Chapter 1
Relics of the tsars and swamp-built cities
Chapter 2
Cosmic pioneers and secret Soviet science
Chapter 3
Deep lakes, cold frontiers, and quirky geography
Chapter 4
Folklore, tea rituals, and the Russian soul
YOUR GOAL
Master of The wild twists of Russian history from tsars to space dogs
Ch 2 · Cosmic pioneers and secret Soviet science
schopenhauer Secret Soviet Space Weapons
We fired an autocannon in the silence of space, hidden on Salyut-Three.
schopenhauer The Soviet Union built dozens of secret, unmapped cities called ZATOs to house sensitive scientific and military research.
schopenhauer Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space on April 12, 1961, orbiting Earth in Vostok 1.
BETA
schopenhauer Decode Sputnik's radio signals to discover the secrets of the Soviet space race.
Fun Fact
Space backup keys: Yuri Gagarin carried a physical brass key to unlock his manual controls in case the automatic system failed.
Glossary
cosmonaut (noun)
A person trained to travel in a spacecraft, especially one from Russia or the former Soviet Union. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting Earth aboard Vostok 1.
A person trained to travel in a spacecraft, especially one from Russia or the former Soviet Union. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space, orbiting Earth aboard Vostok 1.
Quiz
What does 'Poyekhali!', Yuri Gagarin's famous launch phrase, translate to in English?
Quiz
What type of computer did Alexey Pajitnov use to program the very first version of Tetris?
Quiz
What was the name of the world's first artificial satellite, launched by the USSR in 1957?
Quiz
In what year did Soviet engineer Alexey Pajitnov design the iconic video game Tetris?
Quiz
Which Soviet space dog became the first living creature to orbit the Earth in 1957?
Quiz
What was the name of Yuri Gagarin's spacecraft during his historic 1961 flight?
Quiz
What were the secret, unmapped Soviet cities dedicated to military and scientific research called?