Andrews, James T. (Editor)
Siddiqi, Asif A. (Editor)
University of Pittsburgh Press
Publication date: 2011
Language: English
Physical Details: x + 330 pp.; ill.; bibl.; index
The launch of the Sputnik satellite in October 1957 changed the course of human history. In the span of a few years, Soviets sent the first animal into space, the first man, and the first woman. These events were a direct challenge to the United States and the capitalist model that claimed ownership of scientific aspiration and achievement. The success of the space program captured the hopes and dreams of nearly every Soviet citizen and became a critical cultural vehicle in the country's emergence from Stalinism and the devastation of World War II. It also proved to be an invaluable tool in a worldwide propaganda campaign for socialism, a political system that could now seemingly accomplish anything it set its mind to. Into the Cosmos shows us the fascinating interplay of Soviet politics, science, and culture during the Khrushchev era, and how the space program became a binding force between these elements. The chapters examine the ill-fitted use of cosmonauts as propaganda props, the manipulation of gender politics after Valentina Tereshkova's flight, and the use of public interest in cosmology as a tool for promoting atheism. Other chapters explore the dichotomy of promoting the space program while maintaining extreme secrecy over its operations, space animals as media darlings, the history of Russian space culture, and the popularity of space-themed memorabilia that celebrated Soviet achievement and planted the seeds of consumerism.
...MoreDescription Contents:
Chapter Andrews, James T. (2011) Getting Ready for Kruschev's Sputnik: Russian Popular Culture and the National Markers at the Dawn of the Space Age. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 28).
Chapter Siddiqi, Asif A. (2011) Cosmic Contradictions: Popular Enthusiasm and Secrecy in the Soviet Space Program. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 47).
Chapter Jenks, Andrew (2011) The Sincere Deceiver: Yuri Gagarin and the Search for Higher Truth. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 107).
Chapter Smolkin-Rothrock, Victoria (2011) Cosmic Enlightenment: Scientific Atheim and the Soviet Conquest of Space. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 159).
Chapter Sylvester, Roshanna P. (2011) She Orbits over the Sex Barrier: Soviet Girls and the Tereshkova Moment. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 195).
Chapter Gumbert, Heather L. (2011) Cold War Theaters: Cosmonaut Titov at the Berlin Wall. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 240).
Chapter Kojevnikov, Alexei (2011) The Cultural Spaces of the Soviet Cosmos. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 15).
Chapter Gerovitch, Slava (2011) The Human inside a Propaganda Machine: The Public Image and Professional Identity of Soviet Cosmonauts. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 77).
Chapter Nelson, Amy (2011) Cold War Celebrity and the Courageous Canine Scout: The Life and Times of Soviet Space Dog. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 133).
Chapter Lewis, Cathleen S. (2011) From the Kitchen into Orbit: The Convergence of Human Spaceflight and Kruschev's Nascent Consumerism. In: Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture (p. 213).
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