Product Description

This comprehensive history of the Russian Soviet space programme, from its origins to the present, addresses the technical, political, historical, human and organisational issues and provides a balanced focus on manned and unmanned programmes. It is the first book to access the Russian space programme over the ten-year period since the fall of communism and provide an historical and contemporary treatment.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1274645 in Books
• Published on: 2000-12-21
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 330 pages

Review
From the reviews of the first edition:

"Harvey presents a good summary of all aspects of the Russian space program and an excellent summary of Russian activities since the Cold War ended. a ] Harvey writes very well and includes well-chosen anecdotes. a ] Highly recommended as a thorough, well-balanced, up-to-date treatise of the Russian space program." (W. E. Howard III, Choice, September, 2001)

"The author describes the various satellite programs, the facilities, international cooperation and the space industry in a logical manner, providing at the same time the necessary links with the past. The descriptions are concise and to the point, accompanied by tables where appropriate and a few illustrations. a ] This is a a ~must havea (TM) book - it is highly recommended." (News Bulletin of the Astronautical Society of Western Australia, Vol. 28 (2), 2002)

"This is the third of Brian Harveya (TM)s books about the Soviet / Russian space programme a ] . I found this new work informative and refreshing a ] . The book follows the decline of the old Soviet military programme as the USSR disintegrated and describes the more modest Russian projects which followed it. Many different types of military missions are described with photographs, or sketches, of the satellites themselves. a ] Personally, I liked this book and enjoyed reading it." (John Davies, The Observatory, Vol. 121 (1164), 2001)

"This book covers the period 1992-2000. He reviews the previous achievement of the Soviet Union putting into context the programmes flown under both regimes. It is a good companion volume to the one he wrote earlier on the Soviet Programme. The pictures are really excellent." (Rex Hall, Spaceflight, Vol. 43 (8), 2001)

"Space writer Brian Harveya (TM)s Russia in Space offers a comprehensive guide to the nuts and bolts of todaya (TM)s Russian space programme, plus an assessment of where the Russians now are in space, how they got there, and where they might go next. a ] Harvey has produced a useful and timely guide for evaluating Russia as a partner in Western space activities." (James Oberg, New Scientist, February, 2001)

Spaceflight, Vol.43, Issue 8, 2001
'The pictures are really excellent.'

New Scientist, 24.02.2001
'a useful and timely guide for evaluating Russia as a partner in Western space activities.'

Customer Reviews

This book is about Russian aerospace, NOT USSR.
This book gives up to date information about Russian space assets, both military and commercial.
The writer does a great job in analyzing various sectors of the Russian struggle to maintain their space capabilities from 1992 to 2000. The book offers great inside knowledge of the amazing job done by the former designing bureaus, later commercial companies, to keep space platforms up and running, and at the same time learning to survive free market economy. However it is not an economic paper. It offers great technical knowledge.
It covers the entire, 1992 onward, history of Mir space station, the cancellation of space shuttle Buran and its twin Baikal, the shift of effort for the building of the ISS, the SIGINT military satellites of former USSR (ZENIT, YANTAR, KOBALT, KOMETA, ORLETS and the newest ARKON), ELINT satellites (TSELINA, US-P/EORSAT), MILCOM satellites (STRELA, GONETZ, POTOK) and so on in separate chapters on military, scientific, ground facilities, rocket and rocket engines.
If you believe that Russians didn't have the technology to build reliable machinery you are mistaken. According to the writer when the American tested the Russian RD-180 rocket motor on their ATLAS III rocket they used only one (30% more thrust!), instead of the American built two, it had 15,000 parts less, had a throttle range from 37% to 100%, had to keep to 74% as not to damage the launch complex at liftoff and in 3 min it had reached the same speed and altitude as the ATLAS III had in 5 min!
The book also offers a large number of tables regarding launches, cosmonauts, rocket engines used, vehicles, type of satellite, orbits, cosmodromes, EVA's etc.

Great Book
This book offers you an overall view of the Russian space program during the nineties, covering the last missions to Mir and the first launches of the ISS. Unlike most books on the subject, the author doesn't focus only on the manned space program, but reviews the whole Russian space effort: military and civilian spacecraft, design bureaux, cosmodromes, new rockets, etc. However, the manned missions are very well described, with useful tables (i.e.: the list of all manned and unmanned spacecraft to Mir) and accurate information. As I said, the book gives you a global perspective, so if you're looking for very detailed information about, let's say, Russian spy satellites, you may feel a bit disappointed. Of course, the book isn't perfect: pictures are clearly below the level of the book and minor mistakes have managed to creep into some tables, but anyway they are insignificant.