During the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a feverish competition to be the first to set foot on the moon. We know who won this race, but less about a secret chapter. The Soviets many not have sent a man to the moon, but they successfully guided two small robots by remote control from the earth.
For 16 months between 1970 and 1973, these "Lunokhods" traveled more than thirty miles over the moon's surface. With the declassification of the former USSR space archives, along with recollections by several of the key participants in the Lunokhod program, the true story of the Russian lunar robots can finally be told.
For 16 months between 1970 and 1973, these "Lunokhods" traveled more than thirty miles over the moon's surface. With the declassification of the former USSR space archives, along with recollections by several of the key participants in the Lunokhod program, the true story of the Russian lunar robots can finally be told.
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00:00For 16 months, from 1970 to 1973, the Russians used a remote guidance system on Earth
00:10to operate two small rovers which traveled nearly 31 miles over the surface of the Moon.
00:16This feat was one of the greatest technological achievements in the history of the USSR.
00:21Designed in utmost secrecy in Soviet laboratories
00:25and eclipsed by the triumphant success of the Apollo mission,
00:28the Lunokhod adventure remains virtually unknown to the public.
00:35The opening of the Soviet space archives and the work of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers on Mars
00:40have cast a new light on this tremendous odyssey.
00:44Here is the story of this mysterious lunar device
00:48and the adventure of the scientists who contributed to the conquest of the Moon.
00:59The Moon
01:24April 26th, 1986
01:26Soviet Union. The most serious nuclear accident of the 20th century
01:31strikes the Chernobyl nuclear power plant.
01:34After three months, thousands of men have received fatal doses of radiation.
01:39To save human lives, a strange automated bulldozer
01:43is clearing pieces of radioactive debris from the roof of reactor number three.
01:49This remote control science fiction device was designed under urgent conditions.
01:54To develop it, Moscow called on the engineers who, 15 years earlier,
01:58had driven the lunar rover on the Moon by remote control.
02:07The Soviet called their lunar rover the Lunokhod.
02:12For many years, its story remained secret.
02:16I would say that most people, not just in the United States, but in the world,
02:20don't know of the Russian accomplishments on the Moon
02:23with the automated lunar sample return and the Lunokhods.
02:28The Lunokhod, lunar vehicle in Russian, is a child of the 60s,
02:33the era when the USSR leaped into the competition with the United States
02:37in the race for space.
02:39This was a time when communism seemed triumphant,
02:42when the first satellite was called Sputnik
02:45and the first man to orbit the Earth was named Gagarin.
02:50A period when the first cosmonaut to make a spacewalk was Soviet,
02:54when technology was the battleground of the Cold War.
03:09On May 25th, 1961, President Kennedy told Americans
03:13that a US astronaut would walk on the Moon before the end of the decade.
03:18Nikita Khrushchev immediately took up the challenge.
03:21The race for the Moon was on.
03:29The Kremlin told Sergei Korolyov, a survivor of the gulags,
03:33to prepare the counterattack.
03:36This robust 50-year-old man was none other than the father of the Sputnik program,
03:41a scientist and a visionary.
03:43The Americans were focusing on a single goal,
03:46landing a man on the Moon.
03:48The Soviets had a secret goal,
03:50to send up an automated lunar vehicle device remote-controlled from Earth.
03:55For Sergei Korolyov, this was the first step towards a dream,
03:59setting up a permanent base on the Moon.
04:04The future lunar rover was called Lunokhod.
04:07Korolyov had to put together a team
04:09that could invent and construct this unprecedented device.
04:13He contacted the Red Army.
04:15The Transmash plant in Leningrad,
04:18which specialized in the construction of assault tanks,
04:21furnished everything he needed,
04:23space, technical know-how and brains.
04:32The Transmash engineers were told to design the chassis for the future lunar rover.
04:37They participated in the Soviet Union's secret project,
04:41the conquest of space.
04:45A vehicle that could travel over the still-unknown surface of the Moon,
04:49controlled in real time by a driver on Earth.
04:52Among these engineers,
04:54one man would soon become the soul of the program,
04:57Alexander Kemerjanov.
05:04My father was a tank designer by profession,
05:07and he first worked at Transmash,
05:09as a specialist in heavy tracked vehicles.
05:16He was later appointed director of research and design for air cushion crafts.
05:24He began to acquire reputation
05:26as someone who could conceive of and create the most unbelievable devices.
05:35My father brought together a team for the Lunokhod program.
05:40For Alexander Kemerjanov,
05:42the project to construct the Lunokhod was not a total shock,
05:46because with his capacities and technical expertise,
05:49he was a hard man to surprise.
05:51Nevertheless, he did look a bit taken aback.
05:58For Alexander Kemerjanov and his team of engineers,
06:01the Lunokhod program presented a series of unprecedented problems.
06:06How to design a remote-controlled vehicle
06:08operated from a distance of some 250,000 miles?
06:11How to predict its reactions in an atmosphere
06:14with one-sixth the gravitational pull of the Earth?
06:17In 1963, with computer technology in its infancy,
06:21this seemed to be an impossible challenge.
06:30Major achievements of the Lunokhod program
06:33were, one, it was extremely early,
06:35two, that it did generate some meaningful science,
06:39three, that it represented the solution
06:42of some difficult engineering and design problems
06:45by some very smart people.
