Here is the most up-to-date history of man in space, researched by a NASA insider from astronaut interviews, diaries and speeches, with many revelations appearing in print for the first time, and even including material from top secret documents from the former Soviet Union. Astronauts shows space travel as its not been seen before and those who read it will be shocked at the reality of the dangers and failings of the space missions and full of admiration for the courage of those who travelled into space. There are surprises in these pages even to those who closely follow space exploration. Together, the diverse accounts reveal the astronauts' tales of courage and fear, and provide an authoritative and unique history of space exploration, from the missions of Laika, Yuri Gagarin and Alan Shepard and John Glenn, to Columbia, the International Space Station and SpaceShipOne, via the Vostok, Soyuz, Gemini and Apollo missions and the moon landings. Packed with extraordinary facts and anecdotes, Astronauts includes the story of how Korolev managed to get a man with curvature of the spine, ulcers, gastritis and missing fingers to be selected as a cosmonaut, alongside an account of how soviet agents tried to stop the launch of Apollo 8. Here too are comments from a space shuttle commander highlighting the terror induced by a space shuttle launch, as well as the reasons NASA did not want Buzz Aldrin to be the first to step onto the lunar surface. The CD includes: The Sputnik announcement; Yuri Gagarin speaking in orbit; The Alan Shepard launch; J. F. Kennedy's speech to Congress; Valentina Tereshkova speaking in orbit; Neil Armstrong stepping onto the lunar surface; Apollo 13: 'Houston. We've got a problem'.

Table of Contents:
Introduction. 'Soviet rockets must conquer space!' Realizing the Dream 1903-1957. 'Man will conquer space soon' The First Space Travellers 1957-1958. 'I can see the clouds, everything. It's beautiful' Astronauts Race Cosmonauts 1959-1961. 'Let's go and get the job done' America Reaches Space 1961-1962. 'Gagarin in a shirt' The Female Face of the Cosmos 1962-1963. 'Friends! Before us is the Moon' Tempting Fate 1964-1965. 'They want you to get back in' Flying in Pairs 1964-1965. 'They're in a roll and it won't stop' Emergency in Space 1965-1966. 'We're on fire! Get us out of here!' Death and the Astronaut 1967-1968. 'That was a real kick in the pants' Return to Flight 1968. 'Apollo 8, you're go for TLI' Leaving the Cradle 1968. 'We're actually going to fly something like this?' Dangerous and Unpleasant Missions 1969. 'We is down among 'em Charlie' Rehearsal for a Moon Landing 1969. 'Houston. Tranquillity Base here. The Eagle has landed' First Landing on the Moon 1969. 'Houston - we've had a problem' Success and Successful Failure 1969-1970. 'I cried a little' The Return of Alan Shepard 1970-1971. Ten to 15 seconds of agonising consciousness - Death in Space 1971 and 1973. 'Their majesty overwhelmed me' Bringing Back Moonbeams 1971-1972. 'There's something on the telemetry that doesn't look quite right' The First American Space Station 1973-1974. 'We actually came to have a very close relationship with the Soviet crew' East Meets West in Orbit 1975. 'Hey, there's some tiles missing back there' The Most Dangerous Mission of All 1981. 'It marks our entrance into a new era' Launch of the Space Shuttle Programme 1982-1983. 'You could see the Sun lighting the desert way up ahead' First Commercial Shuttle Flights 1984. 'The most important thing for us was to dock' Rescue of a Crippled Space Station 1985-1986. 'Uh oh' The Challenger Disaster 1986. 'My God, that's a lot of damage' Frequent Shuttle Damage, 1988 and beyond. 'It's serious, it's serious' Fire and Collision 1994-2001. 'Off-scale low' End of an Era 2003. Largest structure in space - Living in Orbit 1998-. 'The flight was spectacular' A Ticket to Ride 2004. Index. AUDIO CD CONTENTS: Radio Moscow: Sputnik announcement, 4 Oct 1957. Radio Moscow: Gagarin announcement, 12 April 1961. Vostok 1: Yuri Gagarin speaks to ground control during launch: 'My condition is excellent', 12 April 1961. Freedom 7: Alan Shepard speaks on launching, 5 May 1961. President J F Kennedy's speech to Congress, 25 May 1961. Friendship 7: John Glenn in orbit, 20 Feb 1961. Radio Moscow: First woman in space announcement, 16 June 1963. Vostok 6: Tereshkova speaks in orbit calling ground-tracking station: 'All is well' 16 June 1963. Voskhod 1: Vladimir Komarov speaks in orbit: 'Larya 8, this is Ruby', 12 Oct 1964. Voskhod 2: Groudn control calls crew to say the automatic descent system has been switched off, 18 March 1965. Gemini 4: Ed White makes the first American spacewalk, 3 June 1965. Gemini 5 breaks manned endurance record, 29 Aug 1965. Gemini 7 breaks manned endurance record, 18 Dec 1965. Gemini 8: Emergency in space, 16 March 1966. Gemini 10: John Young describes the mission at a post-flight press conference, 20 July 1966. Gemini 12: Jim Lovell describes a lunar eclipse seen from orbit, 23 Nov 1966. Soyuz 1: Vladmir Komarov onboard the doomed spacecraft praising the Communist Party, 23 April 1967. Apollo 8: Trans Lunar Injection: First manned flight to the Moon, 21 Dec 1968. Apollo 8: Live from the Moon, 24 Dec 1968. Apollo 8: Crew reads the Book of Genesis in lunar orbit, Christmas Day 1968. Apollo 10: Dress rehearsal for the lunar landing, 18 May 1969. Apollo 10: Lunar Module malfunction, 21 May 1969. Apollo 11: Launch for the first Moon landing, 16 July 1969. Apollo 11 lands on the Moon, 20 July 1969. Apollo 11: First man steps out on to the Moon, 20 July 1969. Apollo 11: Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin unveil plaque, 21 July 1969. Apollo 12 launches and is struck by lightning, 14 Nov 1969. Apollo 13: 'Houston - we've had a problem' 14 April 1970. Apollo 13: Re-entry, 17 April 1970. Apollo 17: Strolling on the Moon, 12 Dec 1972. Apollo 17: Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt unveil plaque, 17 Dec 1972. Apollo 17: Gene Cernan says last words on the Moon, 17 Dec 1972. Apollo-Soyuz docking, 17 July 1975. Apollo-Soyuz crew exchange handshakes, 17 July 1975. Columbia (STS-1): First Space Shuttle launch, 12 April 1981. Columbia (STS-1): First Space Shuttle landing, Edwards Air Force Base, 14 April 1981. Challenger (STS-51L) launch: Disaster at Cape Kennedy, 28 Jan 1986. Atlantis (STS-71): The Space Shuttle docks with the Mir space station, 9 June 1995. Jerry Linengar describes the fires onboard Mir, 24 Feb 1997. Michael Foale describes the collision of Mir, 27 June 1997. STS-107: Space Shuttle Columbia's final moments, Flight Director's loop, 1 Feb 2003.