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Summary: Very enjoyable reading
Review: A fascinating book for anyone interested in cultural cooperation - in space or in any project. It was telling that the US believed we were "customers" after spending $400M, while the Russians were under no such assumption.While the descriptions of the astronauts and cosmonauts may have been a little sensationalized, you certainly find yourself rooting for the MIR teams and their ground support. This book is on my gift list this year.
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Summary: Tense and claustrophobic. Great true story.
Review: I'm a big fan of true-life accounts of perseverance and achievement in the face of adversity, so this book was a must-read for me. Well-researched and detailed, Dragonfly certainly takes its time to get to the real action, but as you read on, you see the significance of all this background info. Culture clashes, personal agendas and personality conflicts play as much part in Mir's problems as do the endless accidents and faults the ageing ship suffers. Tense and claustrophobic, this would make a great film!
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Summary: Book is not factual; written poorly, jumps around; boring.
Review: It appears that the author is trying to stir up any controversy/conflicts/miscues that he can. As a space buff, I can say that I learned nothing new from the book--in fact, the book does not cover what it purports to cover--the Shuttle-Mir missions. Thumbs down! This author should stick to writing Vanity Fair articles--he is way out of his league trying to write about the intricacies of space. (How can anyone make space boring??).
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Summary: Perhaps the Best Book on Space Program in Years
Review: What sets "Dragonfly" off from so many other books about space exploration is that the author understands that technology, unlike space, does not exist in a vaccuum. Like few other authors on the subject, Burrough realizes that complex technical systems, like Mir, interact with the variables of human personality, cultural background of the astronauts/cosmonauts, and indeed, the 'culture' which imbues organizations like Nasa and Energia. This book is totally absorbing, and I agree completely with the comment that it makes the reader feel, at times, as though he or she is actually aboard the Mir. In fact,"Dragonfly" should be required reading for ALL personnel who will be involved with the International Space Station. The author is right on target when he predicts that such a project will experience inevitable crises, and that how these are responded to will depend as much upon *human* as technological understanding. Finally, I must put in the supportive words for cosmonauts Tsibliyev and Lazutkin. These cosomonauts were heroes, facing and overcoming difficulties much greater than those encountered by Glenn and Gagarin. They deserved far better treatment upon return from Mir than being blamed for circumstances beyond their control. This book shows how much courage and ingenuity these men really had -- and that their safe return to earth and the saving of the Mir was due to their brave efforts. After reading "Dragonfly," I have the deepest respect for the leadership of Tsibliyev and Lazutkin. I hope they are given a chance to go to the new ISS -- their experience would be invaluable!
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Summary: Reads like a technothriller -- but it's all true.
Review: First-rate. Absorbing writing; reads like a well-written technothriller, but it's all true. A story as much of personality conflicts and psychology as it is of hardware. Incredibly detailed, and, given the reader already knows how the story turns out, quite pulse-pounding.
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Summary: Interesting but somewhat sensationalized
Review: Dragonfly is a fascinating look behind the scenes of the shuttle-Mir program. One wonders, however, whether NASA astronauts, physicians, psychologists and others were truly as free in revealing confidential medical information (and openly violating provisions of the federal Privacy Act) as the author would lead readers to believe. And if NASA punishes those who buck the system, as the author contends, why would any current employees risk potentially irreparable harm to their careers by cooperating with the author to the extent alleged? Sloppy editing, misspelled names and incorrect information (HEDS, for example, is not the Human Exploration of Deep Space, but rather the Human Exploration and Development of Space) lead this reader to question the accuracy of the book's contents as well. Although the author does acknowledge benefits from the shuttle-Mir program,and seems to appreciate to some degree the difficult position in which NASA was placed by political forces, this reader would have liked to read more about the less sensationalized and successful aspects of the various shuttle-Mir missions. What about the successful science that was carried out? This program was not just one disaster after another. Despite these flaws and reservations, however, the book is quite fascinating and informative.
