Customer Reviews

Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006 (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)

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I was really impressed by the Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log 1961-2006.
Simply the best !!! A book with many details of each manned space mission since the Gagarin's flight. Highly recommended. More than 820 pages rich with any type of information.

This one is big as a medium size telephone directory - around 820 pages - but it has to be. Chronicling some 250 space flight since April 12, 1961 up to September 29, 2006, and the participants from Yuri Gagarin to Anousheh Ansari, in lucid prose and memory-stirring photographs, this is a worthy follow-up of the Tim Furniss earlier chronicling of the first 103 space flights. That milestone was passed in April 1983. We tend to equal "space flight" with "flights to Earth Orbit" or "Flight to the Moon", but suborbital flight to more than 80 kilometres - 13 in the X-15 rocket plane and 3 in the comercial "Spaceship One" are included as official flights that reached space. Aborts during launches are also included, as are the incredibly sad listings of the crew of STS 51-L, where Gregory Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe attained only 1 minute of spaceflight experience, before that ascent was so cruelly - and unnecessarily - terminated.
The Authors have visely chosen to present all the numerical data in both metric and imperial measurement. If I have to search for something missing, I would wish for an alphabetic index of persons, who participated in which flight style, but then the size of this volume, already in that class which seriously hampers the compulsory bed-reader, clearly would have grown quite out of hand. Let us be thankful for the mass of facts we already have got here.
For the veteran armchair astronaut this volume brings back a lot of memories, and still succeeds in serving up a plethora of data that has slipped the memory over those 45 years. For the young reader, this presents the scope of Mankinds first forays off our planetary shores and trips to the offshore island of the Moon. It's an incredible history after all, and it's all here.

An amazing publication: covers Vostok-1 (Gagarin) to Soyuz TMA-9. Tons of info for each flight: International designation; launched; Launch site; Landed; Landing site; Launch vehicle (for the shuttle you have the tank number, the SRB set and the SSME engines); Duration; Callsign; Objective; Flight Crew; Flight Log and finally Milestones. Also three chapters cover respectively: Reaching the heavens (access/method; Space flight methods/launch systems); The Quest for Space; The orbital programmes (Vostok, Mercury, Apollo, Shuttle, Salyut, Shenzhou etc..).
An outstand reference works for anybody who is interested in the history of spaceflight!
A must have on one's bookshelf.

An excellent quick reference guide for each individual manned spaceflight 1961-2006. Its over 800 pages.

All the Russian and American manned flights 1961 - 2006 are listed. We see the different countries astronauts/cosmonauts that fly on the missions. Later both the US and Russia allowed other countries to fly on their respective spacecraft. We get about 2 or 3 pages of information per flight including most times a picture of either the astronauts or cosmonauts of the flight, the designation, when launched, launched site, when and where landed, launch vehicle, duration, call sign and objective are listed. Also how old the astronaut/cosmonauts were and what branch of service they were in as well as their mission job/designation. There is usually at least three paragraphs describing the mission and what went right or wrong in the mission.

This is NOT a comprehensive guide to each mission. I got much more detailed information on some of the missions reading individual astronaut books. Getting detailed information on the Russian spaceflights is more difficult. What this book does do and does very well is give readers a quick synopsis of each mission. It is up to the reader to go get other reading material for in depth analysis of the mission they are interested in.

We see spaceflight is very dangerous as both US astronauts and Russian cosmonauts have died in space and on the ground. All who participated in space exploration are heroes who deserve our utmost respect.

I am a life member of the MARS SOCIETY ( read Dr Zubrin's book about Mars Direct... 5 stars.... how to get to Mars using preexisting technology and low comparison level cost). In the Praxis book we see so many thousands of medical, biological and multi experiments done in space as well as exercising conditioning of astronauts/cosmonauts to keep physically fit in long duration zero G missions.

We see in Praxis cosmonaut Ryumin with 3 fights under his belt and almost a years space experience boldly saying he is ready to go to Mars and this was 1980. We have the experience, and knowledge learned about space effects on humans by thousands of experiments. By exercising and tethered rotating of the spacecraft to induce artificial gravity we can go to Mars and be strong enough to work on Mars and go back to Earth's 1 g. Read Praxis page 524... Cosmonaut Polyakov PROVED that a flight of 14 months was possible ( round trip to Mars).Polyakov spend a record breaking 438 days in space. We see astronauts and cosmonauts up months and months in space and surviving both cosmic rays and solar flares with the available shielding. Also both survived long term isolation with only 1 or 2 other crewman. With a daily exercise program it is possible to spend many months in weightless outer space and not suffer horrendous long lasting bad side effects when coming back to Earth. Polyakov did have 15% bone loss and a reduced red blood cell count but much of that was corrected back on Earth but not all. Remember he was 438 days in zero G. With a tethered rotating spacecraft 6 months to Mars and 6 months back and working on Mars 1 1/2 years would be under partial earth gravity. It can be done!

Thanks Praxis for showing us the science experiments and science learned on the many manned space missions. We can send a crew of 3 or 4 to Mars using preexisting technology, have them do 1 1/2 year of ground work on Mars and return safely to Earth. Lets have a clear cut agenda for NASA and go to Mars within 20 years like President Kennedy did for us to go to the moon in 1 decade. Maybe a combined mission US, Russia, China or some other countries to help distribute costs, technology and individual national prestige. We need a clear cut specific agenda with a definite time period, presidential leadership and financial support by congress and/or other countries willing to help to get out of low manned orbit and have manned exploration of Mars and eventually colonize Mars.

Praxis Manned Spaceflight Log and Dr. Zubrin's Mars Direct book has shown that we have enough experience, and space knowledge learned to go to Mars. Lets do it.

I have been interested in the United States manned space program since the early days of its conception and have also been an instructor of its history. I have found this book to be most helpful in covering all of the U S manned space flights, as well as the USSR manned flights, and its importance to my programs is beyond words.

The author has written the most important aspects regarding each flight so the common person, with no technical background, can understand the flight being discussed, in a very easy way. The flight descriptions are fact based and concise, pointing out the reason's for that particular flight.

I am very thankful this book was written and it is a book for any Space "buffs" library.

Awesome book with a lot of information. It could be made better by
having a hardcover, color pages, and maybe made into two or three books(U.S. Spaceflights, Soviet/Russian Spaceflights, Spaceflights of other
nations) with even more information. Need a book on unmanned
spaceflights.

A very comprehensive account of manned space flight. The book contains a time period overview of space travel plus a detailed account of each flight. Enjoyable reading. A must-have for all space buffs!