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The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned
A witty, deeply researched history of the surprisingly ramshackle Soviet space program, and how its success was more spin than science.
In the wake of World War II, with America ascendant and the Soviet Union devastated by the conflict, the Space Race should have been over before it started. But the underdog Soviets scored a series of victories--starting with the 1957 launch of Sputnik and continuing in the years following--that seemed to achieve the impossible. It was proof, it seemed, that the USSR had manpower and collective will that went beyond America's material advantages. They had asserted themselves as a world power.
But inÌý The Wrong Stuff , John Strausbaugh tells a different story. These achievements were amazing, yes, but they were also PR victories as much as scientific ones. The world saw a Potemkin spaceport; the internal facts were much sloppier, less impressive, more dysfunctional. The Soviet supply chain was a disaster, and many of its machines barely worked. The cosmonauts aboard its iconic launch of the Vostok 1 rocket had to go on a special diet, and take off their space suits, just to fit inside without causing a failure. Soviet scientists, under intense government pressure, had essentially made their rocket out of spit and band aids, and hurried to hide their work as soon as their worldwide demonstration was complete.
With a witty eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, John Strausbaugh takes us behind the Iron Curtain, and shows just how little there was to find there.
Ìý
In the wake of World War II, with America ascendant and the Soviet Union devastated by the conflict, the Space Race should have been over before it started. But the underdog Soviets scored a series of victories--starting with the 1957 launch of Sputnik and continuing in the years following--that seemed to achieve the impossible. It was proof, it seemed, that the USSR had manpower and collective will that went beyond America's material advantages. They had asserted themselves as a world power.
But inÌý The Wrong Stuff , John Strausbaugh tells a different story. These achievements were amazing, yes, but they were also PR victories as much as scientific ones. The world saw a Potemkin spaceport; the internal facts were much sloppier, less impressive, more dysfunctional. The Soviet supply chain was a disaster, and many of its machines barely worked. The cosmonauts aboard its iconic launch of the Vostok 1 rocket had to go on a special diet, and take off their space suits, just to fit inside without causing a failure. Soviet scientists, under intense government pressure, had essentially made their rocket out of spit and band aids, and hurried to hide their work as soon as their worldwide demonstration was complete.
With a witty eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, John Strausbaugh takes us behind the Iron Curtain, and shows just how little there was to find there.
Ìý
272 pages, Hardcover
Published June 4, 2024
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 90 reviews
July 25, 2024
It turns out you can judge a book by its cover! The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh tells you everything you need to know about what's inside and it does not disappoint. The falling rocket picture is also a wonderful touch.
This is actually a harder book to write than one would expect. Strausbaugh needs to tell the story of the Soviet space program, but it would be bad form to celebrate too hard as a not insignificant amount of people died due to shoddy Soviet workmanship (or lack thereof). I think the author nails the tone, though. Strausbaugh drops in funny comments, points out ridiculous lapses in basic safety, but at the same time is almost in awe that people would work like this in life and death scenarios. There is a begrudging respect for these communist cowboys, but let's not take it too far. There is way more mockery which is well deserved.
If you are a purist who does not want humor in your history, then this book is not for you. I think you are missing out, though. I laughed, but I learned. Most importantly, I had a heck of a lot of fun reading it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by the publisher.)
This is actually a harder book to write than one would expect. Strausbaugh needs to tell the story of the Soviet space program, but it would be bad form to celebrate too hard as a not insignificant amount of people died due to shoddy Soviet workmanship (or lack thereof). I think the author nails the tone, though. Strausbaugh drops in funny comments, points out ridiculous lapses in basic safety, but at the same time is almost in awe that people would work like this in life and death scenarios. There is a begrudging respect for these communist cowboys, but let's not take it too far. There is way more mockery which is well deserved.
If you are a purist who does not want humor in your history, then this book is not for you. I think you are missing out, though. I laughed, but I learned. Most importantly, I had a heck of a lot of fun reading it.
(This book was provided as a review copy by the publisher.)
July 21, 2024
3.5 stars. Breezy, and overly reliant on secondary sources. An enjoyable read, though, and I learned a good deal. The bullet point: the Soviet space program was an embarrassingly under-funded, fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants operation that put international one-upsmanship over crew safety or design refinement. Despite their run of early successes, their secretive and analog operation plateaued by the mid-to-late 1960s.
Some of the stories are truly harrowing, and it's shocking that the Soviet program didn't leave a larger trail of dead in its wake.
Some of the stories are truly harrowing, and it's shocking that the Soviet program didn't leave a larger trail of dead in its wake.
July 22, 2024
This book was disappointing. The subject matter, a popular history of the Soviet space program, was interesting, but the author, who appears to have no Russia expertise and to have just cribbed from memoirs and other histories, chose to tell it as a witless low brow comedy. The author constantly traffics in bland Soviet stereotypes--there are countless jokes about poor quality Soviet cigarettes--and tropes about Communism that belong in a 80's movie. The author's decision to frame everything about the Soviet space program as a lackadaisical "wrong stuff" endeavor means he provides little explanation of how the Soviets were able to accomplish so much despite their technological shortcomings. The framing is also odd in the context of how many Astronauts the shuttle killed and the fact that we relied on the Russian space program to get astronauts to ISS for the better part of a decade. It also leaves the reader wondering how the Soviets kept failing up--going from tragedies to launching Mir. Two stars because it led me to a lot of interesting Wikipedia articles--Soyuz 11, yikes.
September 1, 2024
Just finished:
"The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned"
By: John Strausbaugh
New York: Public Affairs, 2024.
