Russian Space Probes

Brian Harvey is an established Praxis author of many books in the Springer-Praxis Space Exploration program on the Russian, Chinese, Indian, Japanese, European space programs.  He was the Editor of the Space Exploration 2007 annual and is Joint Editor of the following annual, due in September 2007: Space Exploration 2008.  Brian has written many articles for 'Spaceflight' magazine, 'Orbit', 'Astronomy and Space' and the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and regularly broadcasts on spaceflight for RTE, the BBC and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Dr. Olga Zakutnyaya studied journalism at Novosibirsk State University and Lomonosov Moscow State University. Since 2003 she has been working as a science journalist for various editions, mainly freelance. In 2008 she acquired the Ph.D. in philolohu. She has been working as an assistant to the head of the Public Relations department of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IKI).

• Introduction by the authors.- Acknowledgments.- Glossary.- Terminological and translation notes.- Reference notes.- List of tables.- List of illustrations.- List of figures.- Chapter 1: Early space science.- Chapter 2: Deepening our understanding.- Chapter 3: Revealing the Moon.- Chapter 4: Unveiling Venus.- Chapter 5: The path to Mars.- Chapter 6: Orbiting space stations.- Chapter 7: Later Soviet space science: the observatories.- Chapter 8: Perspectives, past, and future.- Annex: Summary of Soviet and Russian space science missions.- Bibliography.- Index.

From the reviews: "This well-researched book begins with a discussion of early Soviet balloon flights, followed by coverage of the Sputnik era and the Soviet lunar, Venus, and Mars probes. Harvey ... and Zakutnyaya, a science journalist, provide good descriptions of numerous Soviet experiments related to space biology and materials science. ... Overall, the book provides an excellent account of the extensive scientific results/accomplishments of Soviet space programs. ... An important contribution to the history of space science. Summing Up: Highly recommended. All readers."--- (A. M. Strauss, Choice, Vol. 49 (3), November, 2011) "The country's descent from technological and scientific dominance is clearly demonstrated by this book, which summarizes in considerable depth the scientific missions and discoveries made by the former Soviet Union. ... the entire book is taken up with descriptions of scientific endeavours undertaken during the 1960s and 1970s. ... This well-researched volume provides a valuable account of many experiments and missions which have previously been poorly documented in the West." (Peter Bond, The Observatory, Vol. 132 (1227), April, 2012)