Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) [Paperback]

Bart Hendrickx (Author), Bert Vis (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387698485 | ISBN-13: 978-0387698489 | Publication Date: October 4, 2007 | Edition: 1

This absorbing book describes the long development of the Soviet space shuttle system, its infrastructure and the space agency’s plans to follow up the first historic unmanned mission. The book includes comparisons with the American shuttle system and offers accounts of the Soviet test pilots chosen for training to fly the system, and the operational, political and engineering problems that finally sealed the fate of Buran and ultimately of NASA’s Shuttle fleet.

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "Historians Hendrickx and Vis offer a history of the Soviet space shuttle and its attached rocket, one of the most powerful ever built. … This comprehensive history of the program, its technology, its designers, and its cosmonauts is an important contribution to the history of space technology, and is for those interested in space policy, engineering, systems, and history. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels." (A. M. Strauss, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (7), 2008) "Hendrickx and Vis begin with an overview of Soviet spaceplane research and development stretching back to rocketplane designs of the 1930s before moving on to describing the origins of Energiya and Buran themselves. … Special note must also be made of the many excellent photos in this book, most of which have not been published in the West before. … a vital addition to the literature on the USSR/Russian space programme, and Hendrickx and Vis are to be congratulated on a job very well done!" (Liftoff, Issue 248, November-December, 2008)

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Praxis; 1 edition (October 4, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387698485
• ISBN-13: 978-0387698489
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.7 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #952,489 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, Comprehensive, Invaluable, December 11, 2007

By 

Michael Cassutt (Los Angeles CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

The authors are two of the small number of space historians to have visited space facilities in Russia, getting to to know participants in programs like Energiya-Buran and performing hands-on research. The result of these efforts, ENERGIYA-BURAN, is a unique and comprehensive look at a fascinating chapter in the history of manned spaceflight. I can't imagine the subject being covered better than it is here.

Michael Cassutt

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most complete history on the Buran program, December 2, 2007

By 

Francisco Lameira (Portugal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

This book comprises most of the public information on the subject so far in a well written volume of over 500 pages, making it the authoritative reference on the Energiya-Buran program.

Many of the well-known soviet space program historians/authors provided the authors with infos, most photos are from V. Bis and www.buran.ru own files.

I find this book a must for any space buff like me. A true treasure trove of information!

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Best Book Ever on The Buran Shuttle Project, January 5, 2008

By 

James E. Oberg "Jim Oberg" (Houston, Texas) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Energiya-Buran: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration) (Paperback)

I've followed the Soviet space program for more than fifty years, and this is the best book ever written on the Buran shuttle -- and the best book ever LIKELY to BE written.

The authors had access so wide and so deep into the project that the narrative they created probably tells the reader a lot more -- and in useful context -- than even the program's managers knew themselves as they were working on it. The authors can do that because of their own decades of investigation into the shadows of Soviet space mysteries (I've been privileged to be their colleague on many of those quests), and their superbly-honed skills at analysis, organization, and explanation.

This book is more than a look backwards -- it's a lesson in how big space projects can go astray, even if they achieve technological success, because their fundamental rationale for existing was faulty from the start. All space program managers around the world -- Russia, China, the US, Japan, Europe, etc -- NEED these lessons from such 'bad examples' as Buran, and this book makes it possible.