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********************* Russia Aerospace Guide *********************
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No. 8, May 1995
This document may be copied only in its
entirety with no changes. No fee may be charged for distribution.
No broadcast distribution please.
***** Content *****
New books from Eastview Publishing
From First Satellite to Energia-Buran and Mir
The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the
Cold War
Albatrosses
Red Mercury
Russian Missile Designations
Cosmonaut Addresses
Models
World Radio Transcripts
Russian Writing Software Tools
Russian Encyclopedia of Information and Telecommunications
Space Monitoring Information
Lectures/Reports of VNIITRANSMASH
Baikonour La porte des etoiles
Red Ladies in Waiting
Stalin Organs
Secret Story of the Soviet Space Shuttle
Soviet High Altitude Research Balloons
***** Editors Note *****
Thanks for everyones contributions, keep them coming. The
next issue will not be until August and will include reviews of:
"Stalin & the Bomb", "Scholars Guide to Washington DC for Russian
Central Eurasian and Baltic Studies", "Russia and the Former
Soviet Union: A Bibliographic Guide to English Language
Publications 1986-1991", and "The Making of a Soviet Scientist".
***** News *****
New books from Eastview Publishing
Eastview Publishing has several titles of interest to readers:
The Soviet Strategic Rocket Forces: 1959-91: this book has many
drawings of missile systems that will be of interest to some
readers, text is in Russian
Aerospace News: is a english weekly periodical from the Postfactum
News Agency. It includes sections on civil aviation in great
detail on all aspects of airline operation in former Soviet
republics, news on airline and airport operations, aircraft
developments including military aircraft. A Russian version is
also available which includes some space developments.
Aviatsiia Entsiklopedia : the First ever Russian encyclopedia of
aviation. From Gagarin to TsAGI, this Unique encyclopedia is a
vast collection of information on key players and major
developments in the history of Russian aviation. Charts and
diagrams for planes and facts on hundreds of design bureaus and
aviation institutes are detailed. Over 700 pages of facts and
figures are provided. complete with illustrations. In Russian.
Military Parade - the magazine of the Military Industrial Complex:
is a bi-monthly color magazine from the Rosvoorouzhenie import
export firm. Covering everything from tanks to helicopters and
Radars to GLONASS.
Guidebook to the Airplanes of Civilian Aviation
Russia's Arms - a multi-volume catalog of detailed information on
Russian weapons from handguns to missiles including color photos
and diagrams and information on development, written by the
industry and military experts.
Vol. 1 - Weapons of the Ground Forces
Vol. 2 - Military Aviation
Vol. 3 - Weapons of the Navy
Vol. 4 - Space Weaponry (due late in 1995)
Vol. 5 - Weapons of Air Defense Forces
Vol. 6 - Ammunition
"East View Publications is proud to announce that the formerly
classified journal of the Soviet/Russian military is available in
English. The journal Military Thought is a direct translation of
Voennaia mysl' and has only been available outside of official
channels for the past couple of years. We have back issues in hard
copy and microfiche going back to the post-revolutionary years.
In 1994, 12 issues were published. Due to cutbacks in the
Russian military, publishing has been reduced to 6 issues per
year."
The books are big and the prices reflect that, but Eastview is a
very convenient resource. They have many other selections
available that will be of interest and the prices vary greatly,
there is definitely something for everyone. Contact: Eastview
Publications, 3020 Harbor Lane North, Minneapolis, MN 55447, USA.
800-477-1005, 612-550-0961, FAX: 612-559-2931,
eastview@skypoint.com
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From First Satellite to Energia-Buran and Mir
Editor G.A.Kustova, Moscow, 1994. 8.5x11" size, 128 pages, dual
Russia/English text. as reviewed in Issue #6 earlier this year has
been available in small quantities from Transquest this year,
contact Tranquest Corporation, Tel (Fax) 1-216-888-3991 (-3992)
Cleveland, OH. http://rogue.northwest.com/~charles
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The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of the
Cold War
"The Great Transition: American-Soviet Relations and the End of
the Cold War", by Raymond L. Garthoff, Washington D.C., The
Brookings Institution, 1994. See the review in Naval Proceedings,
Jan. 1995, p. 83.