Chronicles the Soviet space program how it did the impossible with poor technical skill and antiquated materials. The author argues that the cosmonauts were the true cowboys compared to their American counterparts. While I didn't like it that there weren't end notes or an index, the writing style was terrific.
"The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned"
By: John Strausbaugh
New York: Public Affairs, 2024.
Chronicles the Soviet space program how it did the impossible with poor technical skill and antiquated materials. The author argues that the cosmonauts were the true cowboys compared to their American counterparts. While I didn't like it that there weren't end notes or an index, the writing style was terrific.
October 11, 2024
What a really wonderful and interesting book, and thanks to for the tip. A fascinating look at the old Soviet era space program, and really the old Soviet Union in general. It confirms a lot of suspicions I felt about that part of the world over the years... Certainly a country that can't keep grocery shelves stocked, and produces truly terrible cars is taking shortcuts to get to space, right?
Yep. They sure were!
Very enjoyable read.
Yep. They sure were!
Very enjoyable read.
July 19, 2024
I listened to the Audible audiobook version.
John Strausbaugh has written an excellent history of the remarkably lucky Soviet space program. I mention lucky, because while I'm sure there were talented engineers, scientists, and cosmonauts that were part of the program, it seems that they're success was always muddled by controversy, looming disaster, and injury and death.
The dysfunctions of Soviet governance are on full display in The Wrong Stuff. I read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe earlier this year and this was an fun companion piece to Strausbaugh's work. Whereas the Americans were admittedly slow but methodical and technically proficient, the Soviets were fast and reckless. More than a few people were killed due to preventable catastrophes in the Soviet space program. This book is a great overview of those catastrophes, and the incredible successes that somehow occurred through the constant explosions and failures.
This book is also surprisingly lighthearted and funny a times, despite the somewhat dark material, so it was actually an enjoyable book as well. Soviet resignation to their crappy tech is marked with excellent dark humor that humanizes them. But around every corner, the seriousness of their endeavor is shown, if not by death in space, then by removal on Earth in Soviet bureacracy.
A high recommend from me for any space history enthusiasts!
John Strausbaugh has written an excellent history of the remarkably lucky Soviet space program. I mention lucky, because while I'm sure there were talented engineers, scientists, and cosmonauts that were part of the program, it seems that they're success was always muddled by controversy, looming disaster, and injury and death.
The dysfunctions of Soviet governance are on full display in The Wrong Stuff. I read The Right Stuff by Tom Wolfe earlier this year and this was an fun companion piece to Strausbaugh's work. Whereas the Americans were admittedly slow but methodical and technically proficient, the Soviets were fast and reckless. More than a few people were killed due to preventable catastrophes in the Soviet space program. This book is a great overview of those catastrophes, and the incredible successes that somehow occurred through the constant explosions and failures.
This book is also surprisingly lighthearted and funny a times, despite the somewhat dark material, so it was actually an enjoyable book as well. Soviet resignation to their crappy tech is marked with excellent dark humor that humanizes them. But around every corner, the seriousness of their endeavor is shown, if not by death in space, then by removal on Earth in Soviet bureacracy.
A high recommend from me for any space history enthusiasts!
May 30, 2024
An excellent history of the Soviet space program, in all its shambolic, ramshackle "glory". The book was an interesting double-bill with , touching on the history (and failures) of parallel space programs, except where Challenger leans on pathos and human tragedy, The Wrong Stuff is often written with a more humorous, even sometimes colloquial tone. It's never outright comedic, necessarily, in the way of the film The Death of Stalin, but there's something of the black comedy about the dysfunction of the Soviet state, and at times you have a "laugh to keep from crying" kind of situation (most emblematized by the Soyuz 11 disaster, where ground control's response to a warning light about a faulty pressure seal was to tape a piece of paper over the light and proceed with reentry and three people died). Worth reading for any space-history enthusiast.
Thanks to NetGalley and Public Affairs for the ARC.
Thanks to NetGalley and Public Affairs for the ARC.
September 6, 2024
An alternately entertaining, alarming, and surprising history of the Soviet space program. Well written and engaging throughout.
June 23, 2024
A humorous look at the Soviet space program in all its tragedies and cover ups. Also highlights some of the American miss steps and messaging.
August 16, 2024
If, like me, you spent your childhood attending space camp, playing Buzz Aldrin's Race into Space, and writing academic essays about extraplanetary monkeys, then this is almost certainly the book for you!
July 21, 2024
Funny, well written nonfiction about Soviets in space? Utter catnip.
February 20, 2025
Pretty funny overall, may be good reading for anyone that's still fooled by Russian propaganda.
July 22, 2024
This is not historical work or journalism. It's a series of anecdotes and bad copies of some other sources, sometimes quite questionable. It's full of small factual errors (no, Irkutsk is not and never was a part of Jewish Autonomous Region). I don't look back to Soviet Union through rose-colored glasses, but author's attitude borders on ridiculous. Just one example, describing Khruschev arrival to the US... "He stepped down ....... trailing his sturdy common-law wife Nina and other stout females". WTF?
April 27, 2024
My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher PublicAffairs for an advance copy of this history of the Soviet space program and how these men and women were far, far more braver going into the heavens than most of the world ever thought.
