This rare color film entitled STAR BROTHERS takes a look at the Soviet space program in the 1960s. It’s an interesting counterpoint to NASA produced films of the same era. The film begins with footage of Yuri Gagarin (:29), the first man in space in 1961. At 1:05, Gherman Stepanovich Titov is shown, the second Soviet cosmonaut. At 1:30, American space hero John Glenn is seen with one of his Soviet counterparts. At 1:45, Pavel Romanovich Popovich and Andriyan Nikolayev of Vostok 4 & 3 respectively. At 3:17, the cosmonauts are shown enjoying a holiday in the Black Sea, before the movie moves to the more serious background of the men who are described as having terrific “moral integrity” among other qualities. At 6:50, astronaut tests are shown as part of flight simulation. At 8:30, tests are conducted to disorient the cosmonauts. At 8:50, a rotating gimbal makes the test even more difficult. At 10:08 a Sputnik type satellite is shown, and other Soviet satellites. At 10:23, the interior of the Vostok-3KA type spacecraft is shown. At 11:20, cosmonauts continue simulation in space suits. At 11:55, the suit is tested in a gas chamber. At 13:00, a centrifuge is employed. At 15:55, noise and alarms as well as flashing lights are used to disrupt the cosmonaut’s thought process. At 18:13, an airplane is used to simulate weightlessness. At 20:48, simulation of a loss of atmosphere in the capsule is shown with the cosmonaut putting on his glove. At 21:11, Yuri Gagarin is shown advising his friend. At 23:00 a parachute jump is made by one of the cosmonauts. At 24:40 Pavel Popovich is seen showing his daughter the zoo and having a day in the city, and at 26:00 going on a Ferris wheel ride. At 28:10, Moscow is seen and the mausoleum of Lenin, where the cosmonauts pay a solemn visit before their flight. The film ends with a “Happy Journey” and a kiss goodbye — continued on Reel 2.
Vostok 3 (Russian: Восток-3, Orient 3 or East 3) was a spaceflight of the Soviet space program intended to determine the ability of the human body to function in conditions of weightlessness and test the endurance of the Vostok 3KA spacecraft over longer flights. Cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev orbited the Earth 64 times over nearly four days in space, August 11–15, 1962, a feat which would not be matched by NASA until the Gemini program (1965–1966).
Vostok 3 and Vostok 4 were launched a day apart on trajectories that brought the spacecraft within approximately 6.5 km (4.0 mi) of one another. The cosmonauts aboard the two capsules also communicated with each other via radio, the first ship-to-ship communications in space. These missions marked the first time that more than one manned spacecraft was in orbit at the same time, giving Soviet mission controllers the opportunity to learn to manage this scenario.
Vostok 4 (Russian: Восток-4, Orient 4 or East 4) was a mission in the Soviet space program. It was launched in August 1962, a day after Vostok 3 with cosmonaut Pavel Popovich on board—the first time that more than one manned spacecraft were in orbit at the same time. The two Vostok capsules came within 6.5 km (4.0 mi) of one another and ship-to-ship radio contact was established.[2]
The cosmonauts of Vostok 3 and 4 did not attempt rendezvous. At one point the craft came within a few kilometers of each other and Popovich later reported at a news conference that he saw the other craft from orbit. Popovich is quoted as saying, “I saw it at once,” referring to seeing Vostok 3 in orbit. “It looked like a very small moon in the distance.”
The Vostok 3 and 4 spacecraft landed about 200 km apart, south of Karaganda, Kazakhstan. The mission went largely as planned, despite a malfunction with the Vostok’s life-support systems that meant that cabin temperature dropped down to 10 °C (50 °F). The flight was terminated early after a misunderstanding by ground control, who believed that Popovich had given them a codeword asking to be brought back ahead of schedule.
The re-entry capsule is now on display at the NPO Zvezda Museum in Moscow, but it has been modified to represent the Voskhod 2 capsule.
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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com