06:48It's truly amazing.
06:50We, as tank designers, were given the mission
06:53to construct the Lunokhod lunar vehicle chassis.
06:57Robotics was not yet a well-known science.
07:00For Alexander Kemerjanov and his engineers at Transmash,
07:03everything had to be explored, invented, tested.
07:06No idea, even the wildest, was ruled out.
07:10These people had designed a whole range
07:13of automated rovers for planetary exploration,
07:16and they were very clever at it.
07:18They were able to do it in a way
07:20that would not have been possible
07:22with automated rovers for planetary exploration,
07:25and they were very clever mechanical designs
07:28and testing all of these concepts.
07:39The first rover prototype soon rolled out of the workshops.
07:42Their designers were the only ones
07:44who saw their wheels turn,
07:46or saw them take their first steps.
07:49We were put in a room closed off from prying eyes.
07:52This is where we set up our drawing boards.
07:55Access to our offices was forbidden.
07:57Our work was classified as a military secret.
08:03There was never any talk about the Lunokhod at home.
08:06I only learned that my father had worked
08:08on the chassis for the lunar vehicle
08:10and that he was one of his designers
08:12after the device had reached the Moon.
08:15The Americans were making great progress.
08:18After the success of the Mercury and Gemini programs,
08:21their astronauts started intensive training.
08:27Kennedy on one side, Khrushchev on the other,
08:30put heavy pressure on their engineers.
08:32The upcoming geopolitical battle
08:34would play out in technology and in space.
08:38We couldn't let the Americans have the Moon.
08:42It was the Cold War.
08:46But there was a problem.
08:48The Moon was still a mystery.
08:50No one knew what its surface was made of.
08:52Was it hard or soft?
08:54Would the rovers sink into it like quicksand?
08:56Faced with this enigma,
08:58Sergei Korolyov consulted the best specialist
09:00in Soviet science,
09:02and then he announced his decision.
09:04The surface of the Moon is hard.
09:07It was not possible to design
09:09a remote-controlled lunar vehicle
09:11able to travel over a terrain
09:13of dust, sand, and rock.
09:17We had to find a single option
09:19and make a decision.
09:23Once this decision was made,
09:25we started thinking about the first prototypes.
09:27We had to design a vehicle
09:29that would be able
09:32And later, when we saw samples
09:34of the lunar surface,
09:36we knew that Korolyov's decision
09:38was correct.
09:42Thanks to Korolyov's bold decision,
09:44the Lunokhod program could move
09:46into the mechanical research phase.
09:48Another decision immediately arose.
09:50Should the rover have tracks or wheels?
09:52Once again,
09:54the engineers turned to Korolyov.
10:01Korolyov told us,
10:03I won't give you any advice.
10:05You're the specialist.
10:07You figure it out.
10:09Alexander Komarjan
10:11and his tank designers
10:13initially favored a track-drive mechanism.
10:15But was this really the right solution?
10:25I quickly understood
10:27that it would be extremely difficult
10:29to operate the tracks
10:31because the electrical energy required
10:33to operate the motors
10:35was only around 300 watts.
10:37Can you imagine?
10:39It's the energy of a light bulb.
10:41It's very, very weak.
10:43The energy of a light bulb
10:45was supposed to power the Lunokhod
10:47under the extreme conditions on the Moon.
10:51Plus, if the tracks got stuck,
10:53it would be the end.
10:55With several wheels,
10:57it would be unimpeded.
11:01The Lunokhod's chassis
11:03took shape under the care
11:05of the Leningrad engineers.
11:07Here are the rover's wheels,
11:09as large as a car's,
11:11just under 8 inches wide
11:13and 20 inches high.
11:15The tread, which had to grip
11:17the lunar surface,
11:19was a mesh fitted with crampons.
11:21And yet another puzzle.
11:23The vehicle had to weigh
11:25more tests and a new discovery
11:27with a titanium-aluminum alloy
11:29classified as military secret.
11:39For us, creating a mechanical
11:41device that could travel
11:43over a specific surface
11:45wasn't really a problem.
11:47The difficulty was in creating
11:49a device that met
11:51all the technical requirements.
11:53Their mechanical devices
11:55were extremely clever,
11:57and so they had a much more
11:59of a classical engineer's approach to it.
12:01Try it, build it, see it, test it,
12:03doesn't work, try it again, do it this way,
12:05and if we only get 75%,
12:07that's okay, next time we'll get 95%,
12:09and the time after that
12:11we'll finally have full success.
12:13They were much more willing
12:15to have a systematic, ongoing approach.
12:19In 1964, just two years
12:21after the initial sketches,
12:23the Transmash engineers were able
12:25to test their first prototype.
12:27Equipped with four drive wheels,
12:29their strange robot turtle
12:31took its first ride with a periscope camera.
12:35We placed a Japanese video camera
12:37on it and controlled the machine
12:39from a distance using a television.
12:41We then started thinking about
12:43the remote control guidance system.
12:45The engineers then had to
12:47anticipate the rover's reactions
12:49on the moon. For this,
12:51Transmash created a secret hangar
12:53known as the Lunadrome.
12:55From a cart, two engineers
12:57controlled a second-generation prototype
12:59on a lunar track riddled with obstacles.
13:01The device had eight
13:03drive wheels with independent suspension.
13:05It only required three
13:07to remain operational.
