Tank On The Moon

''Tank on the Moon'' is a French 2007 documentary film about the development, launch, and operation of the Soviet Moon exploration rovers, '' Lunokhod 1'' and '' Lunokhod 2'' in the period from 1970 to 1973. The film uses historical footage from American, Russian and French archives featuring Leonid Brezhnev, Yuri Gagarin, Lyndon Johnson, John F. Kennedy, Nikita Khrushchev, Sergei Korolev, Alexei Kosygin, Alexei Leonov, Sam Rayburn and many other contemporary figures. A special emphasis is placed on the Lunokhods' chief designer, Alexander Kemurdzhian.

Summary

During the 1960s, the United States and the Soviet Union were engaged in a feverish technological competition, popularly known as the space race, to be the first to land a human on the Moon. The United States won the race, but less is known about a "secret chapter" from the Cold War era. Overshadowed by the Apollo program, Apollo Moon landings and largely ignored in the Western world, West at the time, the Soviets were also exploring the Moon with a series of successful robotic Moon missions. The Soviets never sent humans to the Moon, but they successfully guided two freely-roving robots by remote control from the Earth. For 16 months between 1970 and 1973, these Lunokhods traveled more than over the Moon's surface. Although the results of the Lunokhod program were well publicized, details of the program were kept in utmost secrecy for two decades, until the Soviet space program#Program secrecy, secret Soviet space archives concerning this program were finally declassified.

With these archives, along with the recollections by surviving participants in the Lunokhod program, and archived news films, the full story of the Soviet lunar-roving robots is revealed; the innovative development, the difficult deployment, the spectacular technological achievements, and the legacy passed down to the Rover (space exploration), new generation of planetary robotic rovers.

Production and video release

The following companies and television stations helped produce and broadcast this film; Zed (Paris), with Corona Films (Saint-Petersburg), France 5, Channel 5 (Russia), CBC/RDI (Canada), SVT (Sweden), RTBF (Belgium), NHK (Japan). Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society appears in the film as a commentator. The first North American broadcast was on The Science Channel February 12, 2008.

This video documentary was produced in French, Brazilian Portuguese and English languages. An English language DVD was released in 2008, however the video is currently available only by digital download.

Awards

* International Film Festival of Toulon (France) Archives Prize (Jacques Henri Blake Award)
* MEDIMED (Spain) Official Selection
* WORLDMEDIA Festival (Germany) Intermedia Globe Gold Award: Best Film (Politics Category)

See also

* Lunokhod programme
* Soviet space program

References

External links

* ZED Television - ''Tank on the Moon'' HD
*

Science Channel - ''Tank on the Moon''

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tank On The Moon
2007 documentary films
2007 films
Documentary films about outer space
Films about space programs
French documentary films
Lunokhod programme
Missions to the Moon
Lunar rovers
Works about the Soviet Union
Space program of the Soviet Union
Science and technology in the Soviet Union
2000s French films