The Story of Space Station Mir [Paperback]

David M Harland (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0387230114 | ISBN-13: 978-0387230115 | Publication Date: February 14, 2005 | Edition: 1

* Details how a succession of Salyut space stations led to the development of Mir. * Depicts Mir’s assembly piece by piece, in space, between 1982 and 1996. * Describes how Mir became an international research laboratory. * Advises how Mir technology went on to form the ‘core modules’ of the ISS. * The definitive account of Mir throughout its life through to de-orbiting in March 2001.  

Editorial Reviews

Review

From the reviews: "This book by David Harland is written to his usual high standard. It tells the history of Mir from its early planning stage to its spectacular destruction in 2001. This brings together the complete history of a remarkable spacecraft which made living in space possible. If you want to get a clear picture of how the Mir station started … developed and grew and was used, this is the book." (Rex Hall, Spaceflight, Vol. 48, March, 2006) "The history of the Mir Space Station, initiated with a launch in 1986 and continuously inhabited for a decade, is important for its technological achievements … . Harland, a space historian, presents a very detailed survey of the launches, cosmonauts, engineering details, problems, and solutions. … The book is well illustrated with photographs of people and spacecraft … . a significant addition to the literature of space science and technology. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates through professionals." (A. M. Strauss, CHOICE, Vol. 42 (11), July, 2005)

Product Details

• Paperback: 449 pages
• Publisher: Praxis; 1 edition (February 14, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0387230114
• ISBN-13: 978-0387230115
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 1.4 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,378,815 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars space station operations, August 24, 2006

By 

Mark Wahl (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Space Station Mir (Paperback)

The focus of the book is on Soviet/Russian space station operations in general: the first third of the book covers operations on board the Salyut stations.

On the downside, there is little mention of station module design and construction prior to launch, and often the scientific instruments on board are merely mentioned in passing by name.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good narrative of the russian space stations programs, July 3, 2011

By 

Haubrechts Patrick (Switzerland) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Space Station Mir (Paperback)

This is a very dense 424 pages book.
An excellent book, written in a narrative mode, of the MIR space station program. It is not a technical description of the spacecraft, but rather a story of all Russian space stations. Detailed and thorough, it can be read as a thriller, a tribute to the Russian way of handling problems. There are 3 main sections, Salyut, MIR and an extremely interesting 82 pages glossary, which spare numerous explanations to be laid as microscopic bottom page legends. The back cover is an accurate account of the book, and they are many good, but small, quality black and white rare pictures. Few diagrams and schematics though...
The title, MIR, is a bit inaccurate, as the first 139 pages are devoted to the Salyut program. The other 178 pages is the detailed account of the saga of the MIR space station. This book organization makes sense, because the evolution of the Salyut program explains many of the basic design options of MIR.
The book contains lots of interesting details about life in space, scientific experiments, human relationships, space walks, management problems and the incredible resilience of Russian cosmonauts. We can know all the things we wish to know at the time, thanks to soviet era secrecy policy.
After reading the book, the contribution to the design of the ISS from the experience gained in MIR becomes obvious, so many lessons taken from all the incidents that happened.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars I'm glad to have this publication on my bookshelf, August 29, 2007

By 

J. Szymczyk "JS" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Story of Space Station Mir (Paperback)

The book offers a very good coverage of the station history and visitors. It is a step in the right direction and provides a balancing view to a propaganda generated by publications hailing NASA as the only winer in cosmic space. In this way it's a very refreshing read. Next, I would like to see a story about Lunochod (Russian automated lunar explorer)
I find the language a bit "wooden", which might be a result of a direct translation from Russian documentation. Also, I've had an overwhelming impression that the author had not done much research in astronautic terms, and one can see semantic void encompassing scientific data included in the book.