This is the very first ‘inside story’ of a key part of the Soviet manned space programme, detailing the development of Soviet/Russian spacesuits. The authors, as participants in the programme, provide details of events, previously unknown in the West, including their technical development. These space suits were an important part of the many Soviet firsts in the space race – Yuri Gagarin’s flight, Valentina Tereskova, the first woman in space, the first space walk by Alexei Leonov, and the first transfer on orbit from one spacecraft to another. All previous books on Soviet manned space flights focus on the spacecraft and cosmonaut teams. This book provides a total overview of the successful Soviet/Russian development of space suits and subsequent space walks from Vostok to MIR and ISS.

* the most accurate and comprehensive work on U.S. spacesuits ever published. *A unique insight into the development of US spacesuits through to the present day. * Presents in context the authors’ unique collection of 172 black and white photographs. * Explains why spacesuits are a last refuge for astronauts for survival. * Details many technically and historically interesting developments, but which never achieved fruition.

"There's something intriguing to be learned on practically every page... [How to Astronaut] captures the details of an extraordinary job and turns even the mundane aspects of space travel into something fascinating."––Publishers Weekly Ride shotgun on a trip to space with astronaut Terry Virts. A born storyteller with a gift for the surprising turn of phrase and eye for the perfect you-are-there details, he captures all the highs, lows, humor, and wonder of an experience few will ever know firsthand. Featuring stories covering survival training, space shuttle emergencies, bad bosses, the art of putting on a spacesuit, time travel, and much more!

The goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth required the development of three things: spacecraft, launch vehicles, and protective clothing. Spacesuits: Within the Collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum takes the reader through the development of the last category, the spacesuits used during this venture. Highlighting the pressure suits created during the years leading up to the lunar missions and beyond, this book features dramatic photographs of the Smithsonian's collection, as well as never-before-published historical images of spacesuit development and testing-range-of-motion studies, for example, in which researchers wore spacesuits while playing baseball and football. The book also includes a group of advanced spacesuits, which, though never used on a mission, are in many respects the most exciting suits ever created. One suit glove has steel fingernails and sharkskin pads, in an attempt to harness the abilities of the human hand. Spacesuits are surprisingly fragile; they are made for a short lifespan in the most extreme of conditions, and long-term survival is not part of their design process. The final chapter touches briefly on the current conditions of historic suits, how they have held up over time, the reasons for their deterioration, and the rewards and difficulties associated with caring for and preserving these very complex and iconic artifacts. From the first spacesuit designs of the 1930s through those worn on the landmark Apollo-Soyuz program of 1975, Spacesuits provides a behind-the-scenes look at the history of these remarkable creations, including some that have never before been publicly displayed.

The inherent contradictions of the Space Age -- the mixture of technologies high and low, of nostalgia and progress, of pathos and promise -- are revealed in Kosmos, Adam Bartos's astonishing photographic survey of the Soviet space program. Bartos's fascination with this subject led him to seek out places like the bedroom where Yuri Gagarian slept the night before his history-making flight into space, located in the Baiknour Cosmodrome, the one-time top-secret space complex in the Kazakh desert. Kosmos presents 94 of Bartos's photographs, rich with the incongruities of the history, science, culture, and politics of the Space Age.

Tells the true stories of Laika, Belka, Strelka, and the other space dogs who were sent on experimental space flight explorations by the Soviet Union between 1951 and 1956.

This, fifty years after Sputnik, is the definitive book on the Russian space program. The author covers all the key elements of the current Russian space program, including both manned and unmanned missions. He examines the various types of unmanned applications programs as well as the crucial military program, and even analyzes the infrastructure of production, launch centres and tracking. You’ll also find discussion of the commercialization of the program and its relationship with western companies. Russia’s current space experiment is also put in a comparative global context. Strong emphasis is placed on Russia’s future space intentions and on new programs and missions in prospect.

This is a unique attempt to visualise space exploration¹s future through the eyes of Russian space engineers and to describe that nation¹s plans in space. Based on actual documents, rather than on guesswork, it is the first comprehensive illustrated book dedicated to the Russian vision for the future of manned spaceflight from the dawn of manned spaceflight until today. Lavishly illustrated with images of unparalleled artistic quality and technical accuracy, the book: puts the development of the Russian manned spacecraft into political and historical context; uniquely describes the future of space exploration through the eyes of Russian space engineers and planners; introduces hitherto unrevealed systems developed for the Russian space program; describes past events and future plans in the historical context of the fall and rise of the Russian space program.

On April 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first person in history to leave the Earth's atmosphere and venture into space. His flight aboard a Russian Vostok rocket lasted only 108 minutes, but at the end of it he had become the most famous man in the world. Back on the ground, his smiling face captured the hearts of millions around the globe. Film stars, politicians and pop stars from Europe to Japan, India to the United States vied with each other to shake his hand. Despite this immense fame, almost nothing is known about Gagarin or the exceptional people behind his dramatic space flight. Starman tells for the first time Gagarin's personal odyssey from peasant to international icon, his subsequent decline as his personal life began to disintegrate under the pressures of fame, and his final disillusionment with the Russian state. President Kennedy's quest to put an American on the Moon was a direct reaction to Gagarin's achievement--yet before that successful moonshot occurred, Gagarin himself was dead, aged just thirty-four, killed in a mysterious air crash. Publicly the Soviet hierarchy mourned; privately their sighs of relief were almost audible, and the KGB report into his death remains secret. Entwined with Gagarin's history is that of the breathtaking and highly secretive Russian space program - its technological daring, its triumphs and disasters. In a gripping account, Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony reveal the astonishing world behind the scenes of the first great space spectacular, and how Gagarin's flight came frighteningly close to destruction.