Customer Reviews

Korolev: How One Man Masterminded the Soviet Drive to Beat America to the Moon

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Sergei Pavlovich Korolyev was the "chief designer" responsible for the development of the world's first intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and artificial earth satellite (Sputnik 1). The authoritative biography of Sergei Pavlovich must probably await a translation from the Russian. More technical detail is required beyond what is available in Hartford's book. Still, the present volume is the best current study of Korolyev available in English. The book is more than adequate for a popular readership but will occasionally annoy the professional with errors like the one on page 255 where Hartford claims that the Soyuz reentry capsule is spherical and the orbital module is bell-shaped. The opposite is true. I also felt there was a bit too much speculation mixed in with the historical fact.

This is an amazing book. If you're interested in the space race this is a must read. The book is filled with facinating, little-known facts. For instance, the first manned flight nearly killed Yuri Gagarin when his spacecraft began to spin out of control.

It starts a little slowly but by the time Korolev is sent to a Gulag (for no reason) the pace picks up and never subsides.

Go beyond the Propaganda with this book.

Massively documented, dense and well written, this book is a treasure to anyone interested in the space race, the men and women behind it, the politics involved, between nations, ideologies, and especially between individuals.

With "Korolev", you follow the rise and fall (to the Gulag), and rise(!) of the man that took on himself to beat the Americans, fighting against the Party, the lack of interest from his leaders, his enemies, and of course, some technological problems.

It's hard to comprehend what could have motivated anyone to work during this troubled era with such devotion and faith in his country, even after having been sent for no reason to Siberia for 7 years during the Stalinist Terror.

And yet, it's this period of space history that saw Sputnik, Gagarin, Vostok and Venera, as well as a number of "circus acts", as they said, that scared the USA about a possible "Communist Moon". It's also the Soviet space program that will create the most ingenious space technology ever built (read "Russia In Space" about the RD-180, or the NK-33 rocket engines, built in the 60's).

It's worth noting that the author never tries to revise history: facts, facts and facts, explained in their context. I am just waiting for such a book to be written on the US space program, the only country with China that still uses propaganda... After all, NASA has been created for the Moon race during the Cold War.

In the movie,"The Right Stuff," there is a scene where Lyndon Johnson is in a briefing room, viewing stolen film footage of the Soviet space program. As head of a White House Committee to get America's own space efforts back on track, Johnson seethes with frustration as he sees a smiling image of the mysterious Chief Designer. "Get that moron off the screen," he cries, as he can no longer take any more of what certainly appears to be gloating.

The man on the screen is Korolev, subject of Harford's exceptionally researched biography. As it turns out, Korolev was indeed "off the screen" of world events of the time. The very idea is so contrary to American impulses -- having a huge role to play in the glamourous, headline-grabbing battle of superpowers -- and remaining anonymous. This story is one of keeping what could have been a justifiably enormous ego under excruciatingly tight wraps. Perhaps it is a story which Americans now need to hear, in this age of media hype and instantly manufactured celebrities.

Harford tells of Korolev's rise to prominence in the Soviet space program with real passion. He does not, however, idealize, as he is careful to present many diverse opinions from many sources. Most of these come from deep within that bureaucratic enigma of Russian space engineering and research organizations. All told, however, the Chief Designer's life and times invoke tremendous respect and admiration. The pressures this man faced, developing the manned space flights as well as military missiles as well as spy sattelites ... as well as coping with a paranoid leadership which insisted on optimum results with far from adequate resources. Job stress redefined on a new level!

Harford's one miscue is that he often dwells too heavily on the technical details, citing scads of information which would most likely interest only the most devoted of space travel enthusiasts. Nevertheless, the book offers perhaps the best look yet into the people who "scared America" in the early days of the space race, developing a human drama every bit as intriguing as our own Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo efforts. It also stands as a late in coming, but necessary vindication for one man who willingly accepted being overlooked by the world -- as his cosmonauts soared in both the heavens and the world's imagination. Harford finally allows those of us who never knew anything about Korolev to say, "Hail,Sergei! We never knew how brilliant you were!"

