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EDITORIAL INFORMATION

The New Russian Space Programme speaks about how the Soviet Union became the first nation in the world capable of undertaking space flights. Between the late fifties and the early sixties, the Soviet Union astonished the world with the Sputnik, the first space launches to the Moon, Mars and Venus, and the culmination of these achievements by sending the first men and women to the terrestrial orbit. Nonetheless, the political errors and the rivalry among designers caused the USSR to lose the space race. Despite all this, since the beginnings of the 1960s, the Soviet Union started to build the first manned orbital stations, crowned by the impressive achievement that the space station Mir constitutes for the space flights orbiting the Earth.

With the end of Communism and the Cold War, the Russian space program has been reorganized. Together with the United States, Russia will build the first international space station at the beginning of the new millenium. Although the budgets and programs have been severely cut, Russia still keeps an enormous space potential and has the most advanced engine rocket technology in the world. Russia can very well dominate the development of the commercial space industry in the next decade and even beyond that. This is an essential book for the enthusiasts of the space issues, as well as for those who work in European or American aerospace agencies and therefore need essential information on the Russian space program.

(Extracted from the back cover).

GENERAL TABLE OF CONTENTS

-Table of Contents.

-Author's Introduction.

-Acknowledgements.

-List of Illustrations.

-Part 1: Origins.

-1. Beginnings.
-2. The Golden Years of Soviet Rocketry.
-3. Moon Race.

-Part 2: The Programme.

-4. Behind the Scenes.
-5. The Space Fleet.
-6. Moon, Mars and Venus.
-7. Spaceplanes and Space Shuttles.

-Part 3: Space Stations.

-8. The First Space Stations.
-9. Living in Space.
-10. Mir.
-11. Cooperation: the International Space Station.

-Endnotes.

-Index.

OUR REVIEW

This book, originally published in 1988, has been updated by its author, and it has also been reviewed by him under the historical revelations produced since the beginning of Perestroika up to our days. This work gathers the history of the Russian activity in space, since its origins till late 1995. The important research work of the author becomes obvious throughout the book, since from scattered information it succeeds in creating a solid narration of the facts and the circumstances that enveloped them. The book is centered above all on the space era. After a brief explanation of the Russian aerospatial research prior to 1950, the author comes to narrate the first experimental flights and the beginnings of the activities oriented towards travelling to space.

Although the technical side of the information that this work provides is wide, the political aspects in it also receive due attention. In this sense, the narration of the facts is accompanied by numerous analyses on political questions, which clarify many of the motivations behind the Russian space activity. This is important, taking into account the deep political changes that Russia has experienced, and the uncertain future of its presence in space.