Curated playlist
Heroes of the Soviet Union
- Nikita KhrushchevNikita Khrushchev spent four hours in 1956 tearing down Stalin's reputation. He had helped carry out Stalin's purges.
- Joseph StalinJoseph Stalin once trained to be a Russian Orthodox priest. He later led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death.
- Leonid BrezhnevIn a 2013 Levada Center poll, Russians named Leonid Brezhnev their favorite 20th-century leader.
- Alexei LeonovAlexei Leonov's spacesuit swelled in space until he could not fit back inside. He let air out through a valve.
- Svetlana SavitskayaSvetlana Savitskaya hid a parachute knife in her school bag at sixteen. Her father found it and encouraged her jumping.
- Kliment VoroshilovKliment Voroshilov once smashed a platter of food on Stalin's table. He blamed Stalin's purges for Winter War losses.
- Valentina TereshkovaValentina Tereshkova, a former textile worker, orbited Earth 48 times in 1963. She was 26 and skydived as a hobby.
- Yuri GagarinYuri Gagarin answered liftoff with one word: Poyekhali, or "Off we go."
- Valeri PolyakovValeri Polyakov refused a chair after 437 days in space and walked instead. It was a message about Mars.
- Richard SorgeRichard Sorge arrived in Japan as a Nazi journalist while spying for Moscow. German diplomats trusted him for years.