Soyuz 4 and 5 are launched 24 hours apart, rendezvous in orbit, dock, perform EVAs (spacewalks), undock, and each return to Earth without incident. In one fell swoop, the Soviets make up for all the delays they had accumulated with respect to the Gemini Program. Just seven months after Apollo 11, the Soviets are back in the race. Soyuz 4 and 5 simulate the LOK and LK docking in LOR. Cosmonauts Khrunov and Yeliseyev exit Soyuz 5 and enter Soyuz 4, where Shatalov is, to then prepare for reentry (Volynov remains in Soyuz 5). However, the Soyuz orients itself on the wrong side for several minutes. On the ground, many prepare for the worst. Shortly thereafter, the probe turns around and then re-enters a remote area (-38°C), on a path too steep (9g). Their teeth are broken on impact. When the helicopter finds the probe, the cosmonauts are missing, but are tracked down thanks to traces of blood. Upon returning to Moscow, an attacker (Brezhnev) misaimes and shoots at the cosmonauts’ car, killing the driver. Leonov lowers Valentina Tereskhova’s head… The attacker will be captured.
