"For the first time in the history of cosmonautics the book describes in detail, popularly in fascinating and at the same time responsible form all the manned flights in the period from 1961 to 2004. It also represents the design of most manned spacecraft", said editor-in-chief of the magazine Novosti Kosmonavtiki (News of Cosmonautics) and supervisor of the authors' collective Igor Marinin.
The book devotes a special place to unrealized projects and different foreign programs. "It will be published in 5,000 copies. The price of the almost 2.5-kilogram copy is about 2,600 rubles", Mr. Marinin told RIA Novosti.
The book consultant Pilot-Cosmonaut Yuri Baturin said: "We present a book of which we are very proud. Indeed, there is no such book elsewhere in the world and will hardly be in 20 years to come". "We dedicate it to the 45th birthday of the team of cosmonauts, to be marked on March 7, 2005", he added.
In turn, Cosmonaut Pavel R. Popovich of the first enrolment noted: "I very much like the style of writing. What is noteworthy, it is not overpoliticized", Mr. Popovich said.
The difference in principle between this book and a mere book of facts is that it is not a report about missions, understandable to only a narrow circle of specialists, but a publication which will help readers interested in the progress of world cosmonautics to understand the very core of it.
