Around 2000, a group of journalists investigates a highly secret document and uncovers a sensational claim: that before the Second World War, in 1938, the first rocket was built in the USSR and Soviet scientists were planning to send an orbiter to the Moon and back. The evidence appears convincing, and it suggests that Soviet crewed lunar program cosmonauts were the first to reach for the Moon.
The film follows the selection and training of a small corps of cosmonauts. The standout is Captain Ivan Sergeyevich Kharlamov. He is fitted into a space suit and loaded into the capsule, and the rocket lifts off for the Moon—but contact with the craft is soon lost, leaving the mission ominously unresolved.
Much of the story then concentrates on uncovering what happened next, as the 1930s space program seems to dissolve without a clear explanation—likely a casualty of Stalin’s purges. It’s implied that Kharlamov makes it back to Earth, but without fanfare and with little to no support from the space program. Several men are shown as suspects; the NKVD appears to be conducting a criminal inquiry into the program, and it’s suggested that those involved, including Kharlamov himself, go into hiding.
The narrative implies the capsule landed in Chile, after which Kharlamov journeys toward the Russian Far East via Polynesia and China, all the while fearing capture on his return. His wife appears to have covered for him when questioned about his whereabouts. Kharlamov is later found on the Mongolian steppes following the Battles of Khalkhin Gol, having suffered a severe traumatic brain injury. He receives psychiatric treatment in a sanatorium in Chita, but eventually disappears, and his wife remarries.
The film’s closing portion reveals the only footage of the mission itself after launch, presented as a film discovered at the landing site in Chile and now housed by the Antofagasta Natural Museum. It starts with a brief clip of Kharlamov piloting the vehicle, presumably on final approach to the Moon, then shifts to a lunar landscape where the capsule or lander rests on the surface—perhaps captured during a lunar extravehicular activity. These scenes are shown as stills on the film’s cover. A final fragment shows the other cosmonauts walking through a hangar with the 1930s space program director, and then the credits roll.
