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Interesting how our understanding of risks change. I have that Soviet illustrated pop science book about space travel. Published in 1955 - two years before Sput

by varjag 7y ago

Interesting how our understanding of risks change. I have that Soviet illustrated pop science book about space travel. Published in 1955 - two years before Sputnik - the main concern it had was the harm of microgravity. Huge unknown at the time, there were fears that humans would not able to function properly in weightlessness, so all the designs of orbital stations were with centrifugal gravity. DNA at that point was barely discovered and genetics remained a pariah science under CPSU for years. (The book also refers to space pilots as astronauts, not cosmonauts, and describes polar caps and channels on Mars. Wild.)

jrumbut 7y ago
Which one? Is it online anywhere?
- varjag 7y ago
  Not sure. I got mine off eBay as memento, having read it back in school days many years ago. Very much identical to this lot: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Traveling-in-Space-M-Vasilev-Russian-Soviet-Illustrated-Vintage-Book-Rare/223782937120 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Traveling-in-Space-M-Vasilev-R... There's also an expanded post-Sputnik edition of it I think.
- anonymfus 7y ago
  >Is it online anywhere? http://www.flibustahezeous3.onion/b/167460 http://www.flibustahezeous3.onion/b/167460
perl4ever 7y ago
I have a Soviet illustrated pop-up book about space travel, with the same title, but a different author and I think published about 1980. It appears to be "Into Space" by V. Sevastyanov, however I could only find pictures of the cover by searching for "В космос" В. Севастьянова. Front: https://images.app.goo.gl/M51TCVL35gabKREH7 https://images.app.goo.gl/M51TCVL35gabKREH7 Back: https://images.app.goo.gl/bdLAZTJ9iVbm1q596 https://images.app.goo.gl/bdLAZTJ9iVbm1q596 I've been wondering for years if it was a valuable collector's item, but now due to the magic of Google Lens, I guess it's not.
ChaseT 7y ago
And 60+ years later their guess is semi-confirmed by this study; if humans want to be in space for a long time they'll need artificial gravity to avoid most of the harms mentioned in the article. Amazing that 90% of his genes returned to normal expression. I wonder how long humans can withstand microgravity before that number drops severely, or if it's a gradual decline...
Balgair 7y ago
An old professor of mine was part of the medical research in these initial studies. I remember some of the big unanswered question about 0G were the digestive system and the vestibular system. Digestive because we had no idea if a stomach and the rest could deal with 0g and not just cause vomiting and whatnot. The vestibular (sense of balance) because the tiny crystals in your inner ear may detach in prolonged 0g away from the hair-like cells that transmit motion to your brain, causing permanent vertigo. Not a good thing for a pilot to have. There were many other effects that were unknown too, hence the space monkeys. Since they came back alright, it was seen as safe enough to send highly trained and very expensive test pilots up there too. Man, the Cold War, what a trip.

by varjag 7y ago

jrumbut 7y ago

Which one? Is it online anywhere?

varjag 7y ago
Not sure. I got mine off eBay as memento, having read it back in school days many years ago. Very much identical to this lot: https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Traveling-in-Space-M-Vasilev-Russian-Soviet-Illustrated-Vintage-Book-Rare/223782937120 https://www.ebay.com/itm/1955-Traveling-in-Space-M-Vasilev-R... There's also an expanded post-Sputnik edition of it I think.
anonymfus 7y ago
>Is it online anywhere? http://www.flibustahezeous3.onion/b/167460 http://www.flibustahezeous3.onion/b/167460

perl4ever 7y ago

I have a Soviet illustrated pop-up book about space travel, with the same title, but a different author and I think published about 1980. It appears to be "Into Space" by V. Sevastyanov, however I could only find pictures of the cover by searching for "В космос" В. Севастьянова. Front: https://images.app.goo.gl/M51TCVL35gabKREH7 https://images.app.goo.gl/M51TCVL35gabKREH7 Back: https://images.app.goo.gl/bdLAZTJ9iVbm1q596 https://images.app.goo.gl/bdLAZTJ9iVbm1q596 I've been wondering for years if it was a valuable collector's item, but now due to the magic of Google Lens, I guess it's not.

ChaseT 7y ago

And 60+ years later their guess is semi-confirmed by this study; if humans want to be in space for a long time they'll need artificial gravity to avoid most of the harms mentioned in the article. Amazing that 90% of his genes returned to normal expression. I wonder how long humans can withstand microgravity before that number drops severely, or if it's a gradual decline...

Balgair 7y ago

An old professor of mine was part of the medical research in these initial studies. I remember some of the big unanswered question about 0G were the digestive system and the vestibular system. Digestive because we had no idea if a stomach and the rest could deal with 0g and not just cause vomiting and whatnot. The vestibular (sense of balance) because the tiny crystals in your inner ear may detach in prolonged 0g away from the hair-like cells that transmit motion to your brain, causing permanent vertigo. Not a good thing for a pilot to have. There were many other effects that were unknown too, hence the space monkeys. Since they came back alright, it was seen as safe enough to send highly trained and very expensive test pilots up there too. Man, the Cold War, what a trip.