Special Report: The woman who fell from the sky - the pandemic crashes into Russia's space city

A sign for Star City close to the city entrance near Moscow, Russia, October 21, 2020. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

STAR CITY, Russia (Reuters) - The Star City Closed Administrative Territorial Unit is barely an hour's drive northeast of the Kremlin, but for decades the town never appeared on any maps. Only after the Soviet Union fell apart was its location revealed.

Even now, it is shrouded by forests, and behind its tall concrete walls lies the somber infrastructure of Russia's legendary space program, and the Soviet-era apartment blocks that its cosmonauts and scientists call home.