Review by Choice Review
Historians Hendrickx and Vis offer a history of the Soviet sace shuttle and its attached rocket, one of the most powerful ever built. It was designed and constructed in response to the US space shuttle, which the Russians thought was designed to give the US military advantage. The Russians sought to counter this advantage--whatever it was. The major difference between the two shuttle systems was that the Buran did not have main engines; it was to be lifted into orbit solely by the Energiya rocket. Two successful launches of Energiya and one unmanned flight of the Buran were made. The program was then cancelled (the Cold War was ebbing). The technology developed for Buran-Energiya is now used by the Zenit rocket family (the strap-on boosters) and the US Atlas rocket's first stage (a scaled-down version of the engine); the engine will also be used for the next generation of Russian rockets. The Buran docking hardware is now used on the International Space Station. This comprehensive history of the program, its technology, its designers, and its cosmonauts is an important contribution to the history of space technology, and is for those interested in space policy, engineering, systems, and history. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels. A. M. Strauss Vanderbilt University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