13:19Alexander Khmerjan
13:21was faced with a new problem,
13:23this one purely mechanical.
13:25In the atmosphere,
13:27when two metal parts are in contact,
13:29a film of oxide forms
13:31at the friction points,
13:33acting as a lubricant.
13:35In a vacuum,
13:37the two parts would mold together.
13:39The answer?
13:41They designed a new fluoridated oil
13:43which did not evaporate in a vacuum.
13:45The electrical motors
13:47were placed in hermetic boxes.
13:49But a major step remained
13:51to test these inventions
13:53in a gravity-free environment.
14:05Sergei Korolev
14:07offered to launch a satellite
14:09just for us, so that we could test
14:11our engine compartments and the mechanics
14:13in a gravity-free environment.
14:15In the end,
14:17we didn't need a specific satellite
14:19because we found room in an existing
14:21satellite, already scheduled
14:23to launch.
14:27After checking
14:29this technical step in space,
14:31the Lunokhod was ready for full-scale
14:33tests. In utmost
14:35secrecy, the Transmash engineers
14:37transported their prototype
14:39to Kamchatka Peninsula,
14:41nine time zones away from Leningrad
14:43and Moscow.
14:45Why wouldn't the volcanic landscape
14:47in the far eastern region of Russia
14:49be similar to the surface of the Moon?
14:51This experiment was an opportunity
14:53to test the automated control
14:55systems for the first time.
14:57This penetrometer, for example,
14:59which would measure the density
15:01of the lunar surface.
15:13It was not an absolute
15:15replica of the lunar surface.
15:17What were important were the characteristics
15:19of this surface, its capacity
15:21to detect the reactions of the motors
15:23and chassis. This surface
15:25corresponded to these requirements,
15:27and this was the most important thing.
15:33In 1965, Sergei Korolev
15:35delegated the entire
15:37production of the Lunokhod to the
15:39Moscow-based Lavashkin Institute,
15:41which specialized in space probes.
15:47Executive director
15:49Georgi Babakin
15:51supervised the design of the lunar
15:53landing module. The Lunokhod,
15:55a strange rolling tub,
15:57was equipped with electronic
15:59and scientific equipment.
16:03From Moscow, Georgi Babakin
16:05could then issue specific instructions
16:07concerning the development
16:09of the chassis and the autonomy
16:11of the motors assembled in Leningrad.
16:19Babakin's group sent these instructions.
16:21Make sure the Lunokhod goes
16:23down the ramp to the lunar surface
16:25and drives at least a few meters.
16:27Everyone will then be grateful to you.
16:29But we also knew that if
16:31the Lunokhod only drove a few dozen meters
16:33and stopped, we wouldn't be spared.
16:39At Cape Canaveral,
16:41the Americans had conducted
16:43multiple launches
16:45to finalize Saturn V
16:47and the Apollo spacecraft.
16:49They worked methodically,
16:51never deviating from the single goal
16:53set by Kennedy.
16:55As Soviet scientists were dispersed,
16:57their hopes for landing a man on the Moon
16:59rested with a giant N1 rocket.
17:01But with each launch,
17:03this hope never lasted more than
17:0550 seconds.
17:09This was the mid-60s.
17:11The USSR was still in the running
17:13for Moon race.
17:15But for how long?
17:23In January 1966,
17:25Sergei Korolyov died
17:27during a routine surgery.
17:29The USSR gave a national funeral
17:31to the man who masterminded
17:33the country's first successes in space.
17:35Korolyov is buried
17:37at the base of the Kremlin.
17:39With him, the Soviets buried
17:41many of their hopes for reaching
17:43the lunar surface before the Americans.
17:47Georgy Babakin had to rebuild
17:49the confidence of his team.
17:51The Lunokhod tests started up again
17:53in full force.
17:55They were now conducted in Moscow and Leningrad,
17:57often 24 hours a day.
18:07We fixed up the offices
18:09so that we could sleep there.
18:11We brought in mattresses, sheets, blankets
18:13and called that part of the plant
18:15the Charmash Hotel
18:17because we usually manufactured
18:19chars, which means tanks.
18:21Hence, the Charmash Hotel.
18:27A new device appeared
18:29on the Lunokhod, a lid
18:31the inventors nicknamed the frying pan,
18:33which had a solar panel on the underside
18:35This was a crucial invention.
18:37During the two weeks of the lunar day,
18:39the unfolded lid would provide energy
18:41to the drive wheels and to the instruments
18:43inside the compartment.
18:45During the two weeks of the lunar night,
18:47the lid would close to protect the rover
18:49from the cold, but with temperatures
18:51of minus 275 degrees Fahrenheit,
18:53no one could be certain it would be enough.
18:59Lunokhod designed itself
19:01the thermal control system
19:03with the radioactive heater
19:05and the lid that shuts and opens,
19:07which also serves as a solar collector
19:09during the day.
19:11That thermal design was very ingenious.
19:15A polonium-210 radioactive power source,
19:17which powered a generator,
19:19was fitted to the back of the Lunokhod.
19:23During the lunar night,
19:25the heat shield closed
19:27and the generator heated the gas
19:29contained in the insulated
19:31and pressurized compartment.
19:35It looked like a big wash tub
19:37on wheels.
19:39Anyhow, that thermal control system
19:41was pretty neat.
