With the Olympic Winter Games taking place in Sochi, Russia, NBC News Special correspondent Tom Brokaw chronicles the Cold War space race that took place during the 1950s, 60s and 70s between the United States and the Soviet Union in a special, Space Race, that will air tomorrow afternoon within NBC's Olympic coverage, which begins at 3 p.m. ET/PT.
The special examines the most memorable moments of the space race, including Sputnik; Alexei Leonov's first-ever spacewalk; the Apollo 11 moon landing; and the joint U.S.-Soviet "Apollo-Soyuz" mission in 1975 that, according to astronaut Tom Stafford, ended the race. Brokaw and NBC Olympics' production team interviewed former U.S. astronauts John Glenn, Jim Lovell, and Stafford; former Soviet cosmonaut Leonov; and Natalya Koroleva, the daughter of Sergei Korolev, the man behind the Soviet space program. "It has become a tradition for us to recount a major news story that occurred between the U.S. and Olympic host country, and the space race was one of the defining events of the 20th century," says NBC Olympics Executive Producer Jim Bell. "Tom Brokaw is the perfect voice to guide us through this journey, telling a powerful story through interviews with astronauts, cosmonauts, historians, and family members of those intimately involved in this epic contest. 'Space Race' will give our audience a fresh perspective on how the Russian people experienced the race and, to a degree, the Cold War."Videos