Welcome to Star City, Russia's closed city for training cosmonauts
(Image credit: Roscosmos/GCTC)
On May 29, Apple TV will launch "Star City," their 10-episode spinoff of "For All Mankind" that depicts an alternate history of the space race from the Soviet perspective as they become the first nation to land a human on the moon instead of the United States.But far from being pure fiction, "Star City" is based on the real-life hidden Russian city just outside Moscow where cosmonauts lived and trained alongside engineers, scientists, and the ever-present eyes and ears of KGB agents keeping a lid on Soviet secrets.As a primer for Apple TV's upcoming show starring Rhys Ifans, Anna Maxwell Martin, Agnes O’Casey, Alice Englert, Solly McLeod, Adam Nagaitis, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, and Josef Davies, we're heading behind the Iron Curtain to glean more info on how this location became the nexus for the USSR's human spaceflight endeavors. Along the way we'll pop in with a NASA expert and space history author to hear their thoughts on Star City, which is still operating today as a bustling international hub of cosmonaut activity. Break out the vodka and come along, dear comrades, while we drink a toast to Star City!
