Starman

A name everyone knows, the first person in space. And yet we know so little about him. I worked in the field at the time and remember the parallel events taking place in this country as well as what we could see from the Soviet Space program. This book revels much of what we did not know at the time and confirms many of our suspicions about their program. The book is written by Piers Bizony who had developed a show for the BBC in the 1990’s on The Soviet program and had numerous contacts within Russia. He was able to capture much of this information in the relatively short period between the Glasnost Era, when former members of the Russian government began to speak about former secret actions, albeit reluctantly, and the close of that period with the emergence of Putin. Even private citizens who knew him were still guarded in their comments. With the coming go the Putin Era, this book would not have been possible in today’s environment. Born in the late 30’s to a couple on a collective farm, Yuri and his family were caught up in the withdrawal of German troops from Russia and subjected to many of the abuses that they inflicted on most of the population. Some how he survived, but it affected his outlook on life and his future. He wanted to leave the small rural village after the war both to relive the financial burden on his parents and he already knew he wanted to fly. Through a series of training schools that got him a job building farm tractors, and some initiative of his own he ended up in flight school in the military. From his first jet solo to flying in space spanned less than 5 years. The rigorous selection program is described in detail by the authors, with the final selection being made only a few days before his flight. His flight and near disastrous return are detail with much I had not known before. Needless to say, his life was forever changed by the event. The authors parallel this with the story of the Chief Designer of the Russian rocket program, Sergei Korolev, and of his compatriots and rivals. This is a story unto itself. After his untimely death due to a botched operation in 1966, the Soviet program never recovered its glory days. In fact, the Soyuz is still flown today on the basic design he developed back in the late fifties. The Soviets used Gagariun to sell their program worldwide, but did not want to chance losing their hero in another space flight. Eventually Gagarin was returning to his first love, flying when he was killed in a controversial crash, most likely blamed on the Soviets lag in ground control radar used to direct traffic in inclement weather. Worth the read to the space community and historians alike. Much new information revealed

Starman, Jamie Doran and Piers Bizony’s biography of Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was originally published in 1998 and rereleased in 2011 to capitalize on the 50th anniversary of the first manned flight into space. The book covers Gagarin’s childhood under Nazi occupation during World War II, his cosmonaut training, his historic flight as the first human being to leave the earth’s atmosphere, his triumphant yet troubling tenure as perhaps the most famous person in the world, and his mysterious death. It is a fascinating and compelling story, and Doran and Bizony have done an admirable job in researching and telling it.While following the course of Gagarin’s exciting but all too brief life, the book provides a fascinating glimpse behind the Iron Curtain into the early days of the Soviet space program. Struggling to compete with the Americans for the greater glory of their country, the Soviet scientists stumbled toward greatness as they rushed to figure out how to put a man in space. A great deal of trial and error was involved, and safety was not always priority one. The same was true for the U.S. The authors periodically check in with the American side of the space race to illustrate each superpower’s competitive standing and how decisions on one side influenced those on the other.One surprising detail regarding Gagarin’s road to space is that the Soviets trained two cosmonauts for that first epic spaceflight, waiting until very late in the process to decide their fates. Only a few days before the launch was Gherman Titov notified that he would be sitting this one out while Gagarin rode into glory. There is some great insight into all the politics behind the final selection, as well as the political struggles behind other decisions in the space program. After his brief rocket ride, Gagarin became phenomenally famous and was treated as a national treasure, carted around the world to make countless personal appearances. He shouldered the role as best he could, but his first love was flying. He wanted to go back into space, hopefully on a moon mission, but the Soviet government treated their cosmonaut heroes with surprising overprotectiveness, not only hindering them from further spaceflight but also severely prohibiting their piloting of aircraft. Gagarin’s rise to greatness is inspiring, but the subsequent aftermath is often surprisingly tragic.The authors dug up a great deal of documentation from Soviet archives and interviewed many key players in the space program, as well as Gagarin family members. While the research is extensive, the writing isn’t always all it could be. Rather than taking their documents and interviews and distilling them into a compelling and cohesive narrative, Doran and Bizony at times make you feel like you’re reading a bunch of documents and interviews. The research really takes precedence over the writing. There is a sort of magazine journalism style to the prose that sometimes feels out of place within an authoritative account of a man’s life. I also felt like the foreword promised more mystery and controversy than the story ultimately delivered. Nevertheless, I learned a great deal from this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Gagarin is a great hero, yet like all heroes—as the authors point out—he had his flaws. The authors go beyond the superstardom to expose the humanity beneath, thereby bringing this stellar hero down to earth for us to appreciate more fully his accomplishments and struggle.

I've been interested in reading this book for a while now. I'd heard about the failed Soviet attempts to land humans or at least spacecraft on the moon, but not the inside story of how Gagarin and his cohorts were treated.

Informative book on Yuri but also his best friend and colleague Titov - they were the last two candidates for the first orbit try and Yuri got the nod much to Titov's disappointment. There is a limited amount of Yuri's perspective as he unfortunately passed away in a flight accident (the book does discuss this in some detail) but much more from his good friend Titov about Yuri and their shared experiences.This is a well written, easy read that brings some real perspective to the overnight world wide celebrity that Yuri became - he from a simple rural farming family now meeting the Queen of England and heads of state from around the world. Doesn't discuss in great detail the technical aspects of challenges facing the first cosmonauts (Sputnik and the Soviet Space Challenge by Asif Siddiqi would cover this) but does capture the essence of Yuri Gagarin as a Soviet Hero and a common man like us all.M

I read this after going to the space museum in Russia and not really knowing much about the history. I found it facinating. I love stories about human triumph, it is an incredible journey shrouded in soviet mystery. It must have been amazing to be the first human to look down on the earth. As I read, I reminisced about what I had seen in the space museum,... Yuri's space suit, sputnik, Laika and the other dog, such an incredible history. I would highly recommend this book to anyone even mildly interested in the topic.

Great read surprising being that it was about the Soviet Era race for space

Rating is for book condition *not* the book content.Two books arrived in the same package with this one damaged but the other one in good condition. This would seem to indicate that the damage was present before this book was packaged.Book is perfectly legible but disappointing that it arrived damaged.

Great story and very insightful view into the Russian space program