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Albatrosse Newsletter
Serious aerospace historians may want to consider contacting the
editor of the Albatross newsletter to get on the mailing list,
especially if you want to network with academics in the field.
Contact: W. David Lewis at Auburn University, History Department,
7030 Haley Center, Auburn University, Alabama, 36849-5207.
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Red Mercury
Thanks to Curtis Peebles for sending a clipping on the rath of Red
Mercury. The AP story from Nov. 1994 states that in the last 4
years 78 people have been killed and 300 injured in Namibia trying
to dismantle weapons smuggled from Angola. It continues to state
that the Ovambo people of north Namibia have been told that the
weapons contain red mercury and that it can be used to make
nuclear weapons. Some people try to dismantle the weapons to
extract the chemicals.
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Russian Missile Designations
The article by Steven Zaloga in Janes Intelligence Review, August
1994 is a good primer to the practice of Soviet-Russian missile
naming practices. The article covers AA, SA, SS, SS-N, AS, ABM,
AT, FROG, AT, SA-N, SSC types and has a table of missile design
bureau. This is a must if you are trying to understand the
reasoning behind missile and program designations.
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Cosmonaut Addresses
A source of addresses for many cosmonauts is maintained by Jurgen
Peter Esders. Contact: Jurgen Peter Esders, Avenue Huart-Hamoir
45, B 1030 Bruxelles, Belgium
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Models
Recently there have been advertisements and reviews of plastic
models of the Sputnik and Vostok launch vehicles. (see Fine Scale
Modeler, january, 1995, p. 14). The models are made in Russia by
Apex, PO Box 24, Moscow, 123371, Russia, but should be widely
available at larger suppliers in Europe and the USA.
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World Radio Transcripts
World Radio Transcripts/Radiotexte international offers
transcripts of Voice of Russia news by e-mail. Prices are
$129/year via e-mail, $229/year via mail and $339/year via FAX.
Contact: World Radio Transcripts, R.R. 1 Bristol, Quebec, J0X 1G0.
Ph: 1-819-647-3164 and ask to speak with David Gonczol or Anne-
Josee Delcorde.
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Russian Writing Software Tools
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Russian Encyclopedia of Information and Telecommunications
SOCIUM Company is distributing a most powerful database "Russian
Encyclopedia of Information and Telecommunications". This database
includes data on all major Russian databases, information
resources, information publications, networks and their services.
It also includes data on executives.
The database has extended crossreference tools, easy navigation,
simple interface. All information products mentioned in the
database also available through SOCIUM Company. Database listed
more than 600 database, 1200 companies, 490 program products, 90
telecommunication/network systems, 1800 personalities.
For more info please contact SOCIUM Company
socium@crl.com, Russian Connction BBS (415)691-9092 P.O.Box
390334, Mountain View CA 94039, Fax (510)651-0606
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Space Monitoring Information
New home page that relates to weather satellites is avaliable.
A part of it was known as http://mx.iki.rssi.ru/scanor_main.html
but was moved to it's native home: http://smis.iki.rssi.ru
This is home page of Space Monitoring Information Support
laboratory situated at Space Research Institute (IKI, stands for
Institut Kosmitcheskikh Issledovanii), Moscow, Russia.
This host contains now more sample images (NOAA HRPT images
slightly processed and mapped to a common projection). These
images are also avaliable via anonymous ftp
(ftp://smis.iki.rssi.ru/pub/images).
Dr. Michael Yu. Zakharov, Space Research Institute, 84/32
Profsoyuznaya, 117810, Moscow, Russsia. tel: +7(095)333-5313
e-mail: mike@d902.iki.rssi.ru
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Lectures/Reports of VNIITRANSMASH
The Institute of Transportation Equipment in St-Petersburg offers
a number of lectures and looking for those who are interested.
They have already had some visitors from Japan, Finland and
France and it seems that their visitors were satisfied with the
program offered by the Institute and by the service provided by
the initiative group. They also provide the cultural program, the
hotel, meals etc.