What comes up must come down. In the exploration of space, l that is sometimes part of the mission, sometimes not. Going into the heavens and returning to Earth takes a lot of work, a melding of math, engineering, skill, communication, and luck that can have tremendous results, or tremendous tragedies. The Soviet Union was first into space, with a satelitte, a dog, and a man. To do this they ignored all that was previously written, except for the luck, and accomplished amazing things. Things that were unsustainable, and led to many people losing their lives. The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh is a sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes just plan weird history of the efforts made by the Soviet Union to control space, and even more control the message of how they got there.
The book begins with as seemed the case in Russia at the time, with a mission to put three people into space, beating the Americans to the punch. To do this, there was no special rocket built, no new capsule, the Soviet scientists just took what they had, stripped it to the bone and sent three men into space, sans space suits, or extra oxygen. And somehow they succeeded. This runs through the book. Readers learn of the start of the Soviet rocket program, that was to launch nuclear missiles into America, and at the same time, launch a Soviet citizen into space. The scientists were drawn from the gulags, most of them battling illness, diseases, or in many ways broken in mind and body by there treatment in the camps. While America was a check three times kind of space program, run by ex-Nazis, the Soviets was a now, now now. Mistakes could be hidden, even there launch areas were given fake name and locations. People killed, could be denied, their families told another story, another fate. Strausbaugh looks at the astronauts, Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, whose life was changed in many many ways. Even the animals, a dog who was trained to flick switches in a space capsule, who escaped the night before he was to be launched into space. Also, the book covers the slow decline, when mistakes, a lack of interest, and a lack of backing began to drain the space program of its mission.
John Strausbaugh has written a very complete and often humourous book about space, that makes one wonder about luck and about taking anything safe and slow. The humour is black in many ways, as the astronauts all seemed to have problems, either dying on the job, or losing their luster due to excessive partying, and lots and lots of drinking. Though I do have to give these people my respect for what they accomplished and did. The book is fascinating, with a real strong narrative the keeps the reader flipping pages, sometimes in incredulity at one is reading, especially when it came to the lack of safety. There are a lot of what seems like Homer Simpson moments, putting tape over a warning light, bathroom habits before launch and more. Strausbaugh has done a lot of research, and makes complicated science easy to understand, be interesting and even more entertaining. Each page has facts, or something that really should have killed a lot more people. And yet.
Recommended for space fans without a doubt. History fans and science fans will enjoy this also, with again a lot of how did they do this. How did they not die? Fiction writers might enjoy this book as it proves that real life is odder than fiction, and there are quite a few events that could really be made into novels. This is the second book I have read by John Strausbaugh, and I am really enjoying his style and craft. I can't wait to read what Strausbaugh's has next.
What comes up must come down. In the exploration of space, l that is sometimes part of the mission, sometimes not. Going into the heavens and returning to Earth takes a lot of work, a melding of math, engineering, skill, communication, and luck that can have tremendous results, or tremendous tragedies. The Soviet Union was first into space, with a satelitte, a dog, and a man. To do this they ignored all that was previously written, except for the luck, and accomplished amazing things. Things that were unsustainable, and led to many people losing their lives. The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned by John Strausbaugh is a sometimes scary, sometimes funny, sometimes just plan weird history of the efforts made by the Soviet Union to control space, and even more control the message of how they got there.
The book begins with as seemed the case in Russia at the time, with a mission to put three people into space, beating the Americans to the punch. To do this, there was no special rocket built, no new capsule, the Soviet scientists just took what they had, stripped it to the bone and sent three men into space, sans space suits, or extra oxygen. And somehow they succeeded. This runs through the book. Readers learn of the start of the Soviet rocket program, that was to launch nuclear missiles into America, and at the same time, launch a Soviet citizen into space. The scientists were drawn from the gulags, most of them battling illness, diseases, or in many ways broken in mind and body by there treatment in the camps. While America was a check three times kind of space program, run by ex-Nazis, the Soviets was a now, now now. Mistakes could be hidden, even there launch areas were given fake name and locations. People killed, could be denied, their families told another story, another fate. Strausbaugh looks at the astronauts, Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space, whose life was changed in many many ways. Even the animals, a dog who was trained to flick switches in a space capsule, who escaped the night before he was to be launched into space. Also, the book covers the slow decline, when mistakes, a lack of interest, and a lack of backing began to drain the space program of its mission.
John Strausbaugh has written a very complete and often humourous book about space, that makes one wonder about luck and about taking anything safe and slow. The humour is black in many ways, as the astronauts all seemed to have problems, either dying on the job, or losing their luster due to excessive partying, and lots and lots of drinking. Though I do have to give these people my respect for what they accomplished and did. The book is fascinating, with a real strong narrative the keeps the reader flipping pages, sometimes in incredulity at one is reading, especially when it came to the lack of safety. There are a lot of what seems like Homer Simpson moments, putting tape over a warning light, bathroom habits before launch and more. Strausbaugh has done a lot of research, and makes complicated science easy to understand, be interesting and even more entertaining. Each page has facts, or something that really should have killed a lot more people. And yet.
Recommended for space fans without a doubt. History fans and science fans will enjoy this also, with again a lot of how did they do this. How did they not die? Fiction writers might enjoy this book as it proves that real life is odder than fiction, and there are quite a few events that could really be made into novels. This is the second book I have read by John Strausbaugh, and I am really enjoying his style and craft. I can't wait to read what Strausbaugh's has next.
July 21, 2024
One thing was obvious from the get-go: the author, John Strausbaugh, is no fan of the Soviets, or Communism in general. Great! Neither am I. As (even) the cover and the title indicate, this is a warts-and-all look at the history of the Soviet space program. And it turns out to be mostly warts.
