The space race officially started on October 4, 1957, when the first artificial Earth satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched by the Soviet Union. Since then, the best minds of the US and the USSR have striven to be the first to launch a man into space, fly around the Earth, land on the moon, and so on. One of the main characters of this race were astronauts. They needed to be smart, and physically strong, and hardy in order to cope with all the tasks in space on their own. Their incredible heroism, courage and exploits are forever captured in the cinema thanks to the films, which will be discussed later in the article.
“The Right Stuff” (The Right Stuff)
- Kinopoisk: 7.0.
- IMDb: 7.8.
In the context of science fiction films about space, Tarkovsky successfully answered Kubrick’s Space Odyssey with his Solaris. However, American filmmakers were the first to reach biographical films about real astronauts, their lives and exploits (and by a significant margin). In 1983, Philip Kaufman’s film The Right Guys was released, which tells the story of the development of American astronautics from 1947 to 1963. A large number of full-size aircraft models were created for filming, including the legendary Bell X-1. Also in the tape used real documentary footage. Interestingly, in one of these episodes, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was shown.
The film tells how Charles Yeager for the first time in the world was able to overcome the speed of sound in controlled horizontal flight, how the first seven American cosmonauts were assembled under the Mercury program, how hard the United States took the fact that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space, how Alan Shepard and Virgil Grissom made the first suborbital flights, and then John Glenn finally flew a spaceship, making America the second space superpower. The tape touches on the experiences of all members of this huge project, including leaders, astronauts and their families.
“Apollo 13” (Apollo 13)
- Kinopoisk: 7.7.
- IMDb: 7.6.
In 1995, Ron Howard directed the Apollo 13 film, which to this day is considered one of the best films about astronauts and space flights. She talks about one of the most dramatic moments of space exploration. Apollo 13 was the only manned spacecraft flying to the Moon that had a serious accident right during the flight. Despite the errors and inconsistencies in the film, many moments are shown quite believably. The director even got permission from NASA to shoot aboard an aircraft simulating low gravity conditions. Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon and Bill Paxton confidently played the roles of the Apollo 13 crew. Interestingly, James Lovell, astronaut and captain of this spacecraft, played a cameo role in the film.
The film opens with James Lovell watching Neil Armstrong’s first steps on the moon with his family and colleagues. In about nine months, he and his team are already preparing to fly to the Earth’s satellite on the Apollo 13 spacecraft. However, the explosion of liquid oxygen tanks on board turns the flight into the most difficult mission to return people to Earth. It was thanks to Apollo 13 that the phrase “Houston, we have a problem” became catchy.
“Gagarin. First in space”
- Kinopoisk: 7.0.
- IMDb: 6.6.
In Russia, cosmonauts were mostly filmed either in documentaries or historical TV shows. One of the first successful feature films on this topic was “Gagarin. The first in space”, published almost half a century after the flight of Yuri Alekseevich into space. Before that, the tapes were rejected due to a bad script, historical inaccuracies, and so on. This film was the first, the production of which was approved by the Gagarin family. Moreover, Elena Gagarina, the eldest daughter of the great cosmonaut, said after watching the tape that its creators can be proud of the result.
The film tells about the difficult fate of Yuri Gagarin. Three thousand of the best pilots of the Soviet Union expressed their desire to get into the first cosmonaut corps. Only twenty of them were selected. But only one of them was chosen to become the first astronaut. Gagarin before and during the flight recalls the key moments of his life that led him to this moment – childhood, relationship with his wife, struggle with colleagues for the right to fly, relations with the leadership in the person of Sergei Korolev, and so on. In addition, the film deals with the competition between the USSR and the USA in the technological race in rocket science. Interestingly, the duration of the tape is 108 minutes, like the duration of Gagarin’s flight into space.
“Time of the First”
- Kinopoisk: 7.5.
- IMDb: 7.3.
In 2017, there was a breakthrough in the field of biographical films about Soviet cosmonauts, because two films were released at once. The first of them appeared in cinemas on Cosmonautics Day. This is Dmitry Kiselyov’s tape “The Time of the First”, which tells that the Soviet man was not only the first to fly into space, but also the first to leave the ship, being in outer space. The film as a whole turned out to be quite good, and received mostly positive or neutral reviews. The main reason for criticism was the usual exaggeration for Russian cinema (for example, the caricature of the heroism of the main characters), downplaying the importance of some details, historical inaccuracies (for example, the absence of Gagarin, who was the main flight consultant) and so on.
The plot of the picture is built around the flight of the Voskhod-2 spacecraft, which took place on March 18, 1965. By that time, the USSR had become the first state to put a man into space, but the United States was preparing to send people to the moon. It was necessary to assert their superiority in the space race. For this, the Voskhod program was launched, during which the first manned spacewalk was planned. The film shows the preparation for the flight, the explosion of the test ship, the experiences of the main characters and their families, the flight, as well as an emergency situation that arose during the main part of the mission. Alexei Leonov and Pavel Belyaev were played by Evgeny Mironov and Konstantin Khabensky.
Salyut-7
- Kinopoisk: 7.4.
- IMDb: 7.2.
In the struggle for the right to be released on Cosmonautics Day, the film “Time of the First” won, but “Salyut-7” turned out to be no worse. The audience accepted the films approximately equally, but at the box office “Salyut-7” in the end showed itself even better. In addition, the creators of the tape (in particular, director and screenwriter Klim Shipenko) understood that for the sake of cinematography they would have to change some details, so the names of the main characters were changed so as not to accidentally slander Vladimir Dzhanibekov and Viktor Savin, the real participants in the mission to restore health orbital station Salyut-7. The main roles in the film were played by Vladimir Vdovichenkov and Pavel Derevyanko.
In 1985, the Salyut-7 space station, which is in orbit in unmanned mode, suddenly stops responding to signals from the flight control center. The crew of the Soyuz T-13 spacecraft is sent on the most difficult mission in history. Not only do you need to first find the station in orbit, you also need to dock with an unmanaged object, which no one has done before. All participants in the mission understand that the chances of success are very small, and the astronauts will almost certainly never return to Earth. The flight to the Salyut-7 station is still considered one of the most difficult in the history of astronautics, both from a technical and moral point of view.
“Man in the Moon” (First Man)
- Kinopoisk: 7.1.
- IMDb: 7.3.
The Americans made many more films about astronauts and their own achievements in the space race, but only by 2018 did they realize that they forgot to film something about one of the main characters in this story. Damien Chazelle volunteered to correct the situation. He produced and directed a biopic about Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. The role of the legendary astronaut was played by Ryan Gosling. In addition to Armstrong, many other iconic figures for American astronautics appear in the film: Edwin Aldrin, Donald Slayton, Edward White, Virgil Grissom, James Lovell and others.
Yuri Gagarin was the first to fly into space, Alexei Leonov was the first to step out of the ship into outer space. The Americans have only one hope left to leave a serious mark as the pioneers of space exploration – to be the first to land a man on the moon. To do this, the Apollo program is launched. The best astronauts are selected there, such as Virgil Grissom, James Lovell and, of course, Neil Armstrong. The film shows both Armstrong’s childhood, and his mental trauma (loss of his daughter, death of colleagues during tests), and, of course, his legendary flight, as well as his famous phrase: “It’s one small step for a man, but a giant leap for all mankind “.
Source: Trash Box
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