Soviet Space Mythologies

This very readable book provides a new insight into the Soviet space programme and the way in which it has been presented to the world, both at the time and subsequently. This fascinating book shows how techniques for the careful manipulation of this particular element of Russian cultural heritage have their origins in the Soviet era.

A strong example of synthetic history, drawing upon existing histories of the space program and mining them for insight into the cultures of the Soviet space program and the myths that constituted and sustained them.

This book is a fascinating history of the triumphs and failures of the soviet space programme in the 1960s, portraying vividly its leading figures-cosmonauts, engineers and military personnel-caught in the identity split between professional roles and public personas, and positioning them within the complicated technological and institutional settings of Soviet cosmonautics.

Soviet Space Mythologies makes a major contribution to the history of Soviet space flight and culture. It places the story of Russian space conquest into the broader history of space flight—including references to pioneering scholars in the history of NASA. This is also the first book to focus on the professional identity of the cosmonaut and space engineer.

Gerovitch's original history is a new synthesis in the history of Soviet spaceflight, expertly bringing together political and cultural strains with the professional identity of the astronauts and the human/machine systems in which they worked.

Soviet Space Mythologies succeeds in its ambition to place the Soviet space program squarely at the center of twentieth-century Russian history, and it convincingly demonstrates the benefits of using the study of technology as a means to understand broader social and political dynamics.