19:43To withstand the temperatures
19:45of the lunar day, which could reach
19:47320 degrees Fahrenheit,
19:49the Lunokhod was protected by
19:51a ventilation system.
19:53A gas circulated in the compartment
19:55when the electrical equipment generated
19:57too much heat.
19:59The gas was charged outside
20:01via a thermal exchange unit.
20:05At each stage, Babakin's group
20:07ran meticulous tests on these innovations.
20:17Very soon,
20:19the small rover would be ready
20:21to drive on the Moon.
20:29The program still needed to find
20:31men who could drive it from a distance
20:33of 250,000 miles.
20:35Once again, the program directors
20:37turned to the Red Army.
20:39By late 1966,
20:4145 officers had been selected
20:43secretly.
20:45After a series of tests,
20:47only 14 candidates were selected.
20:49They were stunned to learn that their mission
20:51was to drive a lunar rover.
20:53Vyacheslav Dolgvan,
20:55filmed here in 1967,
20:57was one of the 14 pilots.
20:59He recalls this experience,
21:01which marked him for life.
21:05Before us,
21:07they had tried to use
21:09aviators, tractor drivers,
21:11car drivers,
21:13and even cyclists.
21:15They selected men
21:17who know how to assess a situation rapidly
21:19and who could memorize
21:21and reproduce the situation
21:23immediately.
21:28The future drivers
21:30underwent intense training
21:32in the looted room at the Simferopol
21:34Space Command Center in Crimea.
21:36They learned how to control the vehicle
21:38using a joystick.
21:43Focused on the monitors,
21:45the officers repeated the maneuvers
21:47they would perform once the rover
21:49reached the Moon over and over again.
21:51Clearing an obstacle,
21:53climbing out of a hole,
21:55anticipating, turning right,
21:57moving forward, turning left,
21:59backing up, emergency stops.
22:03The Lunadrome
22:05was only 200 meters away.
22:07We could have seen it,
22:09but the curtains were closed.
22:11This is why all the information
22:13came through the control screen,
22:15exactly as if it were happening on the Moon.
22:22There was a 30-second lapse
22:24between a command issued on Earth
22:26and its execution on the Moon.
22:28For these men, this timeline
22:30was the most difficult problem to overcome
22:32in learning how to control the vehicle.
22:38The vehicle operator
22:40had the greatest responsibility
22:42during the control of this vehicle.
22:44He could be nervous about making a mistake,
22:46but obviously this was not always the case.
22:48Everything was fine
22:50if you had correctly analyzed the situation,
22:52the various parameters
22:54and taken the right decision.
22:56Things should have been perfect,
22:58but then suddenly you fall into a hole.
23:00In this case,
23:02either the joystick malfunctioned
23:04or the motor stopped on its own,
23:06and then you think you did something wrong.
23:10Vyacheslav Dogvan
23:12and his colleagues were well aware
23:14of the importance of their mission.
23:16In this battle engaged with the United States,
23:18the destiny of the USSR
23:20was in their hands.
23:22And in a country where the fear of the gulag
23:24still existed,
23:26the anxiety of failure was palpable.
23:30In November 1968,
23:32a pilot crew was ready.
23:36But a decisive round was playing out
23:38on the other side of the Atlantic.
23:40December 21, 1968,
23:42the Saturn V rocket
23:44was carrying three American astronauts aboard.
23:46For the first time
23:48in the Apollo 8 capsule,
23:50men were orbiting the Moon.
23:52On their side, the Soviets
23:54managed to place two probes
23:56on the surface of the coveted goal.
23:58The success of Luna 9
24:00and Luna 13
24:02provided a wealth of extraordinary photographs
24:04and crucial information
24:06about the lunar surface.
24:08But with the repeated failures of the N1 rocket,
24:10Russia no longer had any hopes
24:12of reaching the Moon
24:14before the Americans.
24:16But one man could still save the honor
24:18of the Soviets.
24:20Georgy Babakin,
24:22Alexander Kimurjan and their secret box,
24:24the Lunokhod.
24:26Babakin's group was putting the final touches
24:28on the rover in Moscow.
24:30There were no more problems
24:32with the compartment's resilience
24:34and the separation of the elements
24:36from the lunar landing platform.
24:40All the scientific instruments were installed
24:42and the components operated
24:44perfectly in a void.
24:48The ramps leading down
24:50from the landing platform
24:52were operational.
24:54The helical and whip antenna,
24:56which received electromagnetic waves,
24:58responded to more than 200 commands
25:00for controlling the rover.
25:08The Lunokhod, which was carried
25:10in the hold of a rocket,
25:12was the size of a small car,
25:141,666 pounds,
25:16just over 7 feet long,
25:185 feet wide.
25:20But it was a strange car indeed
25:22that could drive in the void of empty space
25:24operated from the Earth.
25:26At that time, even the Americans
25:28thought that such a technological exploit
25:30was impossible.
25:32In early 1969,
25:34the small rover was fitted
25:36into its landing module.
25:38Then both were finally placed
25:40in the upper section of the proton rocket.
25:42The Lunokhod was ready.
25:44After a decade of feverish preparations,
25:46the race to Moon
25:48was closing in on the final sprint.
25:50On February 19, 1969,
25:52the proton rocket was launched
25:54from the Baikonur Cosmodrome
25:56with the Lunokhod aboard.
