Soviet space program

[Cail]

I need a little help. I'm looking for a comprehensive history of the Soviet space program, specifically the manned stuff like their proposed space stations and the shuttle Buran. Of course, anything on their orbital missile platforms would be helpful as well. I would love to find a big coffee table book with lots 'o pictures as well as something approaching a history textbook, but a website or two would work as well.

I know that high-resolution photographs of Soviet hardware are few and far between, but if anyone's got a source, please let me know.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Check out the links page on this site.


home.earthlink.net/~cliched/main_space.html

Some good high res pics here:

www.buran.ru/htm/molniya.htm

[Cail]

Very cool, thanks HLT!

Keep 'em coming.

[Trapper]

As a side note, I saw the last 40 mins of some movie called "Race to Space" or something similar this afternoon. The Werner Von Braun character spent that time trying to defend his son's right to be in the control room and fly on the helicopter mission to rescue the
chimpanzee "Ham".

I admired the courage of the film-makers when they asserted that the two chimps who were sen't into space in real-life werent mistakenly subjected to electric-shocs every step of the way.

But I read a book about Sergei Korolev last week and I have to say this pathetic movie is just about the most blatent piece of propaganda I have ever read.

They even had A Werner Von Braun-type character cast as the hero.

And the bit where the Werner Von Braun=type character stood up to the "baddie" and said "If you take my son out of here (the cpntrol-room) I'll call the President and call it off.?"

That was the worst propagandist BS I have ever seen. Anybody who thinks that scene was legitimate can suck my fat one in hell.

I'm biased. I actually believe that Von Braun played a significant role at Mittelwerk. That he was actually responsible for at least 20,000 deaths.

The WVB character spent most of the "Ham" Launch consoling his son and preparing for the rescue of a chimp that had previously deserved no more of a name than "No.;46."

Again, if anyone thought that was a legitimate portrayal...

Blatant propoganda.

Not surprised.


But I am just a fool.

[Dromond]

Cail:
This website has a lot of pics and information.

www.russianspaceweb.com

[The Laughing Man]

www.astronautix.com/articles/sovstory.htm


Этот сайт посвящен российской космонавтике


www.dia.mil/history/art/series_two.html

[High Lord Tolkien]

Found this today.
Lots to read in the comments area but some really seem to know what they are talking about.

science.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/09/24/1314215

[Cail]

englishrussia.com/?p=1362

Just found this....Great pictures of the Buran.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I'm currently reading "rocket men" by Craig Nelson.
It's mainly about Apollo 11 but it starts from Von Braun from '45 and compares the Soviet rocket program as well.
I can't recommend the book enough.
Those men were amazing.
Gods.

[Vraith]

Huh...I don't have any source other than what you have so far [was in fact unaware of any of them but 1]
But I'm very curious about why you're looking? [not for any bizarre reasons, I simply find many of your posts interesting, and you don't strike me...this could easily be wrong...as a 'for the heck of it' kinda guy]

[Cail]

The Cold War fascinates me for many reasons, primarily because the Soviet Union was such a cool enemy. They were, in many ways, a true "Evil Empire", and they did some absolutely wild stuff in their quest for world dominance (the same can be said for the Third Reich).

Anyway, I stumbled across some photos of their Cosmodrome a few years ago, and wanted to see more of their stuff (because the designs that they didn't steal from us are pretty cool).

[High Lord Tolkien]

Yeah the whole thing in fascinating.
A large reason we installed the Shah in Iran was to set up a listening/spy station on the Cosmodrome.
A few weeks before Apollo 11 an American spy plane took some pics of some evidence that there was a massive explosion on one of the Russian's launch areas indicating that they perhaps were trying to get to the Moon days before us.

Yuri Gagarin was respected like a Soviet Superman.
When Soyuz 1 crashed to Earth killing Komarov, Gagarin was so pissed off (because he knew all the technical failures happening with the module) that he vowed to take Brezhnev's life if he ever found out that he was responsible for forcing the mission to happen before it was ready.
Saying something like that about the Soviet leader in 1968 Russia just defines total badass.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Some more stuff

jalopnik.com/5657385/rare-look-at-mosco ... on-program

[Savor Dam]

Yuri Gagarin was respected like a Soviet Superman.
When Soyuz 1 crashed to Earth killing Komarov, Gagarin was so pissed off (because he knew all the technical failures happening with the module) that he vowed to take Brezhnev's life if he ever found out that he was responsible for forcing the mission to happen before it was ready.

