Star-crossed Orbits: Inside the U.S.-Russian Space Alliance

A relevatory behind-the-scenes glimpse - part memoir, part investigative journalism - into the U.S. - Russian space program details the problems, misunderstandings, suspicion, high-level trickery, and betrayals that lurked beneath the surface of this alliance.

Inaccurate perceptions over the efficacy of the Russian space program long fueled the U.S.-Russian space race and are now driving current cooperation efforts, Oberg argues in this insider account. A self-described lifelong space nut and an expert on the Russian space program, Oberg shows that despite U.S. fear over the Soviet Union's achievements in space, the failed missions during communism's decay were nothing new: the U.S.S.R. had simply covered up their earlier mistakes, such as fires aboard Soviet space stations. And not surprisingly, these mistakes only multiplied as funding for the Soviet space program dried up in the late 1980s and early '90s. But Oberg has a larger ax to grind here joint space efforts. Since the mid-1970s, the U.S. and the Soviet Union increasingly tried to cooperate in space; Oberg opposes this teamwork for two reasons, the first being that space cooperation didn't produce the mutual understanding it was supposed to. He's on solid ground here, particularly when he discusses the communist era. But what really seems to gnaw at him is that cooperation has become NASA's major justification for space missions. As he puts it, "If the Russians aren't involved, the project shouldn't occur" is the prevailing attitude. While Oberg includes interesting information about past and future space programs, he fails to provide enough fodder to convince the non-space enthusiast that pursuing new U.S.

manned flights to the moon or even Mars is worth the time or the money.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Oberg (Uncovering Soviet Disasters: Exploring the Limits of Glasnost), a former NASA contract employee, believes that Russia (and before it the Soviet Union) has cooperated with the United States on space missions not to promote international goodwill or advance scientific research but rather to secure funding for its own space program, maintain a continued presence in the international space market, and obtain access to U.S. technology. The U.S.-Russian space partnership, which occurred in 1993 when the "Space Race" finally ended, has cost the United States billions, and return on the investment has been minimal. The author blames primarily NASA, accusing the agency of overlooking significant cultural differences that hinder cooperation between the two nations, passively accepting delayed deliveries of overpriced and possibly unsafe space equipment, ignoring the lessons learned during previous cooperative ventures, and covering up its own errors and inefficiencies. Yet, sour as he may seem, Oberg still believes that the United States and Russia could have a promising future as space partners provided both nations bring realistic expectations to the relationship. For this work of investigative journalism, Oberg had access to Russian agencies, people, and archives relating to the space program. For academic and larger public libraries. Nancy R. Curtis, Univ. of Maine Lib., Orono
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.