Lectures/Reports of Department of space & mobile robotics of
VNIITRANSMASH
1. Soviet developments of planet rovers in period of 1964 - 1990
2. Small mobile apparatus for surface studies
3. Physical and mechanical properties of lunar soil
4. Instruments for studying physical & mechanical properties
lunar & planet soil.
5. Mobile penetrometer for the investigation of the moon & planet
soil
6. From the MOON rover to the MARS rover
7. Three-axle stabilized platform of ARGUS complex (TSP-ARGUS)
8. Movement over the MOON and PLANETS
9. Machine vision TV control system
10. Walking machine full-scale mock -up
11. Lowered Gravity simulation methods
12. Microrobots for the MOON and PLANETS studying
13. Peculiarities design and interaction of onboard manipulator
with
scientific instruments and mars rover
14. Robotic systems development and application experience
gained at the chernobyl npp accident consequences elimination
15.Interaction between vehicle's hard wheel and soil of planrts
16. Parametric estimation of dinamic interaction between rovers
and planetary surface with using the probability approach
For more information email to Sergei Matrossov: rcl@rcl.spb.su
***** Reviews *****
Baikonour La porte des etoiles, Armand Colin Editeur, Paris, 1994,
ISBN 2-200-21546-0, pp. 225, 175-00 FF.
Review by N.C. Da Costa
This book charts the history of the Cosmodrome from its conception
to its modern day problems. It contains the following six
chapters.
1) A new era opens for humanity
2) The brith of the biggest cosmodrome in the world
3) Baikonur, theatre for the exploits of Soviet Cosmonautics
4) The manned spaceflights
5) Grandeur and misfortune of Baikonur
6) The tulips of Baikonur
Among the topics covered are the biographies of the key designers,
the N-1 project, launches, and launch pad facilities and the town
of Leninsk. There is also a chronological layout of a typical
Soyuz mission based on Soyuz T-6. Containing many photos,
illustrations and tables, it is a must for the enthusiast, though
a fairly good knowledge of French is required. The only criticism
is that this work contains no references.
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Red Ladies in Waiting, by Hans-Heiri Stapfer, Squadron/Signal
Publications, 1994, pp. 65, ISBN 0-89747-316-7.
Review by Dennis Newkirk
This softbound picture book is a collection of black and white and
color photos taken at major airfields in Russia and East Europe.
The aircraft are new and old, showing variations in models and
paint schemes. There are several pages of text and all the photos
are well captioned. From photos of vintage aircraft and short
histories of the airfields, to special purpose planes like space
tracking Il-76's and western aircraft acquired during the clod
war, there are many interesting photos.
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Stalin Organs, by Michael Foedrowitz, Shiffer Military/Aviation
History, Shiffer Publishing, Atglen , PA, 1994, p. 48, ISBN 0-
88740-669-6.
Review by Dennis Newkirk
From 1930's development to post-WWII versions, this photo book
shows all kinds of configurations of launchers and many kinds of
Katyusha rockets. Several pages of text describe history and many
photos and illustrations are well captioned.
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Secret Story of the Soviet Space Shuttle, by Henry Matthews, 1994,
Beirut, Lebanon (published by the author, AUB INFO OFFICE, POB 11-
0236, Beirut, Lebanon).
Review by Dennis Newkirk
The Secret Story of the Soviet Space Shuttle is the first
book dedicated to trying to explain the decades of work toward
space planes and space shuttles in the Soviet Union. It is paper
bound and 100 pages long, profusely illustrated with black and
white photos and a few color photos. The text is almost of
secondary importance next to the photos, a few of which have
rarely been seen in the west.
The book starts out briefly reviewing very early rocketry
developments in Russia including theoretical ideas of Tsiolkovsky,
Tsander, etc., and rocket use on aircraft in the 1930's and
1940's. It also reviews the Spiral program and the following BOR
flights with some error. Although the author tried to explain the
relation of the Spiral and BOR flights, the information presented
is less than complete. The misinterpretation of the Kosmos 881/882
type 'dual-kosmos' missions relation to spaceplane development
begun by this reviewer is unfortunately continued by the author.