It's been a few years since I read Stephen Walker's , a history of the events leading up to and including Yuri Gagarin's slightly-under-one-orbit flight in April 1961. Safe to say that Strausbaugh's take is less respectful, less academic (no index or endnotes), and more of a (somewhat guilty) pleasure to read.
We know that the Soviets had their share of space disasters, notably (killing Vladimir Komarov) and (killing Georgy Dobrovolsky, Vladislav Volkov, and Viktor Patsayev). Strausbaugh goes into the gritty details of those failures. But, as he tells the whole story, it's pretty amazing that the body count isn't much higher; the Soviets were very slapdash, explicitly trading off cosmonaut safety against scoring propaganda victories. Example: Gagarin's flight was nearly a disaster due to the failure of his Vostok's reentry module to cleanly separate from its service module. This was a continuing problem with the Vostoks, and continued into the Soyuz spacecrafts.
The book might be a little slapdash itself. Page 107 puts the Apollo 1 disaster (which killed astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee, and Ed White) in 1963. (It was 1967.) Strausbaugh knows better, and he gets it right later in the book, but (come on) a light fact-check would have caught this.
In other spots, gratuitous and strained US/USSR comparisons are made. Gagarin's post-flight parade placed him and Nikita Khrushchev "in a convertible Zil with the top down, like the Kennedys in Dallas." Wha�?
Strausbaugh does a good job of giving the Soviets personalities, not always complimentary ones. After his flight, Gagarin mishandled his fame, turning into a drunk and a womanizer. His friend/rival Gherman Titov, also succumbed. The famous "chief designer", Sergei Korolev, suffered in Stalin's Gulag for six years before his "meteoric" success in getting the space program off the ground. But he failed dismally in his design of the , a rough equivalent to the American Saturn V. It never worked, blowing up a lot.
Strausbaugh does pay some respect to Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who might be the closest to Tom Wolfe's famous "Right Stuff". He nearly got killed doing a spacewalk stunt (an impromptu effort to upstage Ed White's upcoming Gemini EVA); he got along famously with his American counterparts during the planning and execution of the Apollo-Soyuz stunt mission.
The Soviets were also notoriously secretive, which caused a lot of speculation they were covering up some cosmonaut deaths. One of the rumor-mongers was Pun Salad fave, Robert A. Heinlein, who penned an article for American Mercury recounting his trip to the USSR with his wife, Virginia; he reported rumors that the May 15, 1960 flight of , the first test flight of the Vostok craft, was actually manned. Nope.
In short, an entertaining read, guaranteed to wipe away any misty watercolor memories of the way the Soviets were. You'd never know from reading it, however, that the American astronaut body count is much higher than Russia's. NASA is also a socialist enterprise, and its safety tradeoffs were merely different in details.
January 11, 2025
“Mission control, to everyone’s relief, ordered them to come home early. They buttoned up Salyut and climbed into the Soyuz, wearing only their leisure suits. Which became a problem when they prepared to disengage and a warning light began to blink. Sounding nearly hysterical at this point, Volkov shouted at ground control, “The hatch isn’t pressurized! What should we do? What should we do?� Obviously they couldn’t disengage if the hatch wasn’t completely sealed, unless they were in their spacesuits and helmets. They tried various procedures suggested by the techies on the ground. Nothing worked. Ground control finally advised them to tape a piece of paper over the warning light and proceed. Read that sentence again. Nothing shouts “Soviet space program!� like that single sentence. Their nerves jangling, the crew did what they were told, crazy and stupid as it sounded. They were that desperate to get the hell away from hell. They covered up the light warning them that the hatch was not entirely sealed, disengaged from Salyut, and headed home. There was no further communication with mission control. The Soyuz 11 DM was tracked reentering the atmosphere as it was programmed to do. It dusted down in Kazakhstan twenty-three days and eighteen hours after lifting off. Rescue teams reached it and opened the hatch. The three men were in there, still strapped to their benches in their leisure suits. They were dead. A quick examination showed nitrogen in their blood, blood in their lungs, and hemorrhaging in their brains—all signs that they had died quick and agonizing deaths when the capsule lost pressure and exposed them to the vacuum of space. They were already dead when the DM, on autopilot, entered the atmosphere. Had they been wearing their spacesuits and helmets, they’d have lived. After making such a spectacle of the brave, happy heroes of the Soviet Union for three weeks on state TV and in all the state-run newspapers, there was no way the government could cover this one up. Their corpses were flown to Moscow for state funerals. The people of the Soviet Union were in shock. It was the worst space tragedy their government had ever told them about.�
May 31, 2024
There's a joke that NASA scientists realized a normal pen wouldn't work in space so they spent time and money to create one that would. But the Soviets? They just used a pencil.* While this joke is not mentioned in John Strausbaugh's The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned, the sense of make do and thrift it exhibits is key to the outcome of the space race.
Taking the oppositional meaning from Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff that celebrated the astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury, Strausbaugh documents the history of the Soviet Space program with its focus on propaganda victories above all else, even safety.
Strausbaugh traces the origins of Russian space exploration and rocketry designs from their forebears to the establishment of the Soviet program headquartered in what became known as Star City. Much of the narrative is centered around key post-world war two events, frequently juxtaposing American events against the Soviets.
But the main focus is on how despite corruption, poor materials, a lack of concern for safety and a very tight grip on the release of information the Soviet space program was able to accomplish so much. It is a story representing the conflict between the two ideologies. Some Soviet successes include, the first satellite, the first manned space flight and the first woman in space. Americans had funding, ingenuity and cutting edge materials. Soviets had ingenuity, stubbornness and bulking materials that required excessive redundancy.
