SURVIVAL IN SPACE

On August 12, 1961, Yuri Gagarin became the world's first space man. Since then the Russians have had ten orbital manned missions and this book, written chiefly by Russian psychologist Lebedev, focuses for the most part on the psychological manifestations and preparation involved. It reads a little like an advanced high school primer and should find its proper landing point in the hands of aspiring adolescent astronauts who will learn that the Russians have the same frets and fears and problems that we have. There are very interesting sections on training tests given to the cosmonauts that deal with intricate tri-dimension coordination; sensory starvation, isolation, weightlessness, etc. The chapters on hallucinatory and ""eidetic phenomena"" are fascinating. There are also projections of the necessities for prolonged missions, comments and diary excerpts from Gagarin and other cosmonauts, jet pilots, guinea pigs and doctors. Possible blast off.