25:58Success for the Russians
26:00was within reach.
26:20That day,
26:22more than a rocket went up in smoke,
26:24more than a lunar rover prototype,
26:26it was the hopes
26:28fueled by a decade of hard work.
26:34The Soviet engineers
26:36had to undergo a final ordeal.
26:38Watch the American triumph.
26:50On that unforgettable day
26:52of July 21, 1969,
26:54Neil Armstrong
26:56dedicated the American victory
26:58on the Moon to all of mankind.
27:04The entire world
27:06was astonished by the footsteps
27:08on the lunar surface.
27:10But in Moscow
27:12and Leningrad,
27:14scientists knew that history
27:16would record another milestone
27:18the mark of the lunar rover wheels.
27:22For Alexander Khmerjan,
27:24there would be no respite
27:26for an entire year.
27:32On November 10, 1970,
27:34the Soviet pilots and technicians
27:36were huddled in the control room
27:38at the Simferopol Space Center.
27:40Several thousand miles away,
27:42in Baikonur,
27:44the countdown had begun.
27:48What's going on?
27:50Is it going to explode?
27:52It's going to explode.
28:04At 3.44 pm,
28:06the Proton rocket took off.
28:08A new Lunokhod was aboard.
28:10At an altitude of 50 miles,
28:12the Proton rocket reached
28:14the speed required to orbit the Earth.
28:16After several engine thrusts,
28:18it launched the Luna 17 spacecraft,
28:20which gradually climbed free
28:22of the Earth's gravitational pull.
28:24It took four and a half days
28:26to travel the distance
28:28from the Earth to the Moon.
28:32The entire program
28:34was secret.
28:38Only the estimated
28:40lunar landing date wasn't,
28:42because many astronomers
28:44were awaiting this event
28:46in observatories.
28:50But as soon as the Lunokhod
28:52landed on the Moon,
28:54the secret behind the project
28:56was fully revealed.
29:04The lunar landing site
29:06had been carefully selected.
29:08After orbiting the Moon for 48 hours,
29:10Lunokhod 1 started
29:12its historic descent.
29:16On November 17, 1970,
29:18Luna 17 made
29:20a soft landing in the Sea of Rains
29:22and settled on the lunar surface
29:24at a four-degree angle.
29:28I experienced this moment
29:30as an amazing burst of emotion.
29:32When the landing platform
29:34touched down on the Moon,
29:36it was tremendous.
29:40The flight engineer shouted,
29:42the Lunokhod has landed
29:44on the surface of the Earth.
29:46He quickly corrected himself,
29:48the Moon.
29:50Everyone burst into applause.
29:54The landing ramp was deployed.
29:56The lunar surface stretched ahead
29:58of the Lunokhod wheels.
30:00But who would make the final decision
30:02to start up the lunar rover
30:04and drive it down these few feet?
30:06The team, over its initial excitement,
30:08had to analyze the parameters
30:10concerning the vertical and horizontal
30:12position of the Lunokhod
30:14to avoid any possibility of a fall
30:16as it rolled down the platform.
30:18Three hours went by.
30:20The first images of the surface
30:22had reached the Simferopol command post
30:24on Earth.
30:26The entire team was utterly focused.
30:28The tension was rising.
30:30Suddenly, Genia Alatipov announced,
30:32I see the Moon's surface.
30:34It's flat.
30:36The surface is flat.
30:38And then he added,
30:40and it's beautiful.
30:42The images show that the Lunokhod
30:44was correctly positioned
30:46for its descent.
30:48There were no obstacles
30:50on the lunar surface
30:52in front of the titanium
30:54and aluminum wheels.
30:56The order to proceed
30:58was given.
31:00At that exact moment,
31:02Genia Alatipov,
31:04who was controlling the vehicle,
31:06had a pulse of 140.
31:08Genia had never reacted
31:10like that before.
31:12Responding to orders
31:14transmitted through 250,000 miles
31:16of empty space, the Lunokhod
31:18descended to the surface.
31:20Sixteen months after
31:22Neil Armstrong's historic step,
31:24this was a moment of triumph
31:26The Lunokhod
31:28descended to the surface,
31:30then moved forward
31:3215 to 30 feet.
31:34Then it stopped.
31:36We could make out the marks
31:38left on the lunar surface.
31:40It was fantastic.
31:42A fairy tale.
31:44In Leningrad,
31:46Alexander Kramerjan
31:48had just undergone serious surgery.
31:50One of the fathers
31:52of the small rover
31:54took a few steps from his hospital bed.
31:58I was in the room with Kramerjan
32:00and my eyes filled with tears.
32:02It was a total triumph.
32:04We'd put so much energy into it.
32:06Personally, I'd not taken a vacation
32:08in three years.
32:10The Simferopol
32:12Space Center in Crimea
32:14gave the order to deploy
32:16the helical antenna
32:18and open the lid of the solar panel.
32:20There were no Soviet cosmonauts
32:22but instead a small
32:24perfectly crafted rover
32:26which responded to orders
32:28from the distant USSR.
32:36Radio Moscow
32:38broadcasted the International.
32:40For Leonid Brezhnev
32:42and the Kremlin leaders,
32:44this success brought hopes for a revival.
32:46Would the Lunokhod
32:48bolster support for the Communist Party?
32:50Not so sure.
