When, in July 1969, Neil Armstrong made one giant leap for mankind, America went down in popular history as the winner of the space race. But the real space pioneers of the 20th century were the Soviets. Between 1961 and 1966, they realised a number of spectacular historical achievements including the first man and woman in space, the first spacewalk and the first unmanned lunar landing. Up to that point, the Russians seemed unstoppable.

Originally released by BBC, 2014. Streaming video file encoded with permission for digital streaming by Infobase on April 23, 2019.

Manned Spaceflight (3:18); --Space Program Origins (11:27); -- Space Race Intensifies (5:56); -- Spacemen (11:38); -- Successive Victories (5:24); -- Spacewalk (11:34); -- Credits: How Russia Won The Space Race: Episode One (0:34); .