Starman - Softcover

Doran, Jamie; Bizony, Piers

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1408815540 ISBN 13: 9781408815540

Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks, 2011

Synopsis

On April 12 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human to leave the Earth's atmosphere and venture into space. An icon of the 20th century, he also became a danger to himself and a threat to the Soviet state. At the age of 34, he was killed in a plane crash. Based on KGB files, restricted documents from Russian space authorities, and interviews with his friends and colleagues, this biography of the Russian cosmonaut reveals a man in turmoil: torn apart by powerful political pressures, fighting a losing battle against alcoholism and rebelling against the cruelties of a corrupt totalitarian regime.

2011 marks the fiftieth anniversary of Gagarin's flight. This new edition of Starman includes a new afterword that celebrates the importance of that momentous expedition and reflects on Gagarin's legacy.

About this title

Review:

Writer Piers Bizony and award winning film producer Jamie Doran have written a slim, yet well-researched biography of the world's first spaceman, Yuri Gagarin, in Starman. The 250-page book traces Gagarin's jet-propelled life, from his poor- boy roots in the Russian village of Klushino to his historic flight into space on April 12, 1961. The biography's strong point is in its examination of the institutional idiocies and failures that marked the Russian space programme. A classic example would be Gagarin's death in an aircraft crash near Moscow on March 27, 1968. The Soviet authorities left his family believing he was assassinated when it was almost certain that the cause of the crash was a simple air traffic control error. In another incident, a pre-flight report that showed cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov's Soyuz spacecraft had 203 faults--including a parachute that wouldn't open--was pulped. Komarov died in the craft. The biography is a fascinating--yet chilling--look at bureaucracy gone wrong.

Review:

'Starman takes us breakneck speed through Gagarin's strange trajectory...Without books like these to shelter it, history is eroded by propaganda and real heroes fall victim to spin' (New Scientist)

'A riveting account of Gagarin's life ... Starman brilliantly captures the atmosphere of the time' (European)

'Starman skilfully achieves two distinct objectives: The uncovering of much of the mystery around one of mankind's finest periods, and a full and respectful acknowledgement that its many great heroes, both sung and unsung, were, first and foremost, human beings' (Moscow Times)

'Starman was worth writing and is definitely worth reading' (Daily Telegraph)

About this edition

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 1408815540
• ISBN 13: 9781408815540
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 256