32:52The international press praised the rover's success
32:54but the applause was above all
32:56for the genius of the Russian scientists
32:58and engineers.
33:04It was a unique vehicle.
33:06The Americans hadn't even thought of it.
33:08If we had launched it a little bit earlier,
33:10maybe we would have felt
33:12somewhat better.
33:14But that wasn't the point.
33:16Doing automated rovers on the surface
33:18by Lunokhods in the early 1970s
33:20was not repeated again
33:22until the US finally did it
33:24in 1996-97
33:26with the Mars Pathfinder.
33:28Celebrations were underway
33:30across all 11 time zones
33:32of the Soviet Union.
33:34At Simferopol, the stress level
33:36among the drivers was intense.
33:38Riveted to their screens,
33:40they had to solve any unexpected pitfalls
33:42on the lunar surface.
33:44After 65 feet,
33:46the first disappointment was severe.
33:48The guidance cameras
33:50were placed too low.
33:52The drivers had a view of a person
33:54crawling on all fours.
33:56It was impossible to clearly see stones
33:58or craters.
34:00The partially short-sighted Lunokhod
34:02moved forward another 33 feet.
34:04The team panicked.
34:06It had disappeared into a crater.
34:08The temperature inside the Lunokhod
34:10rose dangerously high.
34:12They had to cut off the power supply quickly.
34:14This was not the planned procedure,
34:16but they didn't want to take the risk
34:18of losing the vehicle.
34:22We decided to cut off
34:24all the safety mechanisms,
34:26to turn the Lunokhod more to the left,
34:28level out the motor,
34:30close the lid of the solar panel
34:32and back out of the crater.
34:36The Lunokhod responded perfectly
34:38to the radio controls from Simferopol.
34:42It shifted into reverse
34:44and the extraterrestrial
34:46cybernetic animal
34:48obeyed the pilot's commands.
34:58Every nine hours,
35:00Dogvan and his colleagues took shifts
35:02controlling the Lunokhod,
35:04following its hesitant movements
35:06on their displays.
35:08They operated the joystick
35:10stop, rotate,
35:12two turning angles, 10 and 20 degrees,
35:14two possible speeds,
35:16one half a mile
35:18and 1.24 miles per hour.
35:20A concentrate of mechanical
35:22and electronic intelligence.
35:27It was a miracle of dexterity.
35:29Dogvan and his colleagues
35:31had to constantly anticipate
35:33the commands to be transmitted
35:35as the vehicle was being piloted
35:37under difficult technical conditions.
35:39A fixed image from the Moon
35:41was displayed line by line
35:43and only remained visible for 10 seconds
35:45before it was replaced
35:47by the following one.
35:57The operator of the directional antenna
35:59had a crucial role
36:01and he had to make sure
36:03that the antenna was always pointed
36:05at a specific reception zone
36:07in the diagram of this antenna.
36:11Lunokhod incorporated
36:13multiple scientific innovations.
36:15Equipped with a spectrometer,
36:17an X-ray telescope
36:19and cosmic ray detectors,
36:21it transmitted a host
36:23of valuable information to Earth.
36:27A ninth free wheel
36:29measured the distances traveled.
36:31With its penetrometer,
36:33the vehicle could measure
36:35the density of the lunar soil
36:37just as cosmonauts would have done.
36:41After a few days,
36:43the rover had almost established
36:45a lunar routine.
36:47Then suddenly, a crisis.
36:49Lunokhod had fallen into a crater.
36:55For some unknown reason,
36:57Genya gave an order to stop the vehicle.
36:59But he shifted from second gear
37:01to first gear.
37:03Lunokhod continued forward.
37:05He thought it would get through the crater
37:07without any problem.
37:15The team shifted
37:17to crisis mode.
37:19The steep walls surprised the driver
37:21with a temperature of 266 degrees Fahrenheit.
37:27The wheels slipped.
37:29The men were exhausted.
37:33After nine long hours
37:35of risky maneuvers,
37:37the rover that believed was lost
37:39finally made its way free.
37:43After 14 Earth days,
37:45the rover shut down to hibernate
37:47and withstand temperatures
37:49of minus 274 degrees Fahrenheit
37:51during the two-week-long lunar night.
37:57As soon as the lunar night arrived,
37:59we all took a good steam bath.
38:01After, we started processing
38:03and analyzing all the data
38:05recorded in the logbook.
38:07We didn't budge
38:09until the scientific and technical reports
38:11were finished.
38:15Lunokhod,
38:17initially scheduled by its designers
38:19to run for 90 days,
38:21continued for nearly 11 months,
38:23traveling nearly 7 miles.
38:25It successfully accomplished
38:27all the planned scientific tasks
38:29including 20,000 images of the lunar surface,
38:31500 tests and complete analysis
38:33of soil samples.
38:35This was the greatest achievement
38:37in Soviet astronautics.
38:41The chassis could have operated
38:43for a longer time,
38:45but the nuclear resources
38:47for heating the internal components
38:49of the Lunokhod were used up.
38:51The Lunokhod stopped functioning.
38:53As my father used to say,
38:55it simply died a natural death.
39:00Awarded the Order of Lenin
39:02for the success of the Lunokhod,
39:04Alexander Khmerjan remained
39:06an unknown figure in the West.
