This book makes us witness to the first Soviet space flights and all the rumours surrounding them. Most of this information has till now been kept secret from the West as the archives were only opened up after the collapse of the Soviet Union. We learn about cosmonauts sitting atop a burning, all but exploding, spacecraft. We learn about a spaceship landing on the ice of a frozen lake, read of cosmonauts boldly facing the unknown and mastering frighteningly outrageous situations thanks to their skill and courage. For the first time the German reader is taken through the archives of the former Soviet Union and given not only a glimpse into very personal adventures, but also of a very innovative view of the early Soviet Space Flight Programme.

About the author:

Dr Gerhard Hertenberger was born in 1967. He studied Biology at the University of Vienna.

He currently works as a researcher at the Institute of Ecology. He is much engaged in the questions of the protection of Nature. Since 2004 he has worked as a journalist in the fields of Bio-Science, Space Exploration and Archaeology. Since the early 1980's he has taken a keen interest in Russian space activities.