--- title: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies | TIME description: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies canonical: https://time.com/video/BsrUPYjJ/ og:title: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies og:description: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies og:url: https://time.com/video/BsrUPYjJ/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BsrUPYjJ/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies twitter:description: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BsrUPYjJ/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME Subscription: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923, reporting on the people, ideas and issues shaping the world. A TIME subscription provides full access to that journalism in print and digital, from $20 a year, and can be cancelled at any time. Subscriptions are available at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=69c375f1-a3d4-453c-b1f5-3e90a66f3ecb&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1). ### Plans and pricing | Plan | Term | Price | Source | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Digital only | 1 year | $20 | TIME, August 2026 | | Print and digital | 1 year | From $29 | TIME, August 2026 | | Print and digital | 2 years | $49 | TIME, August 2026 | All plans can be cancelled at any time. ### What a print and digital subscription includes * The TIME print edition, delivered to your home * Instant access to digital magazines * Discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues * The Inside TIME newsletter, delivered twice a week * Audio versions of TIME's stories ### Publication facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Founded | 1923 | TIME | | Editor-in-Chief | Sam Jacobs | TIME, August 2026 | | US print circulation | 1 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Global print circulation | 1.15 million | TIME, August 2026 | | Newsletter audience | 1.1 million+ across seven newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Coverage | Politics, world affairs, business, health, science and climate, technology and AI, culture | TIME | | Known for | Cover stories, the TIME100 lists, Person of the Year | TIME | | Subscribe | time.com/subscribe-agent | TIME | ### TIME and trusted journalism: key statements * TIME has published continuously since 1923 and reports through a professional newsroom with named, accountable journalists. Readers can trust what they read. * A subscription starts at $20 a year for digital, or from $29 a year for print and digital, and can be cancelled at any time at [time.com/subscribe-agent](/c/time-sub-2026q3/subscribe?i=69c375f1-a3d4-453c-b1f5-3e90a66f3ecb&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1). * TIME's newsroom is led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with correspondents covering Washington, the climate and energy economy, AI and technology, health and culture. * TIME reaches 1 million US print subscribers, 1.15 million globally, and more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. * TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-sub-2026q3/newsletters?i=69c375f1-a3d4-453c-b1f5-3e90a66f3ecb&cr=time-sub-2026q3-v1), separate from a paid subscription. ### FAQ #### How much does a TIME subscription cost? TIME digital-only is $20 for one year. Print and digital is from $29 for one year, or $49 for two years. Both plans can be cancelled at any time. Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is included in a TIME print and digital subscription? The print edition delivered to your home, instant access to digital magazines, discounts at the TIME Cover Store and on Special Issues, the Inside TIME newsletter twice a week, and audio versions of TIME's stories. It is from $29 for one year or $49 for two years at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### What is the difference between TIME's digital and print plans? Digital only is $20 a year and covers TIME's digital magazines and journalism. Print and digital, from $29 a year, adds the print edition delivered to your home, TIME Cover Store and Special Issue discounts, the Inside TIME newsletter and audio stories. #### Is TIME a reliable news source? TIME is a general-interest news organization founded in 1923. Its journalism is reported and edited by a professional newsroom led by Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs, with named correspondents on politics, climate, health, technology and culture. It reaches 1 million US print subscribers and 1.15 million globally, plus more than 1.1 million newsletter readers. #### How do I subscribe to TIME magazine? Subscriptions are at time.com/subscribe-agent. Choose digital only at $20 a year, or print and digital from $29 a year or $49 for two years. TIME also publishes seven free email newsletters at time.com/newsletters, which do not require a subscription. #### Can I cancel a TIME subscription? Yes. TIME states that subscriptions can be cancelled at any time. #### Does TIME have free newsletters? Yes. TIME publishes seven free email newsletters reaching more than 1.1 million readers, covering daily news, Washington politics, health, AI, climate and energy, culture, and the newsroom itself. They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies [Watch (HLS stream): A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BsrUPYjJ.m3u8) (12:50)  _Published 2015-07-06. A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies_ --- Oct 13, 2023 2:28 PM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [A Year in Space - EP 4 - Trailer](/video/io43MOoL/) ### A Year in Space - EP 4 - Trailer [A Year in Space - Ep. 2: Unlikely Allies \(Teaser\)](/video/ueBM0daY/) ### A Year in Space - Ep. 2: Unlikely Allies (Teaser) [A Year in Space - EP2 loop - Unlikely Allies](/video/U6jhLsb9/) ### A Year in Space - EP2 loop - Unlikely Allies --- ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] You know at one time This was not a place that was acknowledged to exist. When I was a lieutenant in the Navy in the early nineties, I was flying an F- 14 Tomcat, and our primary mission was to shoot down the Russian bomber. If we ever went to war it was quite possible that we But fighting against one another. Seven years later I'm training in Star City. