EDITORIAL INFORMATION

The English-language Russians in Space v2.1 is a Russian product manufactured under license in the USA. Although many of the film clips are exciting to children, RiSv2.1 is also a serious tool for all grades with eye-opening technical, historical, and political content. NASA's Kennedy Space Center, JPL, and a number of prestigious science museums (e.g. Air & Space in DC, Museum of Natural History in NYC, Adler Planetarium in CHicago, and Griffith Observatory in L.A.) now carry our disk.  RISv2.1 is a hybrid CD-ROM, meaning the same disk runs on PCs or Macintoshes, simplifying inventory and eliminating guesses as to PC v. Mac ownership. In the PC environment, Windows 3.1, Windows 95, and Windows NT are all supported. Factory units come in a shrink-wrapped jewelcase. Furthermore, the minimal operating requirements (386 or better, 4 MB of RAM, 2X CD-ROM drive or better, 640x480x256 monitor, any Mac II or better) make this product accessible to virtually anyone with a computer. Much of today's memory hungry software can't make this claim.

(Extracted from the press release).

OUR REVIEW

Russians in Space is one of the most interesting multimedia products devoted to astronautics ever published so far. The edition we are describing here has appeared as a homage to the 40th. anniversary of the launching of Sputnik-1.

Its contents, in actual fact, are devoted to the Soviet/Russian cosmonautics, a fact that by itself makes this product specially attractive, given the scarcity of information existing in English with respect to this issue. Released in CD ROM format, both for PC Windows and MAC (both versions being included in the same disc), this programme is provided with a wonderful interface that, by means of the simple use of a mouse or a button, makes a great amount of photographs, videos and texts available to us.

Navigating through the contents of this CD ROM is very easy and intuitive. Russians in Space v2.1 is magnificiently organised, with sections devoted to the history and the personalities of the Russian space program, their technology (rockets, etc.), the particular programs (satellites, manned flights...), and the basic foundations of the science (astronomy, etc.). In all, there are 21 chapters distributed into 101 modules and 52 narrated videos, almost 400 images, 4 movies, an interactive map, a catalogue of rockets, etc.

It must be noted that most of the text is completely updated, a fact that makes many books on the Russian space program published in the Western world already obsolete.