# Star City: The Soviet Cosmonaut Training Hub Behind Apple TV's New Series
Star City serves as the setting for Apple TV+'s latest "For All Mankind" spinoff, drawing viewers into the real history of Soviet space exploration. Located approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Moscow in Russia, this closed city trained cosmonauts during the Cold War and continues operations today.
The facility, officially named Zvyozdny Gorodok (Star City in Russian), opened in 1960 to prepare Soviet cosmonauts for spaceflight. Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space, trained extensively at the compound. The Soviet government kept the location secret for decades, listing it as a closed military facility inaccessible to outsiders. During the Cold War, this secrecy proved essential to maintaining Soviet space program advantages.
The training complex housed sophisticated simulators, classrooms, and residential quarters for cosmonauts and their families. Trainees underwent rigorous physical conditioning, technical instruction, and psychological evaluation. The facility featured a large swimming pool for weightlessness simulation and centrifuges for G-force training. Star City became synonymous with Soviet space achievement, producing cosmonauts who flew Vostok, Voskhod, and Soyuz spacecraft.
After the Cold War ended, Russian space authorities gradually opened Star City to limited international access. Foreign astronauts training for missions to Mir and the International Space Station visited the facility. Documentary crews and journalists gained restricted access to photograph portions of the compound. The facility remains active today, training Russian cosmonauts and international astronauts for ISS missions.
The new "For All Mankind" spinoff dramatizes life and work within Star City during the height of Cold War competition. The fictional narrative uses the real setting to explore alternate history scenarios involving space exploration. Apple TV+'s production team researched