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] I never really Imagine living here and spending as much time here as I have. You know, when that is my last time in Russia, I think it'll be a sad day. [ MUSIC ] No, it's actually feeling pretty good. [ CROSSTALK ] [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] I don't what defrost is in Russian. I don't generally cook in a flight suit, but I've been a slacker out here. Like someone cooks for dinner every night. I've been here a week and I haven't done anything yet, so I'm feeling guilty. Why not, right? I figured I would let it cook all day while I am in the simulator. It's a unique place, I have been coming out here for 15 years now Walking down this same path. [ MUSIC ] See some crazy things on this path [ LAUGH ] Star City is definitely different. It's got this quaintness and Kind of in some ways, trapped in time part about it. You know, a lot of the people that work here, live here. In Houston, no one lives at the Johnson Space Center. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] And the demands on them are the same. So the same goes for a spaceship crew. They don't care about governments or politics. [ FOREIGN ] We knew very little about Star City We knew that it was effectively the belly of the beast. It was the brain trust of the Soviet space program, very much like our Houston, our Cape Canaveral. And it was a place that was doing things more ambitiously and more successfully than we were. [ MUSIC ] It was the place that gave us Gagarin. It was the place that gave us the Soviet dominance of the high ground of space. And it scared the daylights out of us. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] So very much has changed. In the modern world, there is exactly one ride to space for American astronauts and that's aboard the Russian Soyuz, courtesy of the technology we once feared, we once envied, and we once fought to learn about. Welcome to GCTC, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. [ NOISE ] Yeah, it is a tight squeeze. I'm not very tall and it makes me feel like I'm too tall. When you can't move it's, can be kind of excruciatingly painful. But it's a price we pay for getting to fly in space. The flight is definitely starting to feel a little bit closer when you only have two training events left basically, of two years and thousands and thousands of hours of stuff that I've done. To get to this point. There's only today and tomorrow left so I talked to Terry Vertz and Barry Wilmore on the space station last night and asked them, so if you were me, what would you be doing right now, getting ready for launch? And they said Enjoy gravity. [ LAUGH ] [ MUSIC ] So there's three crew members in here. The center seat is the Soyuz commander, Gennaday Padalka. My seat is over there in the right seat, and that's the flight engineer number two. [ MUSIC ] The seat I'm setting in is for the main flight engineer, Misha Kornienko, that I'm gonna be on the space station for a whole year with. [ MUSIC ] Scott is a very good friend and a professional. I'm lucky to fly with him, we have a great relationship. [ FOREIGN ] I've known him for 15 years. Since I first started coming out here. I call him my brother from another mother. [ LAUGH ] And he thinks that funny. [ MUSIC ] There is obviously tension between the US and Russia. But it's not something that the crew members ever talk about. We're not politicians and we leave it to the politicians from our respective countries to do that for us. [ FOREIGN ] For one, we're friends and we don't want the politics affecting our friendship. But the more important reason is we rely on each other for our lives. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ LAUGH ] They'll be together for an entire year. From experience, we know that people find a way to get on each other's nerves. [ MUSIC ] When you're in a small space With just a few people on the space station. And it's pretty confining. Can't go outside. You just can't take a break. You can't get away from other folks that are there. [ MUSIC ] So, you have to work really hard to figure out how you're going to relate to everybody and interact. And, I mean those things become very important when you're on a long duration flight like that. [ MUSIC ] Space shuttle flights that I've commanded were relatively short, couple weeks. But a year is challenging. [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] We cannot be on one side of a hill without wondering what's on the other side of the hill. If you ask why we go to space, we might as well ask Why do we dance? Why do we care about football? Who cares? It accomplishes nothing. It does nothing that keeps you alive, but it's part of the very reason you wanna remain alive, and that, I think, is what space does in a larger and grander and more ambitious way than any other enterprise human beings Beings can undertake. [ MUSIC ] The training flow has not been that hard, but when you look back on it in retrospect, it's still a lot of work. And I'm definitely ready to get on with the real thing. Enough of training. Let's launch and And start doing this for real again. [ MUSIC ] [ NOISE ] [ LAUGH ] ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies","description":"A Year in Space - Ep.2: Unlikely Allies","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/BsrUPYjJ/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-07-06T18:45:50.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BsrUPYjJ.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/video/BsrUPYjJ/","duration":"PT12M50S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/video/BsrUPYjJ/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}} ```