Reviews

This engrossing study, published in 1998 in the UK after Doran's BBC documentary of the same name, finally comes to the States, with an afterword to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the first human space flight, the USSR's launch of Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961. Documentary film producer Doran (Atlantic Celtic Films) and Bizony (2001: Filming the Future) use their trove of first-hand Soviet accounts to chronicle Gagarin (1934-68) from his humble origins, his family's harsh life during World War II, to his rise in the Soviet Air Force and his acceptance into the space program. The details of that first harrowing orbit are here, from dramatic liftoff to the remote encounter by a farmer and his daughter of Gagarin parachuted back to Earth. Readers see the significance of Gagarin's triumph and how it rebalanced America's power relationship with the Soviets; Gagarin's decline under the Brezhnev government following his meteoric rise under Khrushchev; the feuds and rivalries along the way; Gagarin's pressurized life as cosmonaut and family man; his excessive drinking and rumored trysts; and the mystery surrounding his death in a training flight (mere accident or political elimination?). Verdict An extraordinary and accessible examination of this enormous contribution to space exploration, supported by riveting first-hand anecdotes. Essential to any air and space collection.-John Carver Edwards, Univ. of Georgia Libs., Cleveland (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.