0. Launch of Vostok 1, Launch of Soyuz TM-12. First and last cosmonauts.

1. Tsiolkovskii and the Cosmists. Aelita, the origins of the Program.

2. The Second World War. Rocketry, V-2, Korolev, captured equipment.
3. Genesis of the program – nuclear strike, counter-force, early experiments.
4. The start of the satellite program. Sputnik 1
5. Sputnik 2 – Laika. Sputnik 3 – the original Sputnik 1.
6. The race to the moon – the Lunik program. Birth of NASA, the rival.
7. Selection of cosmonauts, test flights, the race to manned orbital flight.
8. The flight of Vostok 1. Effect around the world.
9. Vostok 2, 3, 4. Continuing the program.
10. Vostok 5 – 6. First woman in space. Mercury 13 contrast.
11. The moon race in earnest More Luniks.
12. Voshkod 1 – three men in a capsule. Competition with Apollo.
13. Leonov’s spacewalk – Voskhod 2. Cancelled Voskhods.
14. The race to the planets – Mars/Venus successes.
15. Racing to the moon. Competition in the program – arguments, debates.
16. Soyuz problems, Soyuz 1, death of Komarov.
17. Falling behind. Follow-up Soyuz flights to prove the program.
18. The Zond program, competing with Apollo 8 – falling behind.
19. The N-1 program. The explosion, the end of the lunar dreams.
20. Birth of the Space Station program. Tsiokovskii.
21. Soyuz 9 precursor. Salyut 1 launch, Soyuz 10 failure.
22. Soyuz 11 – disaster.
23. Failures of following stations – Soyuz returns to flight.
24. Salyut 3 – military space station program. Comparisons to MOL.
25. Salyut 4 – program coming into its own. What had been hoped for 1.
26. Salyut 5 – military program cancelled – again, MOL.
27. Back to the planets once more – Landings on Mars and Venus.
28. Salyut 6 – Intercosmos program – success.
29. Salyut 7 – Waiting for MIR. Troubles.
30. The rescues of Salyut 7
31. Buran – the Spaceplane program and its genesis. Competing with NASA, once again.
32. MIR – the dream of the future.
33. Buran launches, Buran a triumph, Buran lost.
34. The Soviet Union begins to fall. Faltering dreams.
35. The last Soviet Cosmonaut. Full circle.
36. What might have been?

Notes
 More integration of the planetary projects, especially in later chapters.
 More detailing on the Salyut programs. Apollo-Soyuz, as well.
 Need to work in the narrative – competing, rival bureau.
 Must make it more of a narrative – focus on people. ‘This is a thing of men’. Those who flew
more than once – any with accounts to be used.
 Big question. Manned or Manned/Unmanned. Quite critical, actually. The Lunar flights tie in
with the manned program a lot better than the Planetary flights.
The goal of the book is to write a history of the Soviet Space Program. That’s going to mean covering the
planetary probes, and integrating it into the narrative. Sagdeev is perhaps useful here. The trick is to
connect up the programs – though I can’t help but think this works as multiple books, perhaps.

The planetary landings slot in after the failure to reach the moon. Venus and Mars represent a
consolation prize, and the whole thrust of the book is to suggest that the Soviet space program was far
more successful than history seems to suggest – first satellite, first animal in space, first man in space,
first woman in space, first spacewalk, first to the far side of the moon, first soft landing on the moon.
Mars, Venus. First to live and work in space. That’s the story to be told.

0. Launch of Vostok 1, Yuri Gagarin on the pad, the journey begins. Scope of the book.
1. Tsiolkovskii and the Cosmists. Aelita, the origins of the Program.
2. The Second World War. Rocketry, V-2, Korolev, captured equipment.
3. Genesis of the program – nuclear strike, counter-force, early experiments.
4. The start of the satellite program. Sputnik 1
5. Sputnik 2 – Laika. Sputnik 3 – the original Sputnik 1.
6. The race to the moon – the Lunik program. Birth of NASA, the rival.
7. Selection of cosmonauts, test flights, the race to manned orbital flight.
8. The flight of Vostok 1. Effect around the world.
9. Vostok 2, 3, 4. Continuing the program. Comparison with Mercury.
10. The Luniks – first probes to the planets.
11. The Race to the Moon begins – Soviet responses.
12. Vostok 5 – 6. First woman in space. Mercury 13 contrast.
13. The Genesis of the Voskhod program – Voskhod 1 – Soyuz delay.
14. Voskhod 2 – Spacewalking – Flight. Cancelled Voskhods.
15. Arguments and controversies – settling into the moon program. Rival bureau.
16. Soft-landing on the Moon. Jodrell Bank and the Daily Express. Death of Komarov.
17. The Soyuz capsule, contrast to Apollo. Soyuz 1 disaster.
18. Probe flights continue to the planets.
19. Proton/Zond program, attempt to catch up, continued argument, lunar development.
20. Return to flight, Soyuz 2/3. Death of Gagarin. Zond tests, controversy, cancellation. Apollo 8.
21. Pressing on, Soyuz 4/5, attempting to recover, onward with the moon program.
22. Taming the N-1 – failure to launch, impossible to use. Too late. Luna 15 failure. Apollo 11.
23. Regrouping. Birth of the Space Station Program. Military/Civilian. Soyuz 6/7/8.
24. Luna 16 – unmanned sample return. Lunakhod Program. Manned lunar flights never happened.
25. Soyuz 9 – grueling flight. Medical after-effects.
26. Launch of Salyut, failure of Soyuz 10 to dock.
27. Soyuz 11 – the flight, the failure, the aftermath.
28. Soyuz returns to flight, Salyut failures.
29. To Mars and to Venus – the consolation prize.
30. Salyut 3 – successes.
31. Apollo-Soyuz – space cooperation – a fitting end to the program.
32. Epilogue – what might have been, and what was.
 0. Traditions of the Russian Space Program – how it all began. Vostok 1.
1. Genesis of the Russian interest in spaceflight. Tsiokovskii and the Cosmists. Tsander.
2. World War 2 and its aftermath, picking over Nazi Germany’s corpse.
3. The Cold War. Ballistic Missiles. Nuclear bombs, rockets needed.
4. Start of the satellite program….

Waffling. A lot. Get to the point, get to what’s interesting, this is not a full narrative. Focus on Korolev to
start with – the guiding force behind the program, the heart of the space race, then bring in others.
Mishin. Gagarin. Leonov. Et cetera. That’s the story. Next question – is this the race to the moon that
failed – or is this the whole programme…because that makes a hell of a difference. That would bring in
the Space Station Programme…and that might be a book in itself. Suggests that this could be a two-part
project. What would people be most interested in? Don’t forget – there’s the ‘Race to Venus’ book
coming up later on, meaning that something needs to be saved for that. This needs to be a decent-sized
work – needs to go into the characters, the personalities, and that’s going to be tough.

Cover the birth of the program in a single chapter – no need to go into vast detail. A page on TSK will do.
Go right for Korolev as he gets the program together, pushing for a vast space exploration project –
starting with the satellites. Cover the missile gap as a part of this. That’s still important.

The race to the moon. That’s the heart of the book. Covers some of the unmanned lunar landings that
closed out the program. Likely leads to a second book at some point.