The Secrets of Soviet Cosmonauts

Description

This book sheds new light on an amazing history, only partially known in the west: Russian cosmonautics and its spectacular record. From Laika, the cosmonaut dog, to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, to Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, to the first spacewalk, the Soviets set many goals that they subsequently achieved. But there are shadows behind these headline moments, moments involving human loss, some of which are known, others only rumored. Questions remain, such as: ·         What was the “flying coffin”? ·         What secrets are still hidden inside the Russian archives, despite two rounds of declassification? ·         Why didn’t Marina Popovich (“Madame Mig”) become a cosmonaut? ·         What problems made it necessary to film Valentina Tereshkova's return? ·         What (scientific) hypotheses exist concerning Gagarin's mysterious disappearance?   The author addresses all of these issues, with help from the documents now available. This book will benefit a broad readership, from interested laypersons to graduate and undergraduate students to those who merely enjoy good history-based stories. Foreword Acknowledgments Contents 1 From the Beginnings to 1960 1.1 Introduction 1.2 The Three K's in the Lives of Soviet Cosmonauts 1.2.1 Nikita Sergeyevich Khrushchev 1.2.2 Nikolai Petrovich Kamanin 1.2.3 Sergei Pavlovič Korolev 1.3 Khrushchev’s Bricks 1.4 All Cosmodromes of the USSR/Russia 1.5 The Baikonur and Vostochny Cosmodromes 1.6 Laika, Woof Woof in Space 1.7 The Nedelin Catastrophe 1.8 The Tragedy of the Plesetsk Cosmodrome 1.9 The Lost Cosmonauts 2 Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin 2.1 Life 2.2 Those Excluded from the First Flight 2.2.1 German Titov (1935–2000) 2.2.2 Boris Volynov (1934–) 2.2.3 Mars Rafikov (1933–2000) 2.2.4 Valentin Bondarenko (1937–1961) 2.2.5 Grigory Nelyubov (1934–1966) 2.3 The First Flight 2.4 After the Flight 2.5 The Flying Coffin 2.6 After the Cold War—Declassified Documents Offer More Details About Yuri Gagarin’s Flight 2.7 Other Details that Emerged Later: There Was an Emergency Situation Just Before Departure 2.8 Death 3 Female Cosmonauts Without Flights (Promises not Kept) 3.1 Introduction 3.2 John Glenn's Barbecue 3.3 Selecting the First Female Cosmonauts 3.4 Zhanna Yorkina, the Foodie 3.5 Valentina Ponomareva, the Refined Free Thinker 3.6 Irina Solovyova, the Skydiving Champion 3.7 Tatiana Kuznetsova, the Emotional One 3.8 Tatiana Morozycheva, the Artist 3.9 Marina Vasiliyeva Popovich, or Madame MiG, Aviation Ace 3.9.1 Svetlana Savitskaya, the Only One Who Flew. Almost Twenty Years Later 3.9.2 Male Colleagues 4 VALENTINA TERESKHOVA, the Factory Worker Who Went to Space 4.1 Introduction 4.2 The City of Yaroslavl 4.3 Communist Faith 4.4 Buying Panties 4.5 Thus Spoke CICAP 4.6 Valentina's Life 4.7 The Flight 4.8 One Trouble Leads to Another 4.9 “No More Witches in Space” 4.9.1 The Terrible Mistake 4.9.2 The Lie of Re-entry 4.9.3 Conclusions 4.9.4 The ‘Red Moscow’ Scent: Valentina's Image 4.9.5 Elena, the Daughter of the Stars 5 From Aleksej Leonov to the Space Station 5.1 Leonov and the First Space Walk 5.2 Hercules N-1 5.3 Luna 15, the Secret Moon of the Russians 5.4 Project Buran: An Expensive Exercise in Style 5.5 Russians the First to Land on Mars 5.6 Today on the ISS 5.6.1 The International Space Station 5.6.2 The Station’s Origins 5.6.3 Purpose 5.6.4 Scientific Research 5.6.5 Orientation and Altitude Control 5.6.6 Computers 5.6.7 Life on Board—Crew Activities 5.6.8 Hooked to the Treadmill—Exercise 5.6.9 Hygiene 5.6.10 Food and Drink 5.6.11 Sleeping in Space 5.6.12 Radiation Exposure 5.6.13 Sabotage! the Mysterious Hole on the ISS Appendix: Short Excerpts from Kamanin's Diaries Bibliography