look up my books.

In this introductory episode, I set the scene and welcome you to enter the amazing saga of the Soviet space programme.

Thank you so much for listening!

Here are my sources for this podcast:

“Beyond”, Stephen Walker, 2021, ISBN 9780008372507

“Korolev”, James Harford, 1997, ISBN 9780471327219

“Challenge to Apollo: The Soviet Union and the Space Race, 1945 - 1974”, Asif A. Siddiqi, 2000

“Soviet and Russian Lunar Exploration”, Brian Harvey, 2007, ISBN 0387739769

“Packing for Mars”, Mary Roach, 2010, ISBN 9780393339918

“Riding rockets”, Mike Mullane, 2006, ISBN 9780743296762

“Скрытый космос”, Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin, http://militera.lib.ru/db/kamanin_np/index.html

Kamanin’s Diaries, http://www.astronautix.com/k/kamanindiaries.html

Sounds from space, http://www.svengrahn.pp.se/sounds/sounds.htm

YouTube links:

“Королёв Сергей Павлович”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZkVzzdWBzw

“Сергею Королеву 110 лет”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxxhSqxms_4

“Спутник. Русское чудо. Документальный фильм”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBEiKPcLmJ4

“Лайка во Вселенной”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7QJejGbk20

“Luna 10 in Soviet newsreel”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CHcv5QZqImE

“The Motherland hears, the Motherland knows”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YD7MZ_n58Lo

“Gagarin - Informes de la Agencia TASS, 12 de abril de 1961”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8VnFxR3dQJY

“JFK Press Conference #9 (April 12, 1961)”, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DNuNj3F8HAw

The Soviet Space Saga is a podcast written and produced by me, Alex Deva. I've also composed and produced the original music in the podcast.