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Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel (Hardcover)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In the aftermath of the space shuttle Columbia disaster, Americans may have forgotten that for a quarter-century men and women circled Earth in space stations for as long as a year at a time. Most of these astronauts were from Russia and the Warsaw Pact countries. Zimmerman (Genesis: The Story of Apollo 8) recounts this era of space exploration, beginning with the American-Russian rivalry in the 1960s and concluding with their present-day collaboration on the International Space Station. He reminds us about the short-lived 1970s Skylab program, which was to have been followed by other U.S. space stations. Granted access to Russian archives and interviews with cosmonauts and their families, the author describes the Soviet program in great detail. The original Russian space stations, he reports, were intended primarily for propaganda and military purposes, but they also included a variety of scientific experiments and perfected the use of unmanned "freighters" to bring supplies and parts from Earth. If readers remember anything about the Russian program, it is probably the troubled final months of the Mir station, but Zimmerman describes the heroic efforts of cosmonauts to put out fires and make extended space walks to undertake complicated repairs. The Russians also conducted extensive research on the effects of living in space on the human body, research that will be invaluable for possible future travel to other planets. This book will be of interest primarily to scientists and hard-core science buffs, but it will undoubtedly be the leading book on the Russian space station program for the foreseeable future.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

"...a scientifically vivid and intensely personal book... a grand chronicle of an overlooked human adventure..." -- Focus, December 2003

"...an exceedingly thorough and very enjoyable historical account. .. an easy-reading but detailed history of the space station..." -- Observatory, June 2004

"...an excellent interpretive history... This book is superior to many aerospace histories done by professional historians and 'space experts.'" -- Eyepiece, December 2003

"...the accounts of the close calls and disasters are often fascinating..." -- Library Journal

"...well-written, informative account... good read and perhaps the best source of information on a neglected part of space history" -- Astronomy, October 2003

"A seamless recounting of methodical discoveries and political maneuverings alike, Leaving Earth is a super contemporary history..." -- Library Bookwatch, December 2003

"Space enthusiasts worried about where the manned space program is headed will take some heart..." -- The Washington Times, August 31, 2003

"Zimmerman presents a profusion of striking vignettes..." -- Invention & Technology, Fall 2003

"an engaging narrative of human experiences with longer and longer space missions..." -- Nature, December 2003

Winner of 2003 Emme Award -- American Astronautical Society

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

Hardcover: 544 pages
Publisher: Joseph Henry Press; 1 edition (September 3, 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0309085489
ISBN-13: 978-0309085489
Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.4 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)

Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #979,568 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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	55% buy the item featured on this page: Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel 4.7 out of 5 stars (9) $21.80
	21% buy Genesis: The Story Of Apollo 8 3.9 out of 5 stars (42) $7.99
	9% buy Spacefaring: The Human Dimension 5.0 out of 5 stars (4) $20.65
	8% buy The Universe in a Mirror: The Saga of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Visionaries Who Built It 4.0 out of 5 stars (14) $19.77

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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews

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4.7 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Short History of Long Duration Space Flight, November 9, 2003

By	skyrat "skyrat" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

Zimmerman has crafted a compelling history of long duration space flight. By necessity, the story is 80% Soviet / Russian. Zimmerman must have tapped into some new sources for material as there are plenty of new revelations of both good and bad aspects from inside the Soviet program. I was especially impressed by Zimmerman's treatment of the underlying political machinations, both Soviet / Russian and American, and their effects on each country's space exploration program (and bonus: one of the few balanced accounts of Reaganomics!) The diagrams of the various stations are excellent, and you will find yourself constantly referring back to them as Zimmerman takes you through each station's growth and evolution.

On the down side, there is only one chapter devoted to all three Skylab missions, and I couldn't help but wish this received more attention. Additionally, the volume suffers from a lack of any photographs whatsoever.

All in all, this volume still ranks as one of the best factual accounts of manned space flight that I have read. It is an excellent companion to Burrough's "Dragonfly" and Burrows' "This New Ocean."

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Insight from the Russian Experience in Space, June 30, 2005

By	Arthur P. Smith (Selden, New York USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Robert Zimmerman, space historian and enthusiast, combines a love of technical issues with extensive background research in this account of the nine space stations flown so far by the Soviet Union (now Russia) and the United States. As the full title suggests, Zimmerman sees an important rarely stated purpose for the stations: learning how to maintain, operate, and work within vessels that closely resemble those that will first carry humans between the planets.

This detailed historical account of space station development is a powerful demonstration of how people have learned critical skills for living in space through repeated failure of almost every imaginable variety.

Today we remember Mir and Skylab, but the early Soviet Salyut stations were where much of the real learning happened. Fires, propellant leaks, repeated docking failures and failures in all sorts of science experiments (particularly attempts at plant growth) characterize much of the early history. Failures in crew relationships were at least as frequent - some crews (generally 2 men for the Salyuts) got along famously, but others quickly got on one another's nerves and bitterly endured through months of orbital isolation.

Human failure is here too - the toothaches, infections and heart problems of normal life, and then also the worrying problem of loss of bone mass - up to 2 percent a month, in zero gravity. And political failure, which showed up in relationships with ground controllers who seemed to cease caring, in later years, about what were very serious problems in orbit.

