Cosmonauts: How Russia Won the Space Race

Interesting and informative, but historically incorrect in its title. It was not a purely Russian program, but one based on the people and resources of much of the Soviet Union. Nothing is worse than trying to watch this with a Ukrainian wife who reacts very negatively to the title knowing many heroes came from her country and the bases were in places like Kazakhstan.

The story structure and editing is quite good. Lots of very interesting and important guests give great first hand testimony.

I only have a couple minor gripes:

One is that most of the Soviet failure were either not mentioned at all, or only briefly mentioned. It gives off the impression that their accomplishments were much easier than they really were.

Second, some important historical information was left out. There is no mention of the R7 design originating from the German V2 program. When the Soviets took over Germany, they took the V2 plans and many of its engineers. Moreover, the development of the R7 began as soon as the war was over. The show makes it seem like it started much later.

I'd recommend watching the BBC's 4 part documentary called Space Race for a more accurate account.