Russian Planetary Exploration: History, Development, Legacy, Prospects

Brian Harvey
Springer New York
9780387463438
0-387-46343-7

Illustrated with photographs from Soviet Venus and Mars probes, images of spacecraft, diagrams of flight paths and maps of landing sites, this book draws on published scientific papers, archives, memoirs.

read more…

and other material. The text reviews Soviet engineering techniques and science packages, as well the difficulties which ruined several missions. The program's scientific and engineering legacy is also addressed, within the Soviet space effort as a whole.