ENERGIYA-BURAN: The Soviet Space Shuttle (Springer Praxis Books) - Tapa blanda

From the reviews:

"Historians Hendrickx and Vis offer a history of the Soviet space shuttle and its attached rocket, one of the most powerful ever built. ... This comprehensive history of the program, its technology, its designers, and its cosmonauts is an important contribution to the history of space technology, and is for those interested in space policy, engineering, systems, and history. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels." (A. M. Strauss, CHOICE, Vol. 45 (7), 2008)

"Hendrickx and Vis begin with an overview of Soviet spaceplane research and development stretching back to rocketplane designs of the 1930s before moving on to describing the origins of Energiya and Buran themselves. ... Special note must also be made of the many excellent photos in this book, most of which have not been published in the West before. ... a vital addition to the literature on the USSR/Russian space programme, and Hendrickx and Vis are to be congratulated on a job very well done!" (Liftoff, Issue 248, November-December, 2008)

This absorbing book describes the long development of the Soviet space shuttle system, its infrastructure and the space agency’s plans to follow up the first historic unmanned mission. The book includes comparisons with the American shuttle system and offers accounts of the Soviet test pilots chosen for training to fly the system, and the operational, political and engineering problems that finally sealed the fate of Buran and ultimately of NASA’s Shuttle fleet.