Books: The Wrong Stuff

In this age of billionaire-backed companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, it can be tough to recall that space travel was once the exclusive province of governments, and then really only two governments: the U.S. and the USSR. John Strausbaugh's book The Wrong Stuff (H/T to Tam for suggesting it) takes a look at the Space Race from the point of view of the Soviets.  Strausbaugh's main thesis is that far from being an implacable, bureaucratic foe whom the U.S. barely beat to the Moon, the USSR's space program was a dysfunctional mess held together by rogue engineers, jockeying fighter pilots, and a fly-by-the-seat-of-your-flaming-pants attitude - "The Wrong Stuff." 

The book mostly tracks famed rocket designer Sergei Korolev from his early successes with Sputnik and Vostok all the way through the Luna probes and his death in 1966. It was not until the end of the Cold War that Western observers would discover how ramshackle and improvised the Russian space program was. There were life-threatening technical problems with Vostok that would persist for years, ingenious but crude workarounds to make up for meager resources, and, tragically, many people whose deaths were covered up in the spirit of secrecy. While the book is of course critical of the oppressive system that the cosmonauts were stuck in, no one can deny their bravery, or their contributions to humanity's path to the stars.