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  Cold War Space Sleuths: Untold Secrets of the Soviet Space Program (Phelan, et al.)

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Author Topic:   Cold War Space Sleuths: Untold Secrets of the Soviet Space Program (Phelan, et al.)
cspg
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Posts: 6210
From: Geneva, Switzerland
Registered: May 2006

posted 11-17-2011 01:20 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Cold War Space Sleuths: The Untold Secrets of the Soviet Space Program
Edited by Dominic Phelan
"Cold War Space Sleuths" reads like a Cold War espionage novel, but the reality of the story about the dedicated amateur observers bent on finding out about Soviet spaceflight during the Cold War is just as exciting and absorbing. Told in the sleuth's own words, each chapter unfolds a piece of the hidden history of what was happening behind the Iron Curtain.

Coming from all over the world, including Russia itself, the amateur spies give first-hand accounts of often-forgotten aspects of the Cold War space race. Amongst others, their stories include:

  • the history of the Kettering Group;
  • looking inside the Russian archives;
  • mysteries, such as the cosmonauts who were airbrushed out of the official archives;
  • Russian language space secrets;
  • reading between the lines of the Soviet media;
  • the impact of Gorbachev's Glasnost on sleuthing;
"Cold War Space Sleuths" includes an impressive list of contributors, such as:
  • Editor Dominic Phelan, giving an overall history of the Cold War hunt for Soviet space secrets.
  • Space writer Brian Harvey reveals his own personal search through official Soviet radio and magazines to find out what they were (and weren't) revealing to the outside world at the height of the space race.
  • Robert Christy gives a firsthand account of the famed Kettering Group.
  • Sven Grahn from Sweden details his own 40 year quest to understand what was happening on the other side of the Iron Curtain.
  • Professional American historian Asif Siddiqi explores his own adventures in the once secret Russian archives - often seeing documents never before read by Westerners.
  • Dutch cosmonaut researcher Bert Vis provides an inside account of the Yuri Gagarin training center in Moscow.
  • Belgian researcher Bart Hendrickx's details his important translation of the 1960s' diaries of cosmonaut team leader General Kamanin.
  • Pioneer space sleuth James Oberg's shares his memories of his own notable 'scoops' - including revelations about missing cosmonauts, the Nedelin rocket explosion and his trips to previously secret facilities after the fall of the USSR.
  • Paris-based writer Christian Lardier recounts the efforts of French space sleuths - whose work was frequently overlooked in the USA and Britain because of the language barrier.

328KF
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Posts: 1234
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Registered: Apr 2008

posted 11-17-2011 07:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 328KF   Click Here to Email 328KF     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
This sounds like a great project...congrats to my fellow Footprints in the Dust author Dominic. I look forward to reading it!

dom
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Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 11-18-2011 03:24 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Cheers John. My aim for 'Sleuths' is to get all my favourite authors together to create the book I've always wanted to read. Right now, you nearly have to have a whole library of Soviet space stuff to get a handle on the work of the "Space Sleuths". Hopefully this book will have all their best stories between two covers!

With a little luck you should be reading it in early 2013.

ColinBurgess
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Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 11-18-2011 03:40 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ColinBurgess   Click Here to Email ColinBurgess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Dom, your participation in "Footprints" and elsewhere demonstrates that you are a brilliant writer with a great and exciting literary future ahead of you. As I personally know many of the folks mentioned in Chris's summary it is a book I am really looking forward to seeing when it comes out. Enjoy the experience!

ed zigoy
Member

Posts: 31
From: Portland,OR,USA
Registered: Feb 2005

posted 11-24-2011 12:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ed zigoy   Click Here to Email ed zigoy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The book I've always wanted to read was a biography of Mr. Perry and his adventures in the Kettering Group. So is this compendium going to be about themselves as Space Sleuths or a historical reference work interpreting the discoveries they made as Space Sleuths?

dom
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Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 11-24-2011 02:56 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In short Ed, I hope it will be both!

Realising the importance of the Kettering Group to the creation of "space sleuthing", I've asked two former members to write chapters covering the work of the satellite trackers. Bob Christy was actually one of Geoff Perry's pupils and should include some interesting insider details. Contributor Sven Grahn (based in Sweden) was also one of the group's more prominent members.

My aim as editor will be to get the mix right between the personal stories of the sleuths and their discoveries. I realise that there are already a few 'definitive' works on Soviet spaceflight out there, so want to highlight more obscure stories by looking at the work of the space sleuths themselves. I hope this approach works and gives some new angles on already familiar stories.

dom
Member

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 02-02-2012 01:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The cover for this book has just been put on the Springer website.

dom
Member

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 09-15-2012 04:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Production work on Cold War Space Sleuths has now finished and it should be in print by the end of the year. A finalised list of contributors and chapter titles can be found on the publisher's website.

dom
Member

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 11-29-2012 01:33 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Cold War Space Sleuths is now in stock on the Springer and Amazon websites.
I would urge everyone to buy a copy for Christmas!

SpaceCadet1983
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Posts: 227
From: United States
Registered: May 2012

posted 11-29-2012 06:19 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for SpaceCadet1983   Click Here to Email SpaceCadet1983     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I ordered mine today!

hermit
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Posts: 186
From: Scotland
Registered: Jun 2009

posted 12-13-2012 07:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for hermit   Click Here to Email hermit     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Received a copy from Springer - looks good.

dom
Member

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 03-03-2013 02:11 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Apparently the Galveston Daily News newspaper reviewed "Cold War Space Sleuths" in its lifestyle section today.

I would be very grateful if any of you in Texas, who might have the newspaper, would be willing to post off a physical press clipping to me for my files?

Please email me off-line for my address etc. Thanks in advance!

ColinBurgess
Member

Posts: 2031
From: Sydney, Australia
Registered: Sep 2003

posted 03-03-2013 08:49 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ColinBurgess   Click Here to Email ColinBurgess     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Every so often a new book comes out that really grabs my attention and goes on my must-buy list. This is one such book, as many of the subject people are not only well known to me, but to countless others in the collectSPACE forums. Great subject, great author - who could ask for anything more?

dom
Member

Posts: 855
From:
Registered: Aug 2001

posted 03-05-2013 11:54 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for dom   Click Here to Email dom     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I now have the full text of the Daily News review. Thankfully it's a positive one! Here's an excerpt:
"Cold War Space Sleuths" often reads like a class reunion. The individual stories related in each chapter often interlock, with one researcher getting a clue from another, or getting inspiration for an original field of investigation from one another.

As a result, each chapter offers an independent view on the same puzzle. It is like reading a mystery novel written from the viewpoint of the different characters, with the differing perceptions offered by each.

For those interested in space history and the space race, "Cold War Space Sleuths" will offer a fresh and innovative perspective. It recaptures the excitement of the era through the eyes of enthusiastic researchers.

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