This book is very well resarched and gives deep insights into the Soviet space effort unknown in the West. A must to read for anyone really interested in space. Before only the American side was presented to the public, while the Soviet side well hidden. Very interesting is the the fate of the N-1 Moon rocket. It is impossible to believe that the Soviets had not only one manned Moon program but two competing ones.

For any student of the Soviet/Russian space program, "Korolev" fills in the missing gaps in our understanding of the genesis of their thrust into space. The book is informative yet clear in the realization that the heavy bureaucracy, lack of money and technological advances and the "dual" moon programs pre-empted the Russians to effectively compete with the United States in the race to the moon. The author also gives us a keen insight into the cruelty of Josef Stalin and the persecution of the leading Soviet scientists.

I discovered this book accidentally. Before reading this book the only soviet space personalities that I knew were Yuri Gagarin and Valentina Tereshkova. I guess I am not alone on this. Reading this book gives me an understanding that Russian space program went back much earlier than that of American. A lot of useful information about Russian space science and program, and its aspiration can be gained from this single book. This book talks a lot about Korolev, it also give good exposition on Soviet space program. One may wonder why Korolev has never been a household name like Gagarin, and how come the American is the first one landed on the moon.

I began to read as the space race started and I saw and heard stories about failed and lost Russian space flights. Now that the Soviet archives are so open it is wonderful that all of this information is gather in one book so I can see what is true and what is rumor and where so many of these stories came from. This book clarified so much of what I heard during the 1960s. I see an unflattering review here from The NY Times Review of Books by Alex Roland with a remark about information available from other sources. What a snob! First, I keep my eye out for technical books aimed at the general public I don't know of any other book that collects so much relevent information and also tracks down rumors (without getting into unfounded x-file-ish theories). Yes, if I'd made it my career to study aeronautics then this Korolev book might not so special. What might I read? Oh, here's a book "Atmospheric Flight.." by Mr. Roland. What a snort!

I felt this was the textbook of the Russian space program, extremely detailed and cannot read it like a novel. Besides Korolev, author Harford discusses many other key people (and some from late 1800s). I also felt I had to "think Russian" to absorb the material because education, training, and customs of engineers is different than in United States. James Harford made excellent use from the people who worked directly with Korolev, including Mishin the man that became the next "chief designer" after Korolev died.

My impression of Korolev is how did he manage to do what he did? Author mentioned he had to compete with Boeing, Lockheed, Aerojet, and several other companies in USA. And Korolev also managed satellite programs while working on manned spacecraft and rockets. In addition, Korolev had to pitch for resources from the Politburo and constantly argued with others in the Soviet space program. Author James Harford captured the feeling of Korolev lacking resources he needed unlike Von Braun in developing a moon rocket and spacecraft.

One of Korolev's colleagues said when Kennedy announced the race to the moon, the Soviets could either get in the race or not. They did neither. Now it is 2011 and NASA is working on trying to get back to the moon but the politicking is almost a word-for-word play of what Korolev suffered during the 1960s.

We are celebrating the 50th anniversary of man's first orbital flight. The former USSR kept leading the space race for years until that famous Kennedy's speech. And what can explain that? Although it sounds tremendously unlikely, the reason of this leadership was the existence of one single man! Korolev more than compensated the fact that the USA took the best German rockets scientists (eg, Werner von Braun). Korolev's biography must be known. We live in such an age which praises individuals just because they are rich (until the next finantial crisis prove they were just... thieves!) This book was the most inspiring in my life, relating to keeping the hope even though life insists in bringing some (serious!) obstacles. For those who watched the movie "The right stuff": Korolev is the man who keeps laughing as his rockets flew into the space - as America slept, according to an European newspaper of that times...