In the late 70s, OKB-52 head Vladimir Chelomey decided to try and compete with the new Buran space shuttle project. He did it in secret, with stolen funds, and against express orders from the Kremlin. Today, we're talking with space history youtuber Alexander The OK about how it all somehow went wrong.

Watch Alex's content here!

Support FTL on Patreon to unlock bonus content and join our Discord community!

SOURCES:

- Ahead of his Time, Ivan Evteev

- The Proton Launcher, Christian Lardier and Stefan Berensky

- Energiya-Buran, Bart Hendrickz

- Raketoplan, RussianSpaceWeb

- LKS, RussianSpaceWeb

- Vladimir Chelomei, False Steps

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

Like most stuntmen, Michael Hughes had a very confusing life and an overwhelming need to become famous at any cost. In this episode, we cover how that need drove him into conspiracy mania and got him killed flying a glorified pressure cooker.

Sources:
- DIY Rockets, Daredevils, and the Tragedy of Mad Mike Hughes [WIRED]
- "Mad Mike" Hughes Rejected Science and Chased Fame. It Killed Him. [Popular Mechanics]
- https://madmikehughes.com/

- Rocketman [2019]

CONTENT WARNING
Only 21 people were ever convicted for crimes at Mittelwerk. Only 1 was executed. This week, we're finalizing our series on the slave factory that produced Hitler's vengeance weapons. Joining us is genocide historian Joe Kassabian to lend his insight on how Mittelbau fit into the larger German camp network and slave labour scheme.

Listen to Joe talk more history on Lions Led By Donkeys

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

CONTENT WARNING

This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 5, we look at the official establishment of the Mittelbau complex and the constellation of subcamps that sprung up around it.

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

The White Bird. The Bridge to Peace. Osea's greatest superweapon. Today, we're talking about the High-Altitude Mobile Spacecraft (HAMS) or as it's more commonly known: The Arkbird. We cover everything from its conception in the paranoid heyday of the Cold War, how it was created as a symbol of peace and cooperation, and its use as a weapon of war.

Sources:
- Arkbird Declaration (2008 G7 Meeting, LEO), Gaze Magazine
- Arkbird, Encyclopedia Strangereal
- The Circum-Pacific War, Encyclopedia Strangereal
- Scinfaxi-Class, Covert Shores
Theme song provided by DJ Danarchy

CONTENT WARNING

This week we're back into our series delving into Mittelwerk, the underground rocket factory / concentration camp that produced Hitler's "Vengeance Weapons". In Part 4, we take a look at the wider events in Nazi politics and the war in 1944 and how they all filter back to the tunnels under Nordhausen.

SOURCES:

Andre Sellier, A History of the Dora Camp: The Untold Story of the Nazi Slave Labor Camp That Secretly Manufactured V-2 Rockets
Jean Michel & Louis Nucera, Dora: The Nazi Concentration Camp Where Modern Space Technology Was Born and 30,000 Prisoners Died
Michael Neufeld, The Rocket and the Reich: Peenemünde and the Coming of the Ballistic Missile Era
Benny Grunfeld, A Teenager in Hitler's Death Camps
T D Dungan, V-2: A Combat History of the First Ballistic Missile

This is a preview of a bonus episode. To hear the rest of the episode and unlock more bonus content, consider supporting Failure To Launch on Patreon.

Welcome to the first Failure To Launch Questions & Answers episode! Pulling together questions asked on Patreon and our Discord, this is our chance to let the audience see the real Us.