Zvezda: The Soviet's Incredible Plan for a Moonbase 

Thanks to Keeps for sponsoring this video! Head to keeps.com/MEGAPROJECTS to get a special offer.

You can easily see how Red Dwarf got inspiration for its space vehicles like Starbug from the Soviets. They have that fascinating improvised appearance to them, like Soviet helicopters too.

If anyone’s wondering where the thumbnail image came from, it’s a screenshot from the Moon in Destiny/Destiny 2. Always cool to see one of your favorite games pop up in a place you don’t expect! The actual structure pictured is a railgun that sends material from the surface of the moon into orbit or back to earth without using rocket fuel, or at least very little of it, depending on the payload and destination.

Man I really want space race back

1:00 - Chapter 1 - The soviet moonshot 3:40 - Mid roll ads 5:05 - Chapter 2 - Room to grow 7:00 - Chapter 3 - Getting around in style 10:50 - Chapter 4 - Slow but steady

Yo, that thumbnail is Destiny concept art of the archers line base… which I think is a Chinese facility in that games universe.

The 1969-1970 TV series UFO features a Sovatek Corporation (a play on "Soviet" and "tech") moonbase similar to Zvezda and equipped with enormous truck-like rovers.

Always been excited to see videos related to the Cold War-era space competition between two superpowers. Both countries had put a massive effort to do the unthinkable while racing to reach beyond the planet and trying to take a step toward the moon.

I'm a simple man... I see a new megaprojects upload with "Soviet" in the title, I watch it.

Definitely a race that will benefit from more than two runners. This one will be MUCH more interesting!

Hello Simon. Could you do a mega project on Our Lady of Peace/Notre Dame de la Paix, the world largest church, built in the 80s in Ivory Coast ? Just went there, it is both stunningly beautiful and an incredible piece of engineering, clearly worth a mega project video.

Russia is great at coming up with insane ideas but not too good at implementing basic ones.

1:00 the Soviet moonshot 5:02 room to grow 6:55 getting around in style 10:45 slow but steady

Simon your ads and the way you transition to them on every channel is the best I’ve ever seen on RU-vid!

You guys should do the sea dragon

No irony with the sponsor Simon, I mean look at that beauty of a beard u got going!!!

0:39 while the Soviet Union did secretly cancel It's plans to land humans on the moon denying it's very existence, the rest of the Soviet space program was NOT cancelled. They built several space stations (some were secretly military outposts while claiming not to be) And they also built the totally not a copy even though it is, Soviet space shuttle.

Shameless Destiny thumbnail, I love it 😂.

Wow that was a very fast 15 minutes. I would have been happy to watch a lot longer, any chance for a part2?

Hey guys, the thumbnail is a Destiny concept art for the First Light Moon base from the golden age. Also, it’s a Chinese base. No hate, just a poke. Great vid and you guys and make great vids!

Love the sarcasm on the sponsor spot

Seeing the moon railgun from Destiny (a videogame) in the thumbnail is priceless! I love it! I can listen to a great script while playing on the same scenario as the thumbnail! ^^ Thanks for your content factboy! Always entertaining!

Man! All those Soviet graphics sure fire the imagination!!! I hope somebody does something like that before I check out!!!

Lol I can see the Luna base concept art from Destiny 1 being used 😌

Thanks Simon. Your videos about plans to colonize the moon are some of my favorites! This is because I am a big fan of the works of Robert A Heinlein.

The Soviet moon base, now those were the days I remember like it was yesterday... Dreaming... The 1960s space race, American Vs Russia But tin tin got there first, so the Soviets covered it up and built a base to cover up the first and the Americans just said they saw giant babies on the side of the creator 😯

This was a good presentation, in that a lot has not been publicly expressed concerning the Russian Moon landings.

Excellent- once again.

This makes me want to watch Apollo 18 again.

A moon colony sounds cool. But then you learn about the fact that moon dust will destroy any equipment pretty quickly. (along with a host of other problems).

Great sponsor 😂😂. Great content too

Just put up one automated rover that can build moon bricks. We can launch and land. Let's see if we can build one brick from the regolith. That would be the next step.

I'd spend most of my time in that Lunar Telescope at 6:19 Mainly just trying to figure out what each piece did because I don't speak Russian, but after that IT'S ON.

lol great video - and I feel your pain, my hair was gone by 19-20.. bald every since )

There have been many proposals for a moonbase over the years but there remain two apparently mundane problems that I have yet to see practical solutions for which will prevent long term occupation of such habitats. The first is how to deal with lunar dust which is highly abrasive. The second is how to prevent microbial growth within a habitat. It is most likely that any moonbase of the future would function autonomously and only be visited intermittently when human intervention is unavoidable to achieve mission goals rather than being permanently occupied.

Bravo!

I'm sad that I just noticed that this video was uploaded.... Time to catch up and see what I learn from this video.... There's always something to learn....

Imagine if Russia had decided to put more energy into colonizing the moon instead of already occupied territory 😓

Hey Simon, could you do a video on the Atlas V?? Or the Delta II

Fun fact: the Soyuz capsule currently flying is based on the capsule the USSR developed to fly people to and from the Moon. Kind of makes you wonder why someone hasn't thought about turning Soyuz back into a lunar exploration vehicle.