A very engaging and entertaining book full of anecdotes and quotes from those who made it possible.
Recommended to readers of 20th Century politics, science of space explorations or modern history.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
*Ciara Curtin "Fact of Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil." Scientific American (December 20, 2006).
Taking the oppositional meaning from Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff that celebrated the astronauts selected for NASA's Project Mercury, Strausbaugh documents the history of the Soviet Space program with its focus on propaganda victories above all else, even safety.
Strausbaugh traces the origins of Russian space exploration and rocketry designs from their forebears to the establishment of the Soviet program headquartered in what became known as Star City. Much of the narrative is centered around key post-world war two events, frequently juxtaposing American events against the Soviets.
But the main focus is on how despite corruption, poor materials, a lack of concern for safety and a very tight grip on the release of information the Soviet space program was able to accomplish so much. It is a story representing the conflict between the two ideologies. Some Soviet successes include, the first satellite, the first manned space flight and the first woman in space. Americans had funding, ingenuity and cutting edge materials. Soviets had ingenuity, stubbornness and bulking materials that required excessive redundancy.
A very engaging and entertaining book full of anecdotes and quotes from those who made it possible.
Recommended to readers of 20th Century politics, science of space explorations or modern history.
I received a free digital version of this book via NetGalley thanks to the publisher.
*Ciara Curtin "Fact of Fiction?: NASA Spent Millions to Develop a Pen that Would Write in Space, whereas the Soviet Cosmonauts Used a Pencil." Scientific American (December 20, 2006).
September 27, 2024
The Wrong Stuff: How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned offers a captivating deep dive into the Soviet Union's space race often overshadowed by NASA’s triumphs. Narrated in a lively tone, the audiobook starts off with a light, almost jokey approach, which may feel a bit off-putting given the gravity of the subject. However, as the narrative progresses, it finds its footing and delves into the Soviet space programme with a bit more seriousness and respect that the Soviet courage deserves.
One of the standout elements of the book is its fascinating comparisons and contrasts with the U.S. space program. The simplicity of Soviet spacecraft controls, for instance, highlights the vastly different design philosophies between the two nations. While American technology was marked by precision and complexity, the Soviet approach was often rough and functional, a necessity given the constraints of their system. Despite these differences, the bravery of Soviet cosmonauts is undeniable. Their missions, especially the spacewalks and reentry procedures, were far more dangerous. I have a renewed respect for these pioneers of space.
The darker side of the Soviet space programme is well explored, including the staggering death rate and the government's cover-ups of these tragedies. The Soviet Union’s desperation to publicly beat the U.S. in the space race, often at the expense of safety, is a sobering reminder of how politics and pride can lead to tragic consequences. The human cost is laid bare, and it’s chilling to hear just how many lives were sacrificed in the quest to outpace the Americans.
Overall, the audiobook is a compelling listen for anyone interested in space exploration history, offering a detailed and often shocking perspective on the Soviet efforts. While the tone at the beginning may not hit the mark for everyone, the rich content and insight that follow more than make up for it.
One of the standout elements of the book is its fascinating comparisons and contrasts with the U.S. space program. The simplicity of Soviet spacecraft controls, for instance, highlights the vastly different design philosophies between the two nations. While American technology was marked by precision and complexity, the Soviet approach was often rough and functional, a necessity given the constraints of their system. Despite these differences, the bravery of Soviet cosmonauts is undeniable. Their missions, especially the spacewalks and reentry procedures, were far more dangerous. I have a renewed respect for these pioneers of space.
The darker side of the Soviet space programme is well explored, including the staggering death rate and the government's cover-ups of these tragedies. The Soviet Union’s desperation to publicly beat the U.S. in the space race, often at the expense of safety, is a sobering reminder of how politics and pride can lead to tragic consequences. The human cost is laid bare, and it’s chilling to hear just how many lives were sacrificed in the quest to outpace the Americans.
Overall, the audiobook is a compelling listen for anyone interested in space exploration history, offering a detailed and often shocking perspective on the Soviet efforts. While the tone at the beginning may not hit the mark for everyone, the rich content and insight that follow more than make up for it.
April 9, 2025
Back around 1991, the then-Soviet Union was collapsing. At that time, I was a (relatively) young faculty member who had minored in Russian in college. I was named to a committee which welcomed a group of Russian "biznissmen" and a couple other "officials" to our university to explore the possibilities of co-operation. The chair was my colleague Betty, who was one of the first women to acquire MBA and DBA degrees from the Harvard Business School, and had served as the Chief Economic Advisor to then-Governor Robb of Virginia. She was naïvely effusive about the "goodwill" generated by their visit, and praised their pending arrival. Well, guess what? They were all solely interested in getting drunk, finding women to screw, and generally partying throughout their visit. Only one had been outside of the USSR, so their party wanted only to party, not to have any semblance of a serious discussion.
Well, Betty retired to Florida, and has subsequently passed away, so she is unable to reflect upon her errors of pre-judgment. I am using this anecdote as prologue to my review of this book, which shows, via documents revealed only after the Gorbachev-Yeltsin period of Glasnost, that the vaunted Soviet Space program was more a triumph of public relations. The USSR was plagued by obsolete technology, managerial ineptitude, and a closed communication culture which valued blind obedience over analytical thought. What they managed to accomplish was to convince the United States that their technology was the equal, if not better, than the US's, through bluff, bluster, and skillful uses of propaganda.