39:08But beyond the Iron Curtain,
39:10this success had not surprised
39:12French researchers who had been working
39:14with the Soviet space program
39:16for several years.
39:18By late 1972,
39:20the Lavashkin Institute had constructed
39:22a second Lunokhod.
39:24The new vehicle carried more scientific equipment
39:26than its predecessor.
39:28The navigation cameras were mounted higher
39:30for a better view of the lunar surface.
39:32The primary goal of this mission
39:34was to determine,
39:36using a French-made laser corner reflector,
39:38the distance between the Moon and the Earth
39:40to within three meters.
39:46A joint experiment was conducted
39:48by Soviet and French specialists.
39:50Laser ranging devices
39:52were installed on the large telescope
39:54in the Crimea Astrophysics Observatory,
39:56which is important
39:58for the study of the Earth's structure.
40:02January 1973,
40:04a new success for the USSR.
40:11Luna 21 soft-landed
40:13in the Sea of Serenity
40:15with its payload, Lunokhod 2.
40:17The aim of the Franco-Russian
40:19laser ranging measurements
40:21was to help predict volcanic activity
40:23and earthquakes,
40:25as well as the potential drift.
40:31On May 9, 1973,
40:33Lunokhod 2 set a new record,
40:35traveling 23 miles.
40:37Then, after four months,
40:39it stopped, like the earlier model,
40:41and shut down for eternity.
40:45By operating two rovers on the Moon,
40:47the Soviet engineers did better
40:49than avoiding a humiliating defeat
40:51for their country at the hands of the United States.
40:53It was a success,
40:55which was rehashed by Soviet propaganda
40:57for years.
40:59Yet, these men remained in the shadows
41:01for a very long time,
41:03until history finally remembered them.
41:07Everything was absolutely secret.
41:09All the preparation
41:11and all the documentation
41:13concerning the construction
41:15was secret.
41:17Who accomplished all this work
41:19in the Soviet Union?
41:21It was death.
41:23Who was Babakin?
41:25Everyone only knew the day after he, too, died.
41:27That was life in the USSR.
41:29It was the Cold War.
41:33For more than 10 years,
41:35Alexander Komarjan
41:37had been one of this secret program's masterminds.
41:39But the experience
41:41of this brilliant man
41:43and of his team of engineers
41:45would not remain unknown.
41:47Chernobyl,
41:49spring of 1986.
41:51Would Moscow be able to handle the catastrophe
41:53after the explosion of reactor
41:55number four?
41:57The USSR sent its firemen,
41:59helicopter pilots, soldiers and laborers
42:01into the ruins of the power plant.
42:03These men, known as liquidators,
42:05risked their lives,
42:07wearing inadequate protective aprons
42:09to clear away the highly radioactive debris.
42:17In the rubble of Chernobyl,
42:19the authorities had to stop an uncontrollable
42:21nuclear reaction
42:23and clean the contaminated surfaces.
42:25Leaders in the Kremlin
42:27remembered the small remote-controlled rover.
42:29Komarjan was summoned
42:31urgently to Moscow.
42:33He was given three months
42:35to construct a remote-controlled vehicle
42:37that could clear the deadly debris
42:39projected by the explosion onto the roof
42:41of reactor number three.
42:43The goal? To save human lives.
42:47Alexander Komarjan
42:49attended a meeting
42:51with many managers from companies
42:53linked to national defense.
42:55They absolutely had to find solutions.
42:57As soon as he returned,
42:59he asked us,
43:01how can we help them?
43:03What can we do?
43:07After the tremendous
43:09technological success of the Lunokhod rovers,
43:11Komarjan and his colleagues
43:13had not stopped their work.
43:15They continued to develop
43:17and manufacture all sorts of robots
43:19intended for use on more distant planets.
43:23With this amazing expertise,
43:25the Transmash team was able to develop
43:27a new version of the Lunokhod,
43:29a miniature vehicle
43:31called STR-1.
43:37We started working much more intensely
43:39than we had for the Lunokhod
43:41as the time constraints were much shorter.
43:43We had never seen
43:45anything like it.
43:47Once the STR-1 was designed,
43:49within a week it was almost
43:51completely built.
43:53The metal chassis of the STR-1
43:55was right there in front of us.
44:01The STR-1 was a fully automated
44:03titanium bulldozer.
44:05The notched wheels were cut from solid blocks
44:07of metal alloy
44:09so that it could travel over the broken
44:11power plant.
44:13As with the Lunokhod,
44:15a test track scattered with debris
44:17was constructed to test the bulldozer,
44:19equipped with a special remote control
44:21guidance system.
44:31In early July,
44:33the STR-1 was ready to be shipped
44:35to its final destination, Chernobyl.
44:38On July 15th,
44:40a helicopter lowered the vehicle
44:42to the still intact roof of reactor No. 3.
44:46In this urgent race against the clock,
44:48Transmash did not have time to provide
44:50special training to drivers.
44:54Kimurjan brought us all together
44:56and said, friends, we are the only ones
44:58who know the STR-1.
45:00To pilot it, we'll have to go ourselves.
45:02The situation was extremely complex.
45:04Certain components were not yet
45:06fully operational.
45:08We didn't know how the machine would actually function.
45:15Despite the deadly risks,
45:17a first team of Transmash engineers,
45:19led by Pavel Sologub,
45:21operated the vehicle
45:23throughout the entire month of August.
