The most ambitious race humankind has ever undertaken was masterminded in the shadows by two engineers on opposite sides of the Cold War: Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi officer living in the US, and Sergei Korolev, a Russian rocket designer once jailed for crimes against his country—and your textbooks probably never told you. Von Braun became an American hero, recognized the world over, while Korolev toiled in obscurity. These two brilliant rocketeers never met, but together they shaped the science of spaceflight and in the process, redefined modern warfare. From Stalin’s brutal gulag and Hitler’s concentration camps, to Cape Canaveral and beyond, their simultaneous quests pushed science—and human ingenuity—to the breaking point. The governments of the US and USSR concealed the more disturbing truths of their early space programs, in some cases for decades. In the Shadow of the Moon is the extraordinary, often hidden story of the space race, that takes you behind the scenes into the bitter rivalry that launched humankind to the moon.

Moderated by Kristi McMillan, director of learning & engagement and Whitney Richardson, associate curator with special guest, author Amy Cherrix. Presented in conjunction with Meeting the Moon.