Amazon.co.uk Review
Writer Piers Bizony and TV documentary researcher 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.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
Synopsis
On April 12 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the first human in history to leave the Earth's atmosphere and venture into space. An icon of the 20th century, he also became a danger to himself, a threat to the Soviet state and, at the age of 34, he was killed in a plane accident. 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 and emotional pressures; his private life in ruins; fighting a losing battle against alcoholism; and rebelling against the cruelties of a corrupt totalitarian regime. The authors also suggest that Gagarin's death was no accident but a deliberate "political elimination".