The first failures were docking problems, and sadly, the loss of three cosmonauts. Brezhnev gave the go-ahead to the Salyut program apparently to improve international public relations for the Soviet Union, and so missions were much more public than they had been in the past. Soyuz 10, the first mission to Salyut 1, failed in attempts to dock, and had to return. Soyuz 11, carrying a last-minute crew, successfully docked, and was met by the smell of burning insulation when they opened the hatch. At least half the equipment they'd been asked to work with didn't work
as planned in zero gravity. The three men spent three weeks on the station, dealt with another electrical fire, broadcast to the world from orbit, and managed to magnify a few personality conflicts along the way. And then, in their descent module shortly after leaving the station, a pressure equalization valve opened, and, despite their best efforts, they were dead in minutes.

The US Skylab came next, and it too started in failure - the last launch of a Saturn V rocket - during launch part of the meteor/heat shield was ripped away, destroying one solar panel and tangling another so it could not open, and exposing the workshop enclosure to direct sunlight, raising its temperature to as high as 130 degrees (F). Skylab's first crew, launched 10 days later, managed to fix essentially all the problems (except for the lost solar panel) through ingenuity and hard work.

Follow-on crews learned a lot about living in space - but ironically, the science experiments approved did not include any of the plant-growth experiments the Soviets were so keen on - growing plants in zero gravity was not something US scientists were funded to study, despite the apparent usefulness for long-term living in space.

The Soviet Salyut stations followed one after another; the first really successful one, as described by Zimmerman, being Salyut 6, launched in 1977. They had learned a lot from earlier failures and experiences, and now had a station that could sustain itself for long periods in orbit, with human assistance. Salyut 6 had a fire too - these early experiences with fires in space explain why the later fire on Mir was much more frightening to the American on board, than to the Russians. Salyut 7, which was still orbiting when Mir's first pieces launched in 1986, suffered a very severe propellant leak that nearly disabled the station; a later crew ripped open the outer shell of the station to get at the various bits of tubing they needed to test and replace, and managed to make the repairs needed over a series of space walks
that amounted to more than all previous Soviet space walks combined.

The Russians had learned how to deal with problems in space, how to fix them with their own ingenuity. Since Salyut 1 they have not lost a single person, not even had any severe injuries. There had certainly been some very close calls - the fire on Mir and the later collision of a Progress freighter with the station could have been very serious. But somehow they managed, through luck and ingenuity, to keep things working. As Zimmerman puts it, the station had proved that the technology for going to other planets was available, and buildable. "Provide human beings with the necessary tools and supplies and they can go anywhere."

The Soviet space program had become, in the new Russia, independent and profit-oriented - driving hard bargains and keeping a technology edge. In the US, in contrast, things had become very rigid, bureaucratic, and "focusless". In Zimmerman's phrase, the two "ships passed in the night": America's efforts in space now resemble those of the early Soviet Union; astronauts have little freedom to do their own things, with everything prescribed down to the minute. No room for learning, or ingenuity among those who are actually experiencing spaceflight firsthand. Problems and risks are ignored or downplayed by the bureaucracy. Commonsense is thrown out the window. And tourists like Dennis Tito are seen as threats, not vindication.

One of the strengths of Zimmerman's book is the focus on the people - but this also leads to many somewhat formulaic biographies of many cosmonauts and figures such as Boris Yeltsin. The psychological interactions among the different crews are certainly interesting, as are all the wonderful historical details Zimmerman has dug up. A great book for space history buffs, and anybody interested in the experiences of the first to practice what we'll need to do to travel between the planets.

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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Leaving Earth, August 1, 2004

By	Rocky Parsons (Ireland, WV USA) - See all my reviews

Every page of this interesting book is packed with details of the evolution of the Russian manned space program. It is very well researched and Robert Zimmerman does an excellent job describing the interaction between on-the-ground politics and space science. The stories of life, survival and endurance on the space stations is facinating. This book is a must read for anyone who is interested in the history of man's quest for conquering the many problems of surviving in the harsh space environment.

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Most Recent Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 stars Eye-opening, romanticized view of space station research
This book was quite interesting and eye-opening in many ways. I have to agree with one of the back-cover reviews that many Americans, even ones very familiar with NASA and western... Read more

Published on November 19, 2006 by Kenneth Gosier

4.0 out of 5 stars A History of the First Space Stations
Zimmerman's book is the detailed story of the first space stations. Anyone interested in manned spaceflight should
read it. Read more

Published on December 13, 2005 by Robert Jones

5.0 out of 5 stars Crazed Cosmonauts out in the Cosmos!
One of two aspects of Mr. Zimmerman's book that most reviewers seem to have missed is his recounting of the many errors, problems, and dilemmas, large and small, trivial and... Read more

Published on March 11, 2004 by Jeffrey H., Wasserman

5.0 out of 5 stars Leaving Earth: An exceptional book!
Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel by Robert Zimmerman is an exciting and exceptional space history book, filled with... Read more

Published on January 30, 2004 by David M. Livingston

5.0 out of 5 stars A Space History Must Read
Having just finished this book , I must say I was greatly astonished. I have read almost everything on the American space program and what little has been written on the... Read more

Published on December 21, 2003 by david562

5.0 out of 5 stars A seamless recounting of methodical discoveries
Award-winning essayist Robert Zimmerman presents Leaving Earth: Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, And The Quest For Interplanetary Travel, the scientific and historical saga of... Read more

Published on December 12, 2003 by Midwest Book Review

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