Authors:
- A complete, authoritative and objective history of the lives, selection, training and experiences of the first group of twenty cosmonauts selected by the Soviet Union
- Includes the biographies and experiences of the eight cosmonauts from the first group from 1960 who, for various reasons, did not get to fly into space
- Tells the full story of the need and urgency to select an inital group of Soviet Air Force cosmonauts
- The definitive and up-to-date resource for information on that first group of cosmonauts
- Based on key interviews conducted over several years by co-author Rex Hall and Space Researcher Bert Vis at the cosmonaut training centre, Moscow-Star City
- A valuable resource and point of reference for all serious students of space flight history
Part of the book series: Springer Praxis Books (PRAXIS)
Part of the book sub series: Space Exploration (SPACEE)
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Table of contents (12 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
About this book
The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team will relate who these men were and offer far more extensive background stories, in addition to those of the more familiar names of early Soviet space explorers from that group. Many previously-unpublished photographs of these “missing” candidates will also be included for the first time in this book. It will be a detailed, but highly readable and balanced account of the history, training and experiences of the first group of twenty cosmonauts of the USSR. A covert recruitment and selection process was set in motion throughout the Soviet military in August 1959, just prior to the naming of America’s Mercury astronauts. Those selected were ordered to report for training at a special camp outside of Moscow in the spring of 1960. Just a year later, Senior Lieutenant Yuri Gagarin of the Soviet Air Force (promoted in flight to the rank of major) was launched aboard a Vostok spacecraft and became the first person ever to achieve space flight and orbit the Earth.
Reviews
From the reviews:
"In this book … Burgess (Australian spaceflight historian) and Hall (British education consultant) provide a wealth of interesting information on the first group of 20 Soviet cosmonauts. … Like the first American astronauts, the cosmonauts interacted in both a cooperative and competitive manner. … The book includes many photographs of the cosmonauts in training and in their personal lives, as well as some recent images of the few surviving members from the original group. Summing Up: Recommended. All undergraduate and public libraries." (J. Z. Kiss, Choice, Vol. 46 (10), June, 2009)
“This is a much needed reference work on the early history of the Soviet cosmonaut team. The authors have done an exemplary job in putting together a vast amount of information into a coherent volume that will undoubtedly be of great use for future researchers. That the pictures in this volume are of the highest quality only adds to its value.” (Asif Siddiqi, Quest, Vol. 18 (4), 2011)
Authors and Affiliations
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Bonnet Bay, Australia
Colin Burgess
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London, UK
Rex Hall
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team
Book Subtitle: Their Lives and Legacies
Authors: Colin Burgess, Rex Hall
Series Title: Springer Praxis Books
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-84824-2
Publisher: Praxis New York, NY
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Praxis 2009
Softcover ISBN: 978-0-387-84823-5Published: 23 December 2008
eBook ISBN: 978-0-387-84824-2Published: 27 March 2009
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: 356
Number of Illustrations: 170 b/w illustrations
Additional Information: Jointly published with Praxis Publishing
Topics: Space Sciences (including Extraterrestrial Physics, Space Exploration and Astronautics), Popular Science in Astronomy, Aerospace Technology and Astronautics, History, general