The author is more of a journalist than a historian, writing humorously, though he makes the most of his sources. A most informative reading- the only reason why I didn't give it five stars is that the book lacks photographs and maps.
Well, Betty retired to Florida, and has subsequently passed away, so she is unable to reflect upon her errors of pre-judgment. I am using this anecdote as prologue to my review of this book, which shows, via documents revealed only after the Gorbachev-Yeltsin period of Glasnost, that the vaunted Soviet Space program was more a triumph of public relations. The USSR was plagued by obsolete technology, managerial ineptitude, and a closed communication culture which valued blind obedience over analytical thought. What they managed to accomplish was to convince the United States that their technology was the equal, if not better, than the US's, through bluff, bluster, and skillful uses of propaganda.
The author is more of a journalist than a historian, writing humorously, though he makes the most of his sources. A most informative reading- the only reason why I didn't give it five stars is that the book lacks photographs and maps.
November 18, 2024
I read this book in hardback, checked out from the library. This book takes a particularly harsh and dismissive look at the frailties and foibles of the Soviet space program, of which there were admittedly many. The author starts at the beginning, where in the immediate aftermath of WW2 in Europe the Soviets captured the remaining German rocket scientists that hadn't already been scooped up by the US and its allies, and put them to work alongside their home-grown technicians to begin producing rockets. The book mostly follows the manned-spaceflight branch of the Soviet space program, which of course provides the most hair-raising anecdotes, although that most famous of Soviet unmanned space shots (Sputnik in 1957) is covered, along with the various Luna landers aimed at the Moon. The manned program is covered starting with Gagarin and going to the breakup of the USSR in the days of the Mir space station. The writing style is highly satirical, mostly played for guffaws and "can-you-believe-they-really-did-that?" face palms. I have read quite a bit about the Soviet space program, so there was nothing new to me here. I had already heard all these episodes in one form or another, and usually in a much less condescending tone. Yes, the Soviet program was initially driven by propaganda stunts and one-upping the US program, and yes, their hardware was low-tech compared to NASA's gear, but lost in all the hardy-har-har are the genuine accomplishments of the program, and the bravery and dedication of the engineers and the cosmonaut corps. Still, if you're looking for a somewhat amusing account of the Soviet space program that highlights only the lowlights, then this book is for you. Three out of five stars.
November 19, 2024
Pros: Easy read from start to finish. He covers an almost 20-year period of time to give you the information you need without the fluff. His writing style has a personality to it, somewhat informal but informative. It is a fairly specific subject that has not been touched on in recent years. It it basically a collection of first-hand accounts and references from other books written by the people that lived through the history. At times he references videos, images, and other novels you can read if you're interested. This is like a nice introduction to the Soviet space program and what the accomplished. However, it takes a lot of time focusing on the weird/controversial ways they did it. I recommend it to history buffs, fans of Soviet/Cold War history, etc.
Cons: He gives their space program and government credit where credit is due, but there is bias here. The author definitely feels some kind of way about the Soviet Union and uses the novel to explain why it was inferior to the United States and NASA. This is fair to a certain degree. You can read first hand accounts from those that lived through the space program and Soviet Union. They largely support his opinions. But it detracts from an objective approach to the history. I don't question his information as accurate because of this, but at times it left me asking questions. More importantly though, there are several names, dates, locations, events, that go in one ear and out the other. By the end of it I think he goes through a little too much in my opinion. I found myself rushing through the last 10% just to get it finished since the bulk of the interesting history had been covered in my opinion. And the ending isn't exactly a climactic one. Regardless, I recommend it!
Cons: He gives their space program and government credit where credit is due, but there is bias here. The author definitely feels some kind of way about the Soviet Union and uses the novel to explain why it was inferior to the United States and NASA. This is fair to a certain degree. You can read first hand accounts from those that lived through the space program and Soviet Union. They largely support his opinions. But it detracts from an objective approach to the history. I don't question his information as accurate because of this, but at times it left me asking questions. More importantly though, there are several names, dates, locations, events, that go in one ear and out the other. By the end of it I think he goes through a little too much in my opinion. I found myself rushing through the last 10% just to get it finished since the bulk of the interesting history had been covered in my opinion. And the ending isn't exactly a climactic one. Regardless, I recommend it!
June 30, 2024
A very quick read, this was a fascinating subject. The book outlines the successes, and many failures, of the Soviet missions during the 'space race' of the 50's, 60's, and 70's. I loved reading the stories, and there were a lot of interesting tidbits presented. But that's sort of all this was. Tidbits. Anecdotes. Stories copied from other books. There wasn't much of a through-line, and there wasn't any primary research done (from what I could tell). It's all secondary research, basically a compendium of outtakes from other books. Too many times, heading into a story, the author writes 'As recounted in (insert name of some other book)'...I wish that they'd tracked down someone, anyone, who lived through some of this and given us a fresh, first-hand accounting of some of the events. I know, folks get old. But this felt a little thin. It wasn't helped by the lack of photographs. You're told about these monstrous rockets. But you never see them. Told about famous photos of cosmonauts meeting celebrities and Soviet leaders. But you don't see them. Told about the remarkable promotional posters put out to celebrate mission successes. But they're not in the book. And on and on. In each case you're told 'images are available online'. Well, that limits the immediacy of the book. Just a handful of photos would have made it much more 'real'.
So it was an interesting read, but just a skimming glimpse of the Soviet space program. I enjoyed it, but wanted a bit more.
So it was an interesting read, but just a skimming glimpse of the Soviet space program. I enjoyed it, but wanted a bit more.