Yet, there was no real accountability when the Reagan administration pressed NASA to launch Challenger on January 28, 1986.

The launch had been scheduled several days earlier, but had been delayed. Reagan's annual State of the Union address was scheduled for the night of the 28th and the administration had long planned to have the President speak with the crew of the shuttle, especially teacher-in-space Christa McAuliffe. Obviously, that would not happen if Challenger was not on orbit when Reagan addressed Congress and the television cameras.

Driven by the desire not to forego that bit of showmanship, decisions were made to launch that morning, even though the conditions were clearly outside safety parameters. We all know what happened about 70 seconds later.

I was working at NASA that morning, although not involved in the shuttle mission. I remember watching camera feeds from the launch pad during the hours before liftoff, seeing the ice and asking those around me if this was safe and acceptable. A public affairs officer mentioned that there was some desire to get the mission up for the speech that night, but that he expected that the ice would be gone before they "lit the candle."

I knew Judy Resnick. Mike Smith was a friend of my brother-in-law, who still works for NASA. Ellison Onizuka was another acquaintance. As you can probably tell, I am still very pissed at the Reagan administration.

[High Lord Tolkien]

Hi SD. Did you happen to read "Rocket Men" and if so what did you think?
I thought it was extremely well written and loved it.



www.amazon.com/Rocket-Men-Epic-Story-Fi ... 0670021032

[Savor Dam]

Hi HLT. No, I haven't read it. After reading the Amazon blurb, I was thinking I would see if I could get it from the library (after I buy and read AATE, of course!), but having continued down the page and read a few of the reviews Amazon featured, I am somewhat reluctant.

Your recommendation means something to me...but while I could set aside one or two negative reviews, I saw several that harped on the technical errors in Nelson's book. While he apparently has spun an engaging story around events that I remember well (having avidly followed every Gemini and Apollo mission as a kid), I fear the gibberish he makes of the science behind the story would be pretty distracting. I tend to be a bit OCD about those kind of details.

[High Lord Tolkien]

I just read some reviews. Wow!
Well, I'm just a fan not a technician so I liked it.
I'm actually amused by the reviews, I was impressed by the engineering aspects that was explained behind the scenes.
It was written in a way so I could grasp the scope and scale of the operation without being bogged down by the details.

It was an exciting read.
I consider myself a fan but hadn't ever heard about many of the things written.
How he wrote Apollo 11's descent and near crash landing on the Moon only averted by Armstrong's total badass still gives me chills.
For the first time I understood the sheer distance those astronauts traveled.
Maybe it's not a good book if you ever want to build a rocket but if you ever want someone to be absolutely thrilled about the space program, this is the book.

There were many "what the f#ck?" moments reading this book.
One was that Armstrong wanted a hand twist valve to control his descent in case the "computer" didn't work (or something like that).
I mean, I'm 42. I was raised on Star Trek and the thought of all those Apollo missions that went to the Moon with the technology that was available then compared to today's standards just blows my mind.

And to be honest with you I still can't for the life of me figure out how they were able to link back up like they did to return to the Earth. How the Eagle and the Columbia were able to link like they did is beyond me. And then return to Earth?
And the math, good lord the math involved.

July 20, 1969 should be a national holiday, if not a worldwide one.

[Vraith]

July 20, 1969 should be a national holiday, if not a worldwide one.

I'd go for that...you should start a petition. Space program, I think, is one of the best programs the Fed's have ever done.

The "primitive" tech aspect really is amazing...I read somewhere a few years ago [never checked to say if it's literally true] that an ordinary lap-top has more computing power than that Apollo did.

[Cail]

Awesome f-n' find HLT.

[Avatar]

I see the Chinese have just launched a manned mission to space to perform a space walk.

I wonder if the Chinese ramping up their Space Program will encourage the US to give more attention to theirs?

--A