Russia's Cosmonauts: Inside the Yuri Gagarin Training Center [Paperback]

There is no competition since this is the first book in the English language on cosmonaut selection and training

Offers a unique and original discussion on how Russia prepares its cosmonauts for spaceflight.

Contains original interviews and photographs with first-hand information obtained by the authors on visits to Star City

Provides an insight to the role of cosmonauts in the global space programme of the future.

Reviews the training both of Russian cosmonauts in other countries and of foreign cosmonauts in Star City

The Cosmonaut Training Centre: birth and growth.- Simulators.- Other national and international facilities.- Survival training.- The Cosmonaut Group of the RGNII TsPK.- The Cosmonaut group of RKK Energiya.- Other Soviet and Russian cosmonaut selections.- Cosmonauts selected to fly the Buran Shuttle.- International training.- Joint programmes.- Zvyozdnyy Gorodok  the town.

From the reviews of the first edition:

With the downfall of the Soviet Union & the history of the other manned space program could have been lost forever. That this can no longer occur is due in no small part to enthusiasts like the authors of this book. Diligently they have gathered together a host of appropriately-monochrome photographs, maps and detailed information concerning the Soviet space effort & . its a significant printed resource. Doubtless it will soon be scanned and on the web itself. (Duncan Steel, Australian Physics, Vol. 43 (4), 2006)

The book provides important background information and insight to the operational Soviet/Russian human space program & revealing information and facts not covered elsewhere and providing a unique reference source for those who wish to understand the changing role of Russian cosmonauts in todays global space progl{