April 6, 2025
In a chapter about the first female to space the author drones on about how it was just a publicity stunt and how much the Soviet PR team pumped up facts while NASA was full of “Ralph Crampton� types who discounted women. And at the end of the chapter I can’t tell if he is just channeling Ralph Crampton when he dismisses Wally Funk’s flight to space in 2021 or is he channeling the Soviet PR team when He makes the claim that she did not actually achieve space flight because her flight peaked at �86,000 km� well below the 100,000 km well short of the international accepted definition of space. Well if the author or his publisher had bothered to do basic fact checking he would they would find that Wally Funk and the rest of the passengers on NS-16 at a peak apogee of 107 km well above the required international definition of space. One, if they were so inclined, could guess that he was playing fast and loose with his facts and simply used the Virgin Galactic’s Unity 22’s peak apogee of 86 km. Now did he do this because like so many Soviet PR people before him, he used the “better� story, was he channeling Ralph Crampton and just not giving credit to a woman, or was it a simple error he made researching the book? None of these situations make him look very good; and I’d like to give him credit and say he just got confused during research or read the wrong set of notes, but this might be the worst explination because how can we trust anything in the book if he can’t even get contemporary facts correct.
August 8, 2024
An eye-opening dissection of the USSR’s cosmonaut program, first to touch the stars but also the first to crash back to Earth. Here in America, the perception was that these guys always flew by the seat of their pants, taking great risks to accomplish great feats, but we didn’t know the half of it. In contrast to the cautious, well-publicized approach employed by the United States, the Soviets worked fast and loose, shielded from the public until each mission’s success could be assured. This worked just as Premier Khrushchev intended, reaping the PR benefits of his nation’s breakthroughs without risking the disgrace of their many missteps. It also served as a powerful smokescreen during the Cold War, brow-beating their western rivals into believing that Soviet engineering was leaps and bounds ahead of where it actually stood.
My mouth gaped at many of these stories, even the ones I thought I already knew. Much has been uncovered and declassified in the past decade, not to mention since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the new information paints an incomprehensible picture. Overworked, out-of-their-depth engineers. Disposable, alcoholic cosmonauts. Facilities and equipment so decrepit and inept, it would be laughable if they hadn’t cost so many lives. Eventually, the toll of so many precariously-balanced lies finally caught up to the men in charge, but not before they’d sent far too many of their subjects to early graves aboard these creaky, clunky, duct taped monstrosities.
My mouth gaped at many of these stories, even the ones I thought I already knew. Much has been uncovered and declassified in the past decade, not to mention since the fall of the Soviet Union, and the new information paints an incomprehensible picture. Overworked, out-of-their-depth engineers. Disposable, alcoholic cosmonauts. Facilities and equipment so decrepit and inept, it would be laughable if they hadn’t cost so many lives. Eventually, the toll of so many precariously-balanced lies finally caught up to the men in charge, but not before they’d sent far too many of their subjects to early graves aboard these creaky, clunky, duct taped monstrosities.
January 5, 2025
The Space Race was won by the USA who put a man on the moon in 1969 but every other major achievement from the first satellite to the first man and first woman in space, from the first photos from the the dark side of the moon, to the first space walk all belonged to the Soviet Union. So it must figure that the Soviets had a formidably superior space programme stacked with the best scientists and overflowing with money?
Not even close.
The Wrong Stuff is an interesting though breezy look at just how far the Soviets managed to get while nearly falling apart in the process. From poorly designed rockets and refuelling problems that killed hundreds, to decoupling problems that went unsolved for nearly ten years, the Soviet space programme showed the extent of human ingenuity and just how much is possible when you wing it.
The analogue programme that the Soviets built reached its apogee around the end of the 1960s but by then the space race was functionally over. The last two chapters race through the near misses and almost-failure of the Soyuz and Salyut programmes, ending poignantly with the destruction of the one major Soviet space success - the mighty Anotov An-225, built to carry the Buran space shuttle, destroyed in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is a good introduction to the triumphs of the Soviet space programme, triumphs that came about nearly all by luck and ingenuity - with a great deal of vodka to help.
Not even close.
The Wrong Stuff is an interesting though breezy look at just how far the Soviets managed to get while nearly falling apart in the process. From poorly designed rockets and refuelling problems that killed hundreds, to decoupling problems that went unsolved for nearly ten years, the Soviet space programme showed the extent of human ingenuity and just how much is possible when you wing it.
The analogue programme that the Soviets built reached its apogee around the end of the 1960s but by then the space race was functionally over. The last two chapters race through the near misses and almost-failure of the Soyuz and Salyut programmes, ending poignantly with the destruction of the one major Soviet space success - the mighty Anotov An-225, built to carry the Buran space shuttle, destroyed in Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
This is a good introduction to the triumphs of the Soviet space programme, triumphs that came about nearly all by luck and ingenuity - with a great deal of vodka to help.
January 23, 2025
As a career aviation journalist and "space nut," I found Straubaugh's book to be a very poor history with few if any new insights into the Soviet Space Program. Moreover, he portrays the Soviets as bumbling idiots despite the fact that they beat the United States to punch time after time, from Sputnik to manned orbital flight.
The Soviet space program employed the best engineers and technicians in the USSR, who accomplished a great deal while working under a very oppressive regime and extreme time and budget constraints. Strausbaugh dismisses their successes as "lucky breaks" and "accidents," writing in a very snarky and negative tone throughout the book.
