As I opined to a (very patient) young woman tonight, I’ve often wondered why there’s never been an equivalent version of The Right Stuff for the Russian space program. In a lot of ways it was the more interesting half of the race: as well as all of their firsts, there’s controversy, romance and intrigue, the threat of war, and action, specifically the amazing fact that cosmonauts ejected from their capsules after re-entry and parachuted to the ground.
Upon reflection, though, I can think of two reasons it hasn’t been done: secrecy, in that (as I understand it) most of the Russian records from that time remain confidential; and pride, mainly from Hollywood, which wouldn’t want to risk appearing anti-American by showing an enemy state (even a former one) in a positive light. Then again, I know NASA has had a presence at Star City for some time now, and we’ve recently seen the release of Letters from Iwo Jima, a movie that wouldn’t have been greenlit five years ago let alone twenty-five, so perhaps there’s some hope after all.
That’s a fantastic idea! I’d be glued to the screen for something like that, not the least of which because we haven’t heard all of the stories before, like we generally have with the NASA tales.