45:25Mikhail Malenkov led the second team
45:27and spent 30 days
45:29on the contaminated roof.
45:37I agreed to go enthusiastically.
45:40I understood where I was going.
45:42I took risks.
45:44But I knew what to do
45:46and where we could or couldn't go
45:48and what was feasible or not.
45:54The STR-1 functioned efficiently
45:56but ran into guidance problems
45:58due to the extremely high levels of radiation.
46:01Kimurjan's robot saved many human lives.
46:04Although very few people today
46:06know who constructed this strange arrival
46:08at Chernobyl.
46:10In 1986,
46:12the name Kimurjan was unknown.
46:14Readers of Western scientific magazines
46:16had been to say the least surprised
46:18by articles by three
46:20astronautical geniuses,
46:22Aleksandrov, Leonovich, Yuglov.
46:24But who knew that they were written
46:26by the same person, Alexander Kimurjan.
46:29After the collapse of the Soviet Union,
46:31the West finally learned
46:33the real name of the man
46:35who ran the development program
46:37for the chassis of many planetocods,
46:39in Russian, vehicles that travel on planets.
46:41In 1990,
46:43the chassis for a Marsocod,
46:45designed to operate on the Red Planet,
46:47started to intrigue Western scientists.
46:49As the Americans and Europeans
46:51started planning their future rover missions to Mars,
46:53they became interested in the Soviet expertise.
46:57As soon as the Iron Curtain collapsed,
46:59we were able to communicate
47:01with foreign colleagues.
47:03Thanks especially to Alexander Kimurjan,
47:05we began to work with American specialists
47:07for the first time,
47:09and started working very closely with the French.
47:11The Russians had this
47:13very good rover program,
47:15and we met the groups
47:17that were working on them.
47:19We learned that these were the people
47:21who had actually done
47:23the only planetary rover to date,
47:25which was the Lunokhod.
47:27The most important thing for us
47:29was to conserve
47:31the expertise and knowledge
47:33acquired by our elders.
47:391992.
47:41The people at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
47:43of Pasadena in California
47:45discovered the mysterious
47:47Alexander Kimurjan.
47:49The Americans invited him,
47:51along with a few Russian colleagues,
47:53to join them.
47:55The Americans invited him,
47:57along with a few Russian engineers,
47:59to their test center in Death Valley.
48:01These images were unimaginable
48:03during the 40 years of the Cold War.
48:05Kimurjan, a hero of the Soviet Union,
48:07walking serenely
48:09on American soil.
48:13Even though everything wasn't perfect,
48:15the former enemies joined forces
48:17to test the Marsokhod rover
48:19invented in Leningrad 15 years earlier
48:21in the utmost secrecy.
48:25...
48:33The vehicle drove easily
48:35over the slopes of the dune
48:37the Pasadena researchers called
48:39the Margin Hill.
48:41It's wonderful.
48:43And so there is where
48:45the Marsokhod
48:47that they brought demonstrated
48:49that it was completely bulletproof
48:51as a machine you could take out in the desert
48:53no matter how dirty it got
48:55or anything else, you just turn it on, it works.
48:57They, in turn, invited us
48:59to Kamchatka to test the rovers
49:01and we did worldwide publicity with these tests
49:03and I think that had a large role
49:05in inspiring
49:07American scientists and engineers
49:09to begin thinking about the role of rovers
49:11in our Mars program
49:13here in the United States.
49:15At the age of 70,
49:17Alexander Kimurjan finally received
49:19recognition in the international
49:21scientific community.
49:23In addition to his activities at Transmash
49:25and his membership in the
49:27International Institute of Spatial Robotics,
49:29he was promoted
49:31as a first-class scientist
49:33at the Russian Academy of Cosmonautics
49:35of Tsiolkovsky.
49:41The Americans were extremely respectful
49:43of the scientific work we accomplished
49:45in our country at Transmash
49:47and the Lavoshkin Institute.
49:49My father felt
49:51that planetary society
49:53was very important.
49:55He and Louis Friedman
49:57were very good friends.
49:59And I'll never forget walking
50:01with Alexander Kirmizhan on the side
50:03of a volcanic mountain that was so hot
50:05that if you stood still,
50:07it burnt a hole in your shoe,
50:09so you had to keep moving.
50:11And here is Kirmizhan in his 70s,
50:13lightly going up the sides of the mountains
50:15and we're having trouble keeping up with him.
50:17It was a remarkable experience.
50:25Everyone is capable
50:27of doing extraordinary things,
50:29each in his own way.
50:31Some are perfectly happy
50:33doing simple things in good spirits.
50:35Others, however,
50:37concentrate on details.
50:39We're all different
50:41and it really doesn't matter
50:43if you focus on space travel
50:45What's important
50:47is to do what you really want.
50:51Alexander Kirmizhan
50:53died on February 24, 2003
50:55in St. Petersburg.
50:57He left as a legacy
50:59two small rovers on the surface of the Moon
51:01carrying the red flag
51:03of a former empire.
51:05In the future,
51:07men and automated vehicles
51:09may travel together to distant worlds.
51:11They will owe a debt
51:13to Alexander Kirmizhan,
51:15Georgy Babakin
51:17and to all the Russian engineers
51:19who were the first to design a way
51:21to operate a vehicle on another planet.
51:43To be continued...