Star City

Status report to General Konstantin Filonov Lubyanka.

Per orders of the second directorate, the focus of the space program

has been limited to the orbit of Earth.

This follows restrictions placed on Star City after the tragic deaths

of the three cosmonauts in a training accident last summer.

The intelligence being gathered by new space station Salyut-1,

under the cover of scientific research, has proved invaluable.

Western military installations previously inaccessible

to aerial surveillance are now fully monitored.

Salyut's ability to observe ICBM silos, air defenses

and strategic nuclear capabilities has become invaluable to the state.

This surveillance will proceed

as long as the program continues to receive

the support of General Secretary Brezhnev.

And with the direct supervision and guidance of the Chief Designer.

The intelligence reports he requested.

He's expecting you.

The latest on the Salyut surveillance program.

Thank you, Comrade Colonel.

That'll be all.

CHIEF DESIGNER RADIMIR SERGEEVICH PETROVSKY

Nikulov.

Baikonur needs the load analysis redone for an extra 100 kilos

on the next Salyut payload by the end of the day.

No, I'm already working on the thrust equations

for the new N-1 booster.

You'll just have to work late.

It's morning.

Poppa, let me help you.

Got the tractor running.

You can start sowing the east field now.

You fixed the tractor. You can manage the sowing.

I have the talk at the Farmers' Union, remember?

You shouldn't do that.

You're still in mourning.

Eat now.

The American ambassador to the United Nations, George Bush,

made insulting and false accusations today

regarding the world's first space station, Salyut.

Ambassador Bush claimed

that a Soviet film capsule has been recovered on American soil,

and that it is proof the civilian station is being used

for military intelligence rather than scientific experiments.

The supposed proof

- that Salyut is performing... the US... - Mom, I'm ready.

...has been discredited by Soviet officials and the broader world community.

Remember, you have Olga today after school.

I don't like my piano lessons.

You must just keep at it.

We'll find you a better teacher.

What about Tanya?

Maybe she'll come back.

She won't.

This rassolnik is good. Did you do something different?

I did a few extra pickled cucumbers.

Just a little bit more than usual.

That must be it. Improves the flavor.

Carrots are softer too.

Yes. And they were smaller, so they cooked through.

Damn, that window's fogging up again.

I wiped the glass earlier, but it's letting in a draft.

Good morning, Irina.

- You said you were gonna fix it. - I did fix it.

I'll look at it again tomorrow.

Always tomorrow.

Moscow's furious.

The botched Salyut film drop is all over the news.

And not only have we failed to retrieve our own surveillance,

but now the Americans know which assets our cameras are pointed at.

Dropping canisters of film from orbit hardly seems

like the most effective method.

As I noted in my report, it requires an engineering solution.

And yet engineering has failed to find a reliable method

to transmit the photographs

- directly from the station. - What does that have to do with me?

Last time I checked, Comrade Burkov reported to you.

Well, he's a loyalist to my predecessor.

You think he's deliberately withholding a solution?

I think he believes things were better under the previous regime.

So an example needs to be made of him.

I was entrusted by the General Secretary with bringing Star City

back in line after everything that happened on your watch.

My watch?

Well, first Mironov then Venera, now these disloyal engineers.

I ended Venera.

I ended Mironov.

And now you need to deal with Comrade Burkov,

or more drastic changes to Star City will have to be made.

One more thing.

Yes.

Irina Morozova, how's she doing?

Fine. She's fine.

She made the initial discovery of Valya Mironov's activities, did she not?

Yes, but in her eagerness to impress,

she failed to alert me at the correct time.

She has promise, I grant you, and ambition, but she lacks discipline.

So did I, at her age.

Look where I am now.

Yes.

Very impressive.

I would encourage you to consider her strengths and not only her weaknesses.

Well, it's my department so I'll run it as I see fit.

It's only a suggestion.

Good day, Comrade Colonel.

Good afternoon.

I am proud to introduce this film to you today,

highlighting the triumph of my journey as a cosmonaut

in the very place that journey began.

The communal farmland of the Rostovskaya Oblast.

Deputy Chairman Tarasov, I wasn't expecting to see you here.

Well, I wouldn't dream of missing this.

The daughter of workers. A symbol of our nation.

The film will tour the Soviet Union and then it will travel widely in the West,

showing them the Anastasia Belikova

that the governors have tried to hide from them.

...proved that sacrifice and collective strength could reach the stars.

Seems like yesterday, doesn't it?

...embodying duty, resilience and the enduring spirit

of a people united by purpose.

A purpose she shared with her husband, Aleksandr Dmietrievich Polivanov.

Their commitment to each other knew no bounds,

as did their commitment to space and country.

His ultimate sacrifice is one our people will not soon forget.

Excuse me.

...fixed on the future of our great nation,

forged in shared sacrifice

and the knowledge that we carry the light of the world...

We put the first man into space.

We sent cosmonauts to the moon.

We even tried to send them to another planet.

Who knows where that might have led us?

But now, all we're doing is looking down,

staring back at Earth so we can take photographs of missile sites.

Even you must acknowledge the difference.

So you admit that your loyalties still lie with the former Chief Designer.

There's only one Chief Designer.

Radimir Petrovsky's a KGB stooge

who can barely tell the difference between liquid oxygen and vodka.

May I remind you this conversation is being recorded.

I would choose your words very, very carefully.

I've said what I'm gonna say.

Will you sign the confession admitting to sabotaging

Chief Designer Petrovsky's efforts to modernize the Salyut space station?

You think it'll make them fall in line, but it won't.

The reason my team hasn't solved the problem of the Salyut film drops

isn't for the lack of will, and it's not insubordination.

Ideas don't just form out of thin air.

They require inspiration.

And you know there's only one person that can do that.

Stop gawping.

Back to work.

Congratulations, Comrade Stepanov.

You are now the lead engineer on Salyut-1.

Of course, Comrade Colonel.

Were you able to contact him?

He's amazed you'd even consider it.

An engineer from Star City teaching at his university.

Thank you for passing this along.

It explains my hopes for the position.

Of course, I'll get it to him.

But, Sergei, what I don't understand...

why would you want to leave here to be a professor?

I need a change.

Star City isn't what it used to be.

I'm telling you,

you're gonna be sick of borscht by the time this crop comes out.

Darling.

What?

Darling.

You have a visitor.

I see you've settled in.

Nice view.

Yes, I can almost see past the armed guards surrounding me.

Well, it's better than the gulag.

Better hurry up and get to your point, Lyudmilla.

Galina's likely in there now sharpening her knives.

Our new space station, Salyut-1, monitors the entire globe from orbit.

Has more surveillance capability than we ever could have had

with Tupolev aircraft.

So nice they're focusing on surveillance now.

Yes, well, we need a more secure system in place

for sending the surveillance photos down to Star City.

Your former engineers are dragging their feet.

So they should be.

I can't help you, Lyudmilla.

Not after what you did to my Eagles.

I did what was necessary to protect our nation, as I have always done.

Do you know, the only reason your co-conspirators are not all in prison

is because I allowed you to take the full responsibility for that fiasco.

Allowed? That's very gracious of you.

Why don't you ask your new Chief Designer to help you with your little problem?

Petrovsky.

They let him use his own name, I see.

He's...

not you.

The Central Committee know that.

I suspect that's why you're still alive.

So, I can provide answers for him to parrot to the engineers?

If not, your idyllic retirement could turn into something much worse.

I'm not a young man anymore, Lyudmilla.