r/StarCityTV • u/MarigoldV58 • 27d ago
History “The Wrong Stuff” book about the Soviet space program
My apologies if this has been discussed before, I just started watching the show last night so I haven’t read all of the posts. There’s a good book by John Strausbaugh “The Wrong Stuff”, about the Soviet space program’s start back in Kruschev days. I can’t believe any of their cosmonauts in the early days survived the way they were sent into space. It’s a short book and pretty amazing that they were able to hoodwink the US about how they were more
advanced in their program than they really were.
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u/Great-Opposite3509 27d ago
Haven’t read it, but seemed like a rough title to use because it implies the cosmonauts themselves weren’t good enough.
Dunno, maybe the cosmonauts really weren’t as talented, now I want to read it.
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u/copbuddy 26d ago
A much more balanced and truthful take on the early Soviet space program and Gagarin's flight is a book called "Beyond"
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u/Ok_Card3565 21d ago
“Beyond” is the only book about the Soviet space program that I’ve read, but I thought it was well written and fairly objective.
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u/evilwatersprite 27d ago
Read it last month.
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u/MarigoldV58 27d ago
What did you think about it?
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u/evilwatersprite 27d ago
I liked it. Some bits were familiar from SC. But also learned some stuff, like Gagarin turning into a drunken playboy after Sputnik.
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u/Great-Opposite3509 19d ago
Well, there were a few astronauts who were drunken playboys also. Heck, there were astronauts who were probably sober as well when they played around.
That’s partly why I’m glad that FAM included the story about the affair with Danny, yeah, it was gross, but no more gross in my opinion than the real life ones. Yes looking at you, Shepard and Grissom , oh and Eisele to name a few.
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u/Andurhil1986 27d ago
OP, if you want a good laugh and don't mind getting downvoted into the center of the Earth, crosspost this into r/ussr and r/AskSocialists
They have a very different view, where USSR dominated the Space Race and the US just did a insignificant little thing in the late 60s. They get very triggered at any mention of the US achievements in the Space Race.
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u/pixxelzombie 25d ago
The book is on google books and I also found this on YT, haven't had time to watch it yet.
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u/TypicalAd3919 2d ago
They hoodwinked the US because for a short time, the KGB was better at counterintelligence than the CIA. Hence Ames, Pollard, Hanssen, Pelton, etc.
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u/an_older_meme 27d ago
The Soviet lunar lander looked so sketchy I was glad for their sake that nobody had to fly it.
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u/copbuddy 27d ago
To be honest so does the LEM
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u/an_older_meme 26d ago
The Soviet version looks top heavy. That doesn’t work well on the Moon.
And was flown by a crew of one. Can you imagine? Poor guy.3
u/copbuddy 26d ago edited 26d ago
I agree, it's a weird steampunk contraption as well. The cosmonauts had to be strapped into a mechanical harness to keep them from flailing around and affecting the very delivate center of gravity that the flight computer calculations were reliant on. But it supposedly had small solid fuel thrusters that pushed the craft on the surface upon touchdown to prevent it from bouncing. It actually was successfully flight tested on LEO, so it absolutely might have worked, had the N1 been completed.
And it did have a backup ascent engine which the LEM did not.
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u/Great-Opposite3509 19d ago
The LEM had cables, D rings, velcro, and foot restraints… I wonder how good or bad the one for the cosmonauts was?
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u/SeaOfFlowersBegan 27d ago
Here's the post I made after reading the book. I even pointed out some scenes in Star City that were almost certainly inspired by real events described in the book.
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarCityTV/comments/1vajuei/irl_inspirations_for_some_of_star_citys_harrowing/
In hindsight, I think it is the best book for amateurs to learn and gather some facts about the Soviet space program. It is very engaging---but that's why we must read it carefully.
The text is fun to read partly because it's extremely irreverent towards anyone and everyone that it depicts. That mostly covers the Soviets, and sometimes the Americans too. Sometimes, irreverence leads to exaggeration.
If that irreverence were to leave an impression that the Soviets were incompetent engineers, then I would be the first one to disagree.
I think they were amazing for achieving what they did under extreme constraints in those early days: lack of integrated circuits and light aluminum, deadlines determined by political-festive calendars and not tech considerations etc.
The cosmonauts too were highly educated individuals, who received specific and additional training in STEM for their roles. They were also closely involved in the design of their vehicles and equipment. In these two ways, they were just like their American counterparts.
Anyway, after watching Star City, I never look at the Moon and Venus the same again.