Star-Crossed Orbits: Inside the U.S. Russian Space Alliance

James Oberg is an unaffected, genuine expert on the subject. He has written thousands of articles and the like. He has also appeared frequently as a TV or news commentator on this subject. He has authored 10 books or more. This subject matter is right in his area of expertise. The breath and depth of his knowledge is hard to match. It is almost as if he was born to this field of expertise. What is perhaps more amazing in this day of public cynicism is that he seems to keep his sources in that they continue to feed him material again and again. They must trust him. Is it necessary to remind the reading public of his writings on the Soviet downing of Korean flight 007 and how with time James Oberg was proven right? The fires on MIR is an interesting topic. Oberg gives a detailed history of the fires in the Soviet space programs especially those inside the space capsules. The Soviets generated oxygen by burning solid fuel oxygen generators. These are the same type of mechanism that destroyed ValuJet flight 592 in Florida in 1996, he points out. He supplies a quote from a NASA official that the "American program experimented with a chlorate candle emergency breathing device... but it was dropped because they couldn't be sure it would not start a fire." Another interesting topic is, the arming of the Salyut -3 space station. It was armed with a Nudelman air to air cannon designed for Soviet jet fighters. It was there as a contingency in case the Americans tried to take the Salyut station. Oberg also has a photo of the Soviet Soyuz survival kit which included a three barrel survival gun for firing bullets, shotgun shells and flares. On the policy making level, Oberg supplies lots of information, facts and opinions bearing on the topic of Russian-American cooperation in space. I do hope members of Congress and the executive branch read this book.For Oberg, space is his life. His destination is the second star on the right. Maybe he will bring us along on the trip.

For any student of US/Soviet/Russian space history, Oberg's latest book is required reading. He has synthesized the complexities of international space cooperation with an authoritative and well-documented expose of past and current space policy practices by both the United States and Russia. The book is a chilling reminder that "feel good" space policies and lack of visionary leadership will ultimately have both short-and long-term negative consequences not only to the surival of the brave crews who inhabit the International Space Station but to common-sense project managers, technicians and planners who will ultimately lead humankind to frontiers beyond earth orbit.

The main theme I got from Oberg's book is that partnerships in space, like those on Earth, flourish on truth and choke on make-believe and self-delsuion and wishful-thinking. Reviewer Phillips of Las Vegas provided an excellent example of how to misunderstand this message. Oberg in his space.com interview said he was a 'hawk' on space, meaning he saw it as very important, not as a politically nationalistic or isolationist exercise. He was calling for cooperation in space with the Soviets in the 1980s when it was very politically incorrect, the Reagan years. But he called for reality-based relations.But partnership based on misunderstanding and delusion -- the kinds of flaws that Phillips's review exemplifies -- are doomed, writes Oberg, because you can't bluff 'Mother Nature', and reality always eventually prevails over dogma and hoping-for-the-best. He describes a number of successful US/Russian space deals, both government and commercial, that succeeded because they were fact-based. Then he describes how NASA arrogantly rejected the advice and insights from the successful practitioners, and chose instead the politically-inspired myopia that has led us to exactly where we are now -- a program financially and morally bankrupt.How to make it work, and the lessons others have already paid for by their own mistakes, is the theme of this book. And the first requirement is to stop pretending that 'tough love' and reality-based decision making is somehow hostile to genuine international partnerships.Of course this steps on toes and makes the make-believers howl! That's the most entertaining angle to the book and its reception in the space community. The workers love it, and management hates it. Need I say more?

Veterans of NASA's space programs have long regretted that the programs we work on are far more interesting than the popular news media is able to portray. We are indeed fortunate to have James Oberg to chronicle the true story of the human drama of both the United States and Russian Space Programs. Future historians will no doubt write their histories as best they can, second-guessing motivations and events through the veil of time, but Oberg has the benefit of actually being there. Coupled with his talent for riveting prose that grabs your attention and won't let loose, Oberg's personal on-the-job experience and dedicated research bring us a portrait of how these programs began, how they evolved, and how and why it appears today that United States and Russia have forged an alliance in space. In Star-Crossed Orbits he accomplishes this daunting task without resorting to a cheap grab for drama with the exaggerated character assassination that severely mars Bryan Burrough's otherwise outstanding Dragonfly.I would take umbrage with the unnamed Publishers Weekly reviewer, who whined that Oberg "fails to provide enough fodder to convince the non-space enthusiast that pursuing new U.S. manned flights to the moon or even Mars is worth the time or the money." He also does not give us a terrific new recipe for butterscotch pudding. This book is not a sales pitch for the United States space programs; it is an in-depth behind-the-scenes look at how we got to where we are through decades of changes in political motivations and cultures, and analysis of the pitfalls of pursuing what appears to be our current direction in our government-sponsored space programs.Star-Crossed Orbits is essential reading for anyone interested in U.S. or Russian history, international relations, or past and future endeavors in space.

His earlier non-fiction work "Red Star in Orbit" became one of the most sought-after books of the time (and since) for its amazing revelations of Soviet cover-ups. In that book James Oberg's intensely comprehensive research finally revealed many of the shocking lies and smokescreen propaganda about the pioneering days of Soviet cosmonautics, and now he has brought the story right up to date with this superb new book. Oberg has a wonderful way with the written word, and he combines this with a wealth of incredible new facts and anecdotal revelations to present us with what should also become a classic book - and even a reference book - on the Soviet/CIS space program. Highly recommended.