Viewers watching Season 1, Episode 3 of Star City could be forgiven for expecting to see the Soviet space program outfitted with high-tech gear. Instead, they watched cosmonauts strap into a rocket capsule wearing what looked like ordinary flight uniforms, completely devoid of protective spacesuits.
While this choice might look like a horrifying design oversight or a Hollywood exaggeration, a fan Reddit thread reacted with a mix of horror and fascination. The most insane thing about Star City’s suitless launch isn’t the fiction – it’s the fact that it is 100% historically accurate.
Propaganda Over Safety
To understand the real history and context behind the episode, you have to look back at the 1960s, when the Soviet Union was desperate to beat NASA to key milestones in space – such as flying a multi-person crew.
The design limits of early Soviet capsules were simply too small to fit multiple men alongside their bulky life-support suits. To save precious weight and space, Soviet leadership made a terrifyingly pragmatic decision: they ditched the suits entirely.
As a result, for years, cosmonauts flew in standard knit tracksuits or casual flight gear. They did so under strict orders from the Kremlin to maintain the illusion of seamless Soviet technological supremacy.
Throughout history, there are countless examples of design over basic human safety. Think of the Titanic and its lack of lifeboats, or the Chernobyl reactor’s poorly designed control rods. The Soviet space race was no different.
Star City Nails the Tension
Putting light on this real history makes for brilliant television. By stripping the characters of spacesuits, the show immediately raises the stakes. The reality is clear: if the cabin decompresses, the cosmonauts die instantly. There is no safety net. The shock of seeing humans rocket into space with standard attire didn’t go unnoticed, with one viewer commenting:
“No space suits at all on a space mission is crazy. The cosmonauts that did this were brave folks. And launching from an isolated place unlike KSC [Kennedy Space Center] where there are crowds cheering… the whole place just seems like a bummer.”
And a lack of life support isn’t the only nightmare facing the crew in Episode 3. The flight computer also presents a massive hurdle. The cosmonauts find themselves entirely at the mercy of a rigid, automated system with zero personal protection. The crew struggles because they cannot reprogram the flight controls mid-flight.
The soviets believed that human pilots were unreliable, so everything was automated from the ground. On the other hand, NASA trusted pilots (like Neil Armstrong) to fly manually.
It illustrates an era where the Soviets had only one mission: beat the United States in space at all costs.
While Star City takes place in an alternate timeline, this specific gamble in real life had a devastating cost. In 1971, the Soviet program paid the price during the tragic Soyuz 11 disaster, where cosmonauts Georgi Dobrovolski, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev died during re-entry due to a cabin leak – a tragedy that proper spacesuits would have prevented.
Because Star City Episode 3 takes place just before that tragedy, around 1970, it perfectly highlights a terrifying window of time where cosmonauts were essentially playing Russian roulette with physics. By staying true to the protocols of that exact year, the spin-off series delivers a haunting reminder of the true human cost of reaching for the stars.
