Voices of the Soviet Space Program: Cosmonauts, Soldiers, and Engineers Who Took the USSR into Space

by Slava Gerovitch

In this remarkable oral history, Slava Gerovitch presents interviews with the men and women who witnessed Soviet space efforts firsthand. Rather than comprising a "master narrative," these fascinating and varied accounts bring to light the often divergent perspectives, experiences, and institutional cultures that defined the Soviet space program.

Genres: Space, Nonfiction

319 pages, Hardcover

First published December 17, 2014

Reviews

[Royce Ratterman · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing collection of first-hand accounts and recollections of Soviet space related endeavors, including the military space station 'Almaz'. Engineers of rocket/computer/communication (and more) science backgrounds, as well as cosmonauts, and others, make this a riveting read for those who have strong interests in numerous fields of space technology and related disciplines. A psychiatric briefly covers cosmonauts who displayed signs of psychosomatic disadaptation, with inadequate cognitive and behavioral reactions, during space missions.
-- Excerpt:
"On the surface of Mars or the Moon, the human cannot receive sensory information directly, only via instruments... Why then, bring a human? Let him sit on Earth and receive data remotely from instruments... It is not expedient to transport a human. Is it worth doing just to satisfy human curiosity?"
"Yet while sitting at home, you can gather much more information, say, about Paris, than by going there... it is an uninformed choice to send a human. We have reached a stage when this does not make sense... I realized it was not expedient to send that far an instrument with such low efficiency as the human being."
-Anatoliy Davidovich Daron
-Soviet engine designer & pioneer of rocket science
April 26, 1926 - June 24, 2020