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Part 2: Viktor Ilyin, Would-Be Cosmonaut Assassin

April 8, 2026 · 47 min

Show notes

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a motorcycle. We're back for part 2 of our series on Viktor Ilyin and the story leading up to the attempted assassination of Leonid Brezhnev in 1969.

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SOURCES:

- Into the Cosmos, Asif Siddiqi and James Andrews
- The First Cosmonaut Team, Colin Burgess and Rex Hall
- Soyuz-4 and -5 crews perform docking, spacewalk between ships, Anatoly Zak

FTL theme song by DJ Danarchy

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