Star City Explores the Human Cost Behind the Soviet Space Program

A Different Orbit

When you think of space exploration shows, you probably picture gleaming rockets, brave astronauts, and triumphant missions. For All Mankind has certainly delivered on that fantasy, charting an alternate history where the space race never cooled down. But its creators, Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert, and Ben Nedivi, felt there were still untold stories, particularly on the other side of the Iron Curtain. Enter Star City, a new series now streaming on Apple TV+ that shifts the focus to the Soviet cosmonaut program.

Unlike its predecessor, which has boldly gone where no one has gone before (hello, Saturn!), Star City grounds itself in the late 1960s, exploring the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. While American astronauts were perhaps cruising in Corvettes, the cosmonauts of Star City were navigating a far more primitive, and arguably more perilous, reality. "The important thing was that this felt like its own show, not just a companion piece to For All Mankind," explains Nedivi. "It has mostly new characters, its own setting, tone, world, feeling. It looks and sounds different."

The Man Calling the Shots

At the heart of Star City is Rhys Ifans as the enigmatic "Chief Designer." He's the mastermind behind the Soviet Union's ambitious lunar and Venusian aspirations. Ifans describes the Chief Designer's driving force as a relentless pursuit of space exploration, a goal he must achieve despite the immense bureaucratic and political obstacles presented by the Soviet state. "To achieve that not necessarily against all odds, but while retaining some kind of moral and ethical fabric -- it's deciding what to jettison when in order to achieve what one needs to achieve," Ifans muses.

This tension—the constant threat of dire consequences for missteps or wrong words—is a key element the showrunners wanted to explore. Wolpert highlights the historical context of Sergei Korolev, the real-life Chief Designer, who was imprisoned in the Gulag for years before returning to lead the Soviet space program. "For someone like him who has had that experience, and then still came out of that prison camp and resumed working for that same government that punished him in that way, he has the knowledge of the consequences of bending the rules or breaking the rules," Wolpert notes. Ifans adds that the Chief Designer, though earthbound, faces a similar existential risk to the cosmonauts he sends into the void: "In a sense, it imbues him with a macabre courage. It's like, 'You know what? I'm probably going to die doing this anyway, so let me take the risks I take.'"

Beyond the Moon: A Venusian Obsession

While For All Mankind has flirted with Mars and Saturn, Star City is setting its sights on Venus. Early research revealed a surprisingly intense Soviet focus on the planet, dubbed the "Venera" program. "One of the things that popped out at us and honestly shocked us was that there was a very robust 'Venera' -- the Venus space program for the Soviets," says Nedivi. "They were obsessed with Venus."

This historical obsession provides fertile ground for the show. The Soviets were sending probes to Venus as early as the 1950s, and astonishingly, they are the source of the only images ever captured from the planet's surface. Nedivi sees Venus as a perfect, albeit inhospitable, target for Soviet exploration, fitting the show's theme of embracing danger for the sake of progress. "It's not a place you can just stand on the surface and walk around -- at all. So it almost also feels like the perfect planet for the Soviets to want to explore, because of the danger inherent in exploring it."

"The only way they could figure out to do it in time was to launch people without spacesuits. It was basically a death sentence for them."

This willingness to take extreme risks, even to the point of launching cosmonauts without spacesuits in desperate situations, underscores the show's portrayal of the Soviet approach. Wolpert suggests this stemmed from a different perspective on human life and sacrifice for state goals compared to NASA's more cautious methodology. The series delves into these high-stakes decisions, where every launch is a gamble and every word carries weight.

Context:

The intense, often clandestine nature of the Soviet space program is a well-documented aspect of the Cold War era. While NASA's efforts were largely public and championed as a symbol of American ingenuity, the Soviet program operated with a greater degree of secrecy. This secrecy, coupled with immense pressure to achieve milestones before the US, often led to the adoption of more aggressive, and sometimes riskier, engineering and launch strategies. The focus on Venus by the Soviets, particularly through their Venera program, was indeed a significant undertaking, aiming to overcome the planet's extreme conditions to gather scientific data. This historical background provides a rich tapestry for Star City to weave its narrative.

What this means for you:

If you're a fan of For All Mankind, Star City offers a compelling new perspective on the space race. You'll get a deeper understanding of the pressures and personal sacrifices involved in pushing the boundaries of human exploration, seen through the lens of a different political and cultural system. Expect a more character-driven drama with less focus on futuristic tech and more on the human element, the ethical dilemmas, and the sheer audacity required to reach for the stars when the state could, at any moment, crush your ambitions.

What's still unclear:

• How deeply the show will explore the personal lives of the cosmonauts and their families.
• The specific technological innovations or failures that will be central to the season's plot.
• Whether the series will delve into the geopolitical implications of Soviet space successes or failures.
• The ultimate fate of the Chief Designer and his ambitious goals.

Why this matters:

Star City re-examines the space race by highlighting the human cost. The series offers a nuanced portrayal of ambition, sacrifice, and the complex ethical landscapes navigated by those striving for scientific advancement under authoritarian regimes, reminding us that progress often comes with a steep price.