Putting a train on the moon sounds like something an 8 year old would draw. Wild it was a serious thing a government came up with

Ya im sure. Are they in the studio next to the US moon mission?

Angara heavy makes it all possible since it's already in production.

Bits of knowledge. 😊

For All Mankind is a great show. Alternative history where soviets won the race for the moon. Pretty cool. Too much personal drama for my taste, but the sci-fi aspects are fun.

Nice to see some Bungie concept art for their game “Destiny”s moon location “Archers Line” in the thumbnail

Ayo is that the K1 facility on the moon, heard that place is haunted

Ayeeee destiny concept art as a thumbnail

I wonder where'd we be by now if that era of space exploration were a joint effort instead. The fact that the ISS is still up gives me some hope for the near future. I don't know what's gonna happen if we don't have a neutral moon base by 2031 when the ISS is scheduled to deorbit.

As with most Russian plans, they are great on paper

It could be done, but I wouldn't hold my breath.

Can we go back to competing this way instead of wars?

Man I miss our old space program and country

Space the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Soviet spaceship N1

The closest they're getting now are their tank crews.

Probably have more important things to worry about 😮

Hey Simon love your content long time viewer just wanted ask what happened to several warographics vidios on ukraine

For all mankind is amazing. Megaprojects, amazing as well!

This video mentions the Russians putting robotic landers on the Moon. I'm 48 yrs old... and this is the first time I have heard of the Russians landing on the Moon in any form! Cool.

I just can’t wait to open up my Moon-Bar PINK FLOYDS…

Wow! The Ultimate Gulag! 😏

These Zvezda and LEK concepts are incredible looking. I doubt that it was possible with 60s/70s tech, but the ambition of the idea is praiseworthy. I highly doubt that new concept is ever getting of the ground, at least Russia's part won't. With Kazakhstan slowly repossessing parts of Baikonur and all that.

More successful than space x starship.

This thumbnail face crop always looks like handsome Squidward

How did they plan to deal with the dust?

Restart the space race? I mean, does getting launched into orbit when your T-72's ammo cooks off count?

Interesting

BABE. WAKE UP. NEW MEGAPROJECTS

my dad was bald and worked for wildroot creamoil in the 50'S -60'S

Moons haunted IYKYK 😏

Love vd

The N1 rocket failed due to pressures from Soviet Leasers, as it should have been tested one stage at a time. The engines from it were sound and were later successfully used to launch satellites. So given the resources, the N1 could have been reliable... The two problems that haven't been solved yet are life support, turning CO2 back into O2, and Inadequate Radiation Shielding. The latter was the main reason for ending the Apollo program early and the Soviets also knew this... My best guess is that about a foot of water would be needed to shield humans & diatoms living in this water could produce an adequate but heavy life support system... However, how does one get a space agency to trust a living life support system???

The plan was so incredible that anything about soviet/Russian moon is incredible even today. Including the periodic statements with the ever-changing future date of the moon station deployment. I remember it being deployed in 2016, then 202x something, several times, always ahead, just like communism

Simon, I like your hair. Hahahahaha

hahahahaha, gotta love your comment about the irony.

Does anyone know name of music bgm piano

Another space race would be too tier

Some pacing please Simon

👍👍👍❤❤❤🚀🚀🚀

That wizard came from the moon

Moon big

It wasn’t a Saturn V, it’s Saturn 5, V is a number

More Cold War mega projects!

Being bald works for some people. Simon is one of them.

I thought that thumbnail looked familiar lol. (Destiny)

Simon, has anyone calculated the total amount of money that the USSR wasted on failed military and space missions? I’d accept an estimate based on your channel’s research to date. Don’t lose any sleep over it.

Only the rich will go to the moon and Mars, the rest of us will just bite the cost of an amusement park.

Give Soviet Union another ten years, they probably can build the dead star from star trek (The big bang theory lines)

What marketing genius basically hired a bald guy to advertise a hair regrowth product? That surely was a career defining moment for that person, one way or the other! :⁠-⁠D

There is no white light again.

The only space race the ruzzians have on at the moment is when one theyre tanks blows up and the turret goes on a space mission lol

I seriously doubt that a trip to Mars would be fruitful at all. There’s really no reason to go there other than to say we went because it’s there. Onto a new technology of propulsion besides reaction rocketry, all will produce is cost and some short term prestige.

12:39 "LEK's lander would have been capable of going back and forth" - Based on the FACT that they couldn't get a single N-1 rocket to work properly I am going to press X to doubt that. They would have needed tugboats in space to get Zvezda to work properly. And that is the "Pravda".

Considering the current international relationships I wouldn't describe it as a 'space race' anymore ..., more 'space empire building'

No Russian cosmonaut has left low Earth orbit. Start there like the Apollo program did in 1968.

People always say the space race was a waste of money, but think about the technologies that would have been funded decades earlier had the soviets funded the space race.

For those who guessing why USSR abandoned Moon program. Soviet automatic Moon exploration devices revealed really sad fact there is no vodka on the Moon. 🤑🤑🤑🤑

Not saying this to be mean at all Simon but funny joke at least in my head? May as well change the channel name from Megaprojects to Soviet Projects at this point. 🤣

Snake hair oil? And now back to space.

I'll get keeps 😂if you started growing hair outta nowhere