Rebirth of the Russian Space Program (eBook)

This, fifty years after Sputnik, is the definitive book on the Russian space program. The author covers all the key elements of the current Russian space program, including both manned and unmanned missions. He examines the various types of unmanned applications programs as well as the crucial military program, and even analyzes the infrastructure of production, launch centres and tracking. You'll also find discussion of the commercialization of the program and its relationship with western companies. Russia's current space experiment is also put in a comparative global context. Strong emphasis is placed on Russia's future space intentions and on new programs and missions in prospect.

Author of 'Race into space - the Soviet space programme' (1988), 'The new Russian space programme' (1994), 'Russia in space - the failed frontier?' (2001), 'Two roads into space - the Japanese and Indian space programmes' (1998), 'The Chinese space programme - from conception to future capabilities' (1997), 'The Chinese space programme - from conception to manned spaceflight' (2004), 'Europe's space programme' (2003), 'Two roads to the moon' (with Dave Shayler)(forthcoming), 'Russian planetary exploration' (forthcoming), 'Latest in space 2007' (forthcoming), all Praxis titles. Writer on articles on spaceflight for Astronomy Now, Orbit, Spaceflight, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society (JBIS), Space Chronicle, Astronomy & Space, Sunday Press, Quest, Irish Independent. Broadcaster for RTE, BBC (Radio 4, World Service), Canadian Broadcasting.

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The rebirth of the Russian space program marks an important event: 50 years since the first Sputnik was launched on 4th October 1957. At that time, few could have imagined the dramatic events that lay head. The Soviet Union achieved all the great firsts in cosmonautics-the first satellite in orbit, the first animal in orbit, the first laboratory in orbit, the first probe to the Moon, the first probe to photograph its far side, the first soft landing on the moon, the first man in space, the first woman in space, the first spacewalk. Except one, the first human landing on the Moon. In 1964, the Soviet Union decided to contest the decision of the United States to put the first person on the Moon. The Soviet Union engaged in that race far too late, with divided organization, and made a gallant but doomed challenge to Apollo. Undaunted, the Soviet Union rebuilt its space program around orbiting stations, building the first one, Salyut, and then the first permanent home in space, Mir. The Soviet Union still achieved many more firsts: the first lunar rover, the first soft landing on Venus, the first soft landing on Mars, the first recovery of samples from the Moon by automatic spacecraft.