How the Soviets won the Early Space Race. Video worksheets, differentiated.

See also: Cold-War Climate Dividend: Video worksheets, differentiated.

This very thorough documentary really drills down into the history of the early space race. Detailed contents covering: 1931 GIRD, thwarted by Stalin’s purges; German WW2 rocketry; Operation Paperclip, Operation Osoaviakhim; propaganda value of rockets; Robert Goddard; RTV-G-4 Bumper, PGM-11; fruit flies, cats, dogs, monkeys in space; Korolev; competing US proposals – Army, Airforce, ABMA, JPL; Sputnik, USA stimulated into further action.

Find the film on YouTube by searching YouTube for “How the Soviets Won the Early Space Race - COLD WAR DOCUMENTARY”. (My link on the sheets takes you past the advert).

20 questions for the c. 21-minute film. (My link omits commercial message at the beginning). Differentiated! Both versions look very similar, but “B” version has subtle clues. Good subtitles: scripted, not auto-generated. Questions right up to the end, no slack time! Creates a great intro / revision / summary resource. Answer sheet. Very easy to mark. .doc & .pdf for all files.

Treat yourself to ALL FIVE BBC Cold War reconstructions here:

https://www.tes.com/teaching-resource/history-file-cold-war-all-5-videos-question-sheets-12332576

Please check that you can access the video before you download these sheets. All the links work when I upload. If my links no longer work, the videos may still be found elsewhere on YouTube etcetera.