Soviet and Russian Lunar ExplorationThis book tells the story of the Soviet and Russian lunar programme, from its origins to the present-day federal Russian space programme. Brian Harvey describes the techniques devised by the USSR for lunar landing, from the LK lunar module to the LOK lunar orbiter and versions tested in Earth’s orbit. He asks whether these systems would have worked and examines how well they were tested. He concludes that political mismanagement rather than technology prevented the Soviet Union from landing cosmonauts on the moon. The book is well timed for the return to the moon by the United States and the first missions there by China and India. |
Contents
| 1 | |
The rst moon probes | 15 |
3 | 44 |
The softlanders and orbiters | 69 |
The rst cosmonauts to the moon 111 | 110 |
Around the moon | 183 |
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Common terms and phrases
able achieve Alexei American Apollo August Automatic base became began block built bureau cabin called camera carried chief close command complex cosmic ray Cosmic Ship cosmonauts Cosmos course crater crew decision descent developed direct early Earth engine eventually exploration failed failure four fuel Glushko ground ight Institute Interplanetary Korolev landing later launch Leonov Luna 16 lunar orbit lunar surface Lunokhod manoeuvre March Mars military Mishin mission module months moon Moscow never once original probe problems race radio reached rendezvous rocket rover Russians sample satellite scienti®c selected Sergei signals Soviet space Soviet Union Soyuz space programme spacecraft stage station successful thrust tonnes took tracking turned United upper stage Vladimir Zond