The Rocket Men

Vostok & Voskhod, The First Soviet Manned Spaceflights

Rex Hall and David J Shayler

In four short years from 1961, the first manned orbiting space vehicle ­ Vostok ­ went into orbit, the first spacecraft piloted by a woman was launched, and the first man stepped outside his orbiting spaceship. All these milestone events were achieved by the USSR.

At the height of the Cold War in the early 1960s, the USSR dominated the ‘space race’ that would ultimately become a race to land a man on the Moon.

How did the Soviet Union get such a head-start on the USA? In The Rocket Men, Rex Hall and David Shayler chronicle the rise of the Soviet space program, from its early beginnings to the development of the huge launch complex that is still in use today. This detailed yet highly readable book draws on recently released archive information and features photographs, from people who lived and worked in Star City, never before seen in the West.

Here is the definitive book about a time when Russia was supreme in space!

Table of contents:

• Foreword
• Authors’ preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of illustrations and tables
  
  
  1. First dreams, theories and pioneers
  2. First launcher, pad and satellites
  3. First spacecraft and first cosmonauts
  4. First man and first day
  5. First group flights and first woman
  6. First crew and first EVA
  7. The legacy
  
  
  
• Conclusion
• Appendix
• Index

Extent: 352 pages
Binding: hardback
Publication Date: April 2001
ISBN: 978-1-85233-391-1

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