Behind the Sputniks: A Survey of Soviet Space Science

This report, as its title indicates, is a survey of Soviet astronauLic:based entirely on the open literature.It is by no means an exhaustive effort, for that would be an almost impossible task.Rather, it is a preliminary attempt at uncovering evidence of increasing Soviet concern with the challenging problems of space flight.What the• Russians have written on the subject of astronautics provides important insights into their intent and aspirations in the conquest of outer space.Their • technical literature clearly shows that their interest is not merely academic or superficial.It is as serious and purposeful as interest can be in a science that is sponsored to the hilt by a ruthless totalitarian regime.The Introduction to the survey delineates, briefly, the history of the development of astronautics in Russia from the turn of the century up to the launching of the first artificial earth satellite.It is intended to provide the reader with a background of the events that presaged Sputnik I and to acquaint him with some of the personnel entrusted with the exposition of the problems of space flight.The articles and papers that form the main portion of the survey are, for the most part, translations from the Russian.They were written by various authorities on Soviet astronautics and have been selected from a wide variety of publications.Adherence to chronology within the specific subject categories has been deliberate in order to show not only the singleness of purpose in the Soviet space flight program but also the Russian technique in developing the subject in the open literature.The Bibliography, which contai-cs more than 339 items, has been divided into two parts in order to increase its value to the general reader as well as to the scholar.Part I lists books and monographs dealing with the historical, scientific, and technical aspects of rocketry and astronautics.Part II contains references drawn from various Russian newspapers, popular magazines, and serious technical journals.Most of the articles and papers in this report appeared in RAND Research Memoranda RM-1760 and RM-1922, which formed Parts I and II of a series entitled "A Casebook on Soviet Astronautics," dated June 21, 1956, and June 21, 1957, respectively.The material from these studies has been collated and supplemented with new material in order to round out, and integrate the story behind the Sputniks.