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Space Race: Media Clips

An introduction to the Space Race of the 1960s.

About Media

This selection of news clips and audios come from a variety of sources around the web.  Running time in minutes and seconds (mm:ss) is provided to the right of each link.

Links will open a new window.

The Soviet Program

1965 - First Space Walk (Alexey Leonov) [YouTube] | 0:24
Video footage of the first spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Aleksei Leonov.

Interview with First Woman Cosmonaut, Valentina Tereshkova [YouTube] | 3:06
Interview with Valentina Tereshkova on her historic 1963 flight. 

Voskhod 2 [YouTube] | 1:40
World's first spacewalk by Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, March 1965.  The Voskhod 3KD spacecraft had an inflatable airlock which was jettisoned before the return to Earth.

 Yuri Gagarin: 108 Minutes That Changed the World [YouTube] : 3:24
Tribute to Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.

Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space [YouTube] | 8:13
Compilation of film footage related to Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin's historic orbit around the Earth in 1961.  Film footage includes shots of the construction of Vostok I, cosmonaut training exercises, launch of the Vostok I, and Gagarin's triumphant return to Earth.

The United States Program

John F. Kennedy Congratulates Alan Shepard [YouTube] | 7:03
Archival video of President John F. Kennedy with Alan Shepard at the White House on May 6, 1961.  President Kennedy congratulates him on his successful flight, acknowledges others involved in the project, and presents Shepard with the NASA Distinguished Award Medal. 

Mercury: Friendship 7 Panorama [Smithsonian Air and Space Museum]
Offers a 360-degree tour of Glenn's tiny Friendship 7 capsule, using images from a rare photo shoot inside the spacecraft.

NASA Mercury Project, Mercury Atlas 6 Mission [YouTube] | 6:12
Compilation of film footage from John Glenn's orbital flight on February 20, 1962.

Gemini 4 EVA [YouTube] | 9:04
Archival footage of the first American spacewalk by astronaut Ed White.  This marked the first time a spacewalk was performed using a handheld maneuvering unit.  

Apollo XI Video Clips Index [NASA]
Library of video clips taken during the Apollo XI mission.  Included are clips of the launch, shipboard activities,  

 Apollo 8 40th Anniversary [YouTube] | Part 1 9:53 | Part 2 10:17 | Part 3 10:19
Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and Bill Anders recount man's first voyage around the moon.

Public Services Archivist

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Teresa Gray
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