Baikonur: Vestiges of the Soviet Space Program (Jonglez photo books)

Great photo book with basic information about the Russian space shuttle program.

Despite consuming 40% of the Soviet manned space program's budget during the 80s, Buran only flew once and remains a beguiling and fascinating anomaly. Today, the program seems to be a source of both pride and embarrassment to the Russians. While some elements of Buran hardware are proudly displayed in public, others remain closely guarded. The primary subject of this book is a massive hangar, deep in the heart of the Baikonur Cosmodrome housing a full-sized engineering mockup and the unfinished second flight article, both abandoned for over 15 years.I'll admit right out that I'm not a fan of exploring abandoned buildings, but I enjoy the photography of people braver than myself. The first quarter of this book provides an overview of the Soviet space program, the journey of "Jonk" and his team through Kazakhstan and into the Cosmodrome, and his (highly illegal, by the way...) exploration of the massive Assembly and Fueling Complex that houses the two shuttles, and the nearby Dynamics Test Stand. The rest of the book consists entirely of photographs of the interior of both buildings, the two shuttles, and an Energia launch vehicle.Unsurprisingly, these photos are the highlight of the book, showing every little rusty, crusty little nook and cranny of these giant structures. The photos are generally of excellent quality, though unsurprisingly they aren't terribly colorful. Everywhere one looks are thick sheets of peeling paint, precarious walkways, layers of dirt, dust, and pigeon droppings encrusting everything, technical documents and propaganda pamphlets scattered about, and ancient machines cannibalized over the decades. Jonk's camera captures images as varied as the shuttles themselves, derelict machinery, endless corrugated steel hallways, and nearby abandoned buildings, as well as close-ups of small details such as rusted steel, control panels, official documents, bulletin boards, and so on. It's not hard for one to imagine hearing their footsteps booming through the hangars, smell the mold and decay, and visualize how busy these facilities were in their prime.Where this book fails, although only slightly, is that there's very little in the way of historical or technical commentary, and most of the photo captions boil down to "(object) as viewed from (vantage point)" or translations of a sign or placard depicted in the photo. It's also worth pointing out that the "Energia launcher" depicted here isn't the same kind used to launch Polyus and Buran. Rather, it's an engineering mockup of the unflown Energia-M booster which was built to test the dynamic loads of the vehicle, which isn't mentioned anywhere in the text. A pedantic point, perhaps, but anyone expecting photos of the "real deal" will be disappointed.Although some knowledge of the Buran program is required going in, this is nonetheless a fascinating, if rather esoteric photo study of a unique example of abandoned Soviet gigantomania. It's probably intended more for urban explorers than for space geeks, but what can I say? I need to diversify my interests from time to time.

Only a handful of photos of Buran. very little else that looks like Baikonur spaceport. A lot of closeups of discarded stuff, crumbling concrete. It woud have been more meaningful if images showed before and after. Or more things that were recognizable. I worked there for several months and hoped to see some of what I remembered. But there is almost nothing.

Not enough discussion of the Russian program and too few pictures of the vehicle itself

Fotos fantásticas e bom texto introdutório. Vale muito a pena para quem gosta das histórias obscuras do programa espacial soviético.

This was bought for a Christmas present and not read by me. Looks interesting though. My granddaughter has unusual reading matter.

Before it comes to the photos, the photographer introduces the scenery with a short and thrilling account of his travelling there, how he sneaked into the high security area of a Russian spaceport, and how he played hide and seek with the occasional guards. Nonetheless, the photos show thorough planning and perfect technical realization under the given circumstances. Many shots of the two orbiters and their details from various spectacular perspectives can be seen, and amazing pictures of the Energija carrier rocket. But the photographer does not forget about the offices, workshops, archives and maintenance rooms that provide a lot of insights into the daily operations of a space engineering facility. He even contemplates about the structure of crackling paint - a feature well-known to and very much liked by photographers of lost places in post-Soviet countries.What I totally love is that the photographer refrains from the use of any camera filter and image post-processing that are otherwise notoriously used for contemporary lost places photos in order to give them an exaggerated apocalyptic look. Instead, he is an expert in catching that delicate, soft, faintly yellowish light that is so characteristic of the inside of abandoned buildings with blinded, dusty windows. It gives the scenes the impression of insubstantiality, of irreality. What could be more fitting for a space programme that never got beyond the stage of dreams?Although Baikonur had become the destination for many lost places enthusiasts during the recent years, and an appropriate amount of pictures were taken there, I consider this book the most earnest and most aesthetic documentation of the current state of the remains of the Buran and Energija programmes. And considering the current political situation, there is probably not much more to come in the near future.

È stato un buon acquisto e lo consiglio a tutti gli amanti del tema, ma la qualità di stampa potrebbe essere decisamente migliore. Secondo me chi nella recensione scrive che la qualità di stampa è ottima forse ha problemi di vista

I liked 100%.