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Summary: Politics and Spaceflight: not a good mix
Review: Dragonfly lays it on the line: Politics influence on spaceflight is a brutal reality. The politicians control the purse strings, but corrupt the science and compromise the integrity of what American's space program could be. Bryan Burrough lays out the safety and management crisis that marked NASA's involvement with MIR and provides a warning for what may lay ahead for the International Space Station. This is sobering reading, but a must for us Sputnik Kids.
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Summary: Not A Promising Start - But Read On!!!
Review: The cover blurb of the UK version put me off, because it contained factually incorrect statements. But Burrough didn't write the blurb, so don't take the cover as an indication of the content. There are a few silly errors in the text, but they would only annoy you if you knew better. For example the Soyuz isn't launched on a Proton rocket, and the cosmonauts don't wear Orlan suits for launch and entry - they wear the lightweight Sokol (Falcon) outfits. More seriously, the geometry of the collision is wrong (he is using what was reported in the Media at the time) and even though he refers to the video from the Progress camera, he appears either not to have watched it or not have been able to 'see' what it portrayed. What is crucial, is to appreciate that much of the drama is recreated. It is important to distinguish between the italicised transcript quotes and the 'reconstructed' conversations, and between fact (as far as can be reconstructed from video) and the picture painted in the book. I have heard it slagged as anti-NASA. I disagree. I reckon it was probably fair in the sense that he captured the lousy working relationship between the Russians (controllers and cosmonauts), the Americans (those working on Shuttle-Mir and those ignoring it), and the thrown-together cooperation. To that extent, this was undoubtedly a valuable learning curve for ISS for all concerned. I can't help feel that the fly in the ointment is always the US Congress with its obsession for 'overseeing', but no sense of responsibility for the consequences. I think the book brought out the fact that the folks working in Russia and America on these space projects are not exactly singing in harmony. I strongly recommend this book.
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Summary: The inside scoop in all its gory & entertaining details.
Review: As a long time space and aeronautics enthusiast, I found this book to be a brutally honest, finely detailed, and engrossingly-written look at the inner workings of the Russian space program and NASA. American readers may enjoy (or not) seeing the surprising, if somewhat unpleasant, similarities in the two programs despite their vastly different budgets and operational styles. The interviews & research conducted for this book have resulted in a gripping you-are-there, yet nuanced and entertaining, narrative of the almost Shakespearean Mir program. I am convinced that many of the Shuttle-Mir participants themselves will learn new and gossipy details about their own program. I could also be convinced that Burroughs himself made a flight to Mir - his descriptions are that good. Although I have read reviews that saw this book as choppy and poorly organized, I do not think that this is so. Burroughs draws us into the book with the first section set aboard Mir before going back chronologically and establishing some background in the second section. I thought it was awkward until I imagined how quickly discouraged I may have become if I had started the book in chronological order with the detail-rich, but very literally down-to-earth Washington and Houston-based prelude to the Shuttle-Mir program. Burroughs instead uses the first and third sections to play out the key drama on orbit aboard the Mir and the second section fills out some important contextual details in the middle. There are clearly some personal agendas at work and plenty of scores to settle throughout the book. However, I get the clear sense that Burroughs lays all of the conflicts out in unbiased fashion and all of his interviewees get their side of the story out - in the end, we get to make up our own minds about each of them. About 2 years ago, I saw an IMAX feature about the Shuttle-Mir program with extensive footage of the Mir space station (before the fire and collision). This inside view of the space station greatly enhanced my reading of Dragonfly because I could very clearly picture the various locations in the station. This brings me to a small drawback of the book - having brought the Mir and its cast of brilliant characters to all-too-vivid life, Burroughs skimps a bit on the pictures. He could easily have had two inserts worth of shots. Perhaps they are not easy to come by. I would highly recommend this book to any serious or even casual space enthusiast - I include it in the same vaunted company as "Lost Moon" - by Jim Lovell, "Moon Shot" - by Donald Slayton & Alan Shepard, and "The Challenger Launch Decision" - by Diane Vaughn
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Summary: Not A Very Promising Start!!
Review: I went out and bought a copy of Burrough's DRAGONFLY... Upon settling down to start reading it, I opened the book at the blurb on the inside cover... "25 June 1997, 12.06. Space Station Mir. Astronauts Lazutkin, Foale