America also had its mishaps, failures, and setbacks. In "The Right Stuff," Tom Wolff gave us the good and the bad, but one never doubted his admiration for the men and women of NASA and the space program. Strausbaugh shows no such admiration for the Soviets' obvious technological successes, which jump-started and often outperformed the US space program.
For a more realistic history of the Soviet space program, I recommend Colin Burgess’s outstanding "Soviets in Space," James Harford’s "Korolev," or William Burrough’s "This New Ocean."
The Wrong Stuff might be entertaining, but, in my opinion, it is a distorted history and lousy journalism.
The Soviet space program employed the best engineers and technicians in the USSR, who accomplished a great deal while working under a very oppressive regime and extreme time and budget constraints. Strausbaugh dismisses their successes as "lucky breaks" and "accidents," writing in a very snarky and negative tone throughout the book.
America also had its mishaps, failures, and setbacks. In "The Right Stuff," Tom Wolff gave us the good and the bad, but one never doubted his admiration for the men and women of NASA and the space program. Strausbaugh shows no such admiration for the Soviets' obvious technological successes, which jump-started and often outperformed the US space program.
For a more realistic history of the Soviet space program, I recommend Colin Burgess’s outstanding "Soviets in Space," James Harford’s "Korolev," or William Burrough’s "This New Ocean."
The Wrong Stuff might be entertaining, but, in my opinion, it is a distorted history and lousy journalism.
September 6, 2024
(Audiobook) On one hand, you can see how the determination and drive of the Soviet system led them to be the 1st in so many elements of space race, at least from 1957-1965. Yet, you will find yourself flabbergasted on just how the Soviets managed to do this without greater loss of life and public embarrassment. Somehow, the Soviet Union did manage to lead the way in the space race, but they took some extraordinary risks, the type of which they were so lucky didn’t result in more tragedies. The men and women who engaged in those firsts did earn their legendary statuses, but they also proved that they were flawed humans, and far from immune from the perils of fame.
It is interesting to read the story of how their program emerged and grew in the midst of the Cold War. Especially when we came to see how America well overtook the Soviets, only for the current Russians to be the main conduit for rocket launches to the modern space stations. It is also interesting to see that many of the Soviet achievements were buried out of spite and politics when they happened from the American perspective.
Overall, a fascinating and engaging read. A must for the space aficionado. The rating is the same for audiobook as for e-copy/hard copy.
It is interesting to read the story of how their program emerged and grew in the midst of the Cold War. Especially when we came to see how America well overtook the Soviets, only for the current Russians to be the main conduit for rocket launches to the modern space stations. It is also interesting to see that many of the Soviet achievements were buried out of spite and politics when they happened from the American perspective.
Overall, a fascinating and engaging read. A must for the space aficionado. The rating is the same for audiobook as for e-copy/hard copy.
August 18, 2024
An okay book, providing a comparison history of Soviet Russia’s space program. The author, journalist and popular historian John Strasbaugh, delivers a light and witty history of a program beset by mishaps, poor design, and rushed projects. Though the book concentrates on the main personas, such as lead designer Sergei Korolev, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and, the lead proponent of the program, Nikita Khrushchev, there are enough side narratives that most of the other cosmonauts� stories are told. Strasbaugh tells the tale as one near disaster after another, making the exploits of the program sound more like lucky happenstance then planned engineering feats. The book offers many comparisons between the Soviet program’s achievements in the space race, and its deeper reasons for near failures, with that of NASA’s work and culture. Given the book’s journalistic writing style, it reads more as comedic commentary rather than history. A good book for understanding the cultural and institutional drawbacks which hampered the Soviet’s space program. Recommended for anyone interested in the human stories of the Space Race.
January 12, 2024
This reads like a good survey of the existing popular literature on the subject. The author does a decent jobg summarizing it all into a reasonable history of major events in the Soviet space program, with a focus on the sensational (the scandalous and the disatrous). It's all true, much of it was only revealed when the USSR fell, and it's quite a story. I can't help but wonder if the program was really all bad, though. What I mean by that is they did get to space - they did so before us, and set many milestones that took us longer. Yes, the American space program is very risk-adverse, which is why we're seeing a shift to the commerical sector which is more risk-accepting. Could the Soviet program really be as slipshod as the book suggests? It certainly had major issues almost every step of the way, but I wonder what a sympathetic, non-Soviet study would read like.
I found it a quick, entertaining, and informative read. It seems like a good place to start reading up on the subject.
I found it a quick, entertaining, and informative read. It seems like a good place to start reading up on the subject.
January 18, 2024
After reading this excellent book, I am astonished that the Soviet space program achieved as much as it did! Now that access to declassified information had become available, it’s remarkable how slapdash and inferior everything they sent into space was. Compared to how meticulous and forthright NASA was, the Soviets were deceptive and dishonest. I loved how Strausbaugh added his own emphasis to illustrate how preposterous Soviet practices and procedures were. His humor just added to the ridiculousness of the Soviet enterprise. The most shocking anecdote was when an alarm alerted the cosmonauts that their hatch wasn’t sealed properly, ground command had them cover up the alarm light with a piece of paper. That outcome was therefore not surprising.
Now that so much has come to light, the Soviet disregard for life in the space race is unfathomable. The Wrong Stuff presents the whole endeavor as a comedy of errors and demonstrates its ignorance, its arrogance, and its brazenness.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
Now that so much has come to light, the Soviet disregard for life in the space race is unfathomable. The Wrong Stuff presents the whole endeavor as a comedy of errors and demonstrates its ignorance, its arrogance, and its brazenness.
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher.
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