They are now accepted to have been tests of the TKS capsule for
Chelomei's Almaz projects. While Chelomei was involved in space
plane development, this is not mentioned probably due to the
recent release of this information.
The Energia/Buran project is covered in more detail and
comprises about half of the book. It is fairly well done but also
has errors such as misidentifying the Energia Polyus payload as
being made of Buran components. At the end of the book are several
tables of cosmonauts selected for space shuttle projects over the
years and biographies of them.
The book apparently makes use of several sources in Russia
including the Videokosmos photo archive, however photo credits are
missing on several photos making it difficult to trace their
origin. A couple of drawings also bear striking resemblance to
those in this reviewers 1990 article in Spaceflight magazine on
the same subject. (This is at least the second time they have been
redrawn in other publications without any attempt to ask me for
the originals which I will gladly give to anyone who wants to
publish them.)
The author states the hope that in future editions of the
book a fuller account of this story will be told and we can look
forward to that. The fact that the full story is still not yet
known, combined with the lack of references makes the book's text
only good for light reading of the casual observer. Mr. Matthews
"Encyclopedia of Rocket Aircraft and Space Shuttles" is planned to
be translated from Arabic to English sometime this year.
Even with the less than complete story and a few errors, the
books photos make it a worthy addition to any collection on Soviet
spaceflight, but if you want the full story as the title promises
you may want to wait for the next edition.
***** Wanted/Questions/Corrections *****
Soviet High Altitude Research Balloons David Shayler
I am currently compiling data on the Soviet high altitude
research balloons (manned) of the 1930s to the 1960s. I am
interested in any information any readers have especially on the
Volga series of ascents and on the organization, experiments,
flights, hardware and aeronauts who crewed the gondolas in this
period.
Contact: David Shayler, Astro Info Service, 26 High Farm Road,
Hurst Green, Halesowen, West Midlands, B62 9RX, England
[Ed: Check out the new book "The Pre-Astronauts: Manned Ballooning
On the Threshold of Space", by Craig Ryan, available from Zenit
books 800-826-6600]
- Anyone interested in attending an informal meeting of
Soviet/Russian space researchers at the launch of the shuttle Mir
docking mission in June 1995 please contact Dennis Newkirk at the
address below. My preference is to keep this to an informal
meeting lasting the rest of the day after (or before the launch in
the event of a night launch) at a nearby hotel, preferably one
with a good restaurant. A date will not be set, this only applies
to the actual launch day regardless of any delays. Final details
will be made on site via my cell phone. On the day of the launch
call me at 312-749-6359 for time and location of the meeting.
Contact the Guide (see below)
***** Contributers *****
Dr. Neil Da Costa
David Shayler
***** Contributions *****
The objective of the Guide is to put professional and amateur
Russian aerospace researchers and writers in touch with each other
and the wide array of atypical information sources available about
past and present events. As researchers uncover sources they can
make the source known to the rest of the community and are
credited with providing the info. If you find a good book, or an
article about Russian aerospace outside the main stream US space
press (Space News, Aviation Week, Final Frontier, Air & Space,
etc.) write up a brief description of the item and send it to the
Guide. If you are looking for specific information send in your
questions to be listed to other researchers. Please include
contact information, if specified the contact info will be
withheld. Please send news releases, abstracts of articles, new or
noteworthy old book reviews, interviews, conference reports, news
and other information related to the study of USSR and Russian
aerospace and related cold war, military and political events you
wish to be listed to:
Dennis Newkirk
Internet: issguide@home.com
Submissions via e-mail encouraged. Mail submissions should be on
3.5 inch diskette DOS or Mac format. Text should be in plain ASCII
format and graphics should be in GIF, EPSF, TIFF or PICT format.
Only as a last resort send hard copies or xerox's.
If you wish to be added to the mailing list send or e-mail a
message to the address above. Please state how receiving the Guide
will aid your work, this will enable the newsletter to serve you
better.