It’s sometimes easy to forget that a lot of the firsts in space were set by Russians. From the first artificial satellite to the first man to orbit the Earth, the big R next to the names there stands for Russia, not Republican. But jokes aside, Russia, or make that the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, was deadly serious about beating the US to orbit and then the moon. The publicity value of their success and the secretive nature of the country even gave rise to a conspiracy theory that the Soviets abandoned several cosmonauts in orbit, entombed in their space capsules when unable to return to Earth, in order to avoid embarrassment.

No crazy conspiracies are addressed in Ascension, but we do get an unusual and uncensored look at the early days of the Soviet space program thanks to some previously unseen footage and training films, compiled together with other interesting nuggets from director Pavel Medvedev. From test footage of Soviet rockets that either explode on the launch pad or fall out of the sky, to the various dogs and monkeys subjected to atmospheric and stress tests to gage the biological effects of space travel, Ascension is a fascinating look at a bygone era of space travel. And the footage seems remarkably preserved as well, adding to that feeling of found treasure.

As a bit of a sci-fi geek and a person interested in the early history of space flight, much of the footage in Ascension could be classified as just one Easter Egg after another. The remarkable access procured by Medvedev can have you at one minute be horrified by a terrible rocket failure then be bowled over by the adorableness of dogs in space helmets and then back to horrified when you learn that the dog died after seven days in orbit because they didn’t know how to bring him home. But the film loses some of its focus by throwing in clips of modern NASA missions and bizarre bits of experimental animation, which although awesome, really had nothing to do with space exploration.

If Ascension is guilty of being a little scatterbrained, then its companion film Plane Days is a suitable counterpoint for its focus. The short film follows a kind of day in the life of the plane spotters at Heathrow airport in London, and before you ask, let me stop you: plane spotters are just like bird watchers, only with planes. They have books and checklists and work together as spotters. Some go as pairs or small groups, while others form these kind of large hunting parties. While one pair sits in a parked car in a lot next to a runway, a very large group is lined up in a field on the other side of the airport, cameras in hand like a gaggle of paparazzi.

Mostly retired folks, you can either see the plane watchers as an interesting post-retirement hobby worth learning more about, or the frightening shape of things to come. While I don’t get it, I dig that they do, and as the film wore on I smiled as one of the watchers spots something new coming for a landing and reaches for his notebook excitedly. You laugh as one group takes a break and enjoys some wine in picnic wine glasses out of the back of one watcher’s car. And the film’s shot in a way that if you hadn’t read the synopsis before hand, you’d have no idea what these guys are getting so excited over. And actually, by the time the credits roll, you’re getting kind of excited too.