Information Research Publications Presentations
on the Human Exploration of Space
Astro Info Service Limited
Established 1982
Incorporation 2003
Company No.4865911
E & OE
Russia's Cosmonauts
Extent: 416 pages
Binding: Softback
Published: Oct 2005
ISBN: 978-0-387-21894-6
RUSSIA'S COSMONAUTS
Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center
by Rex D. Hall, David J. Shayler and Bert Vis
with Foreword by Alexei Leonov,
former Soviet cosmonaut
In this ground-breaking work, the doors to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center (TsPK) in Russia are opened and its facilities and its role in spaceflight history explained in detail for the first time to western readers. Known as Star City, the center is unique in the history of human space exploration but, until now, has remained essentially a closed location.
With full assistance from those who organise and run the facility, and using unique photographs, first-hand interviews and historical resources, the authors explore how Russian citizens have been selected and trained to fly in space, and how this procedure has changed over the last forty years. They also discuss the evolution of the often-overlooked ground support infrastructure. Finally, they examine how the cosmonaut's role has changed from the pioneering days of the Gagarin era, through the demise of the Soviet Union, the co-operation in the multiational commercial and ISS programmes, and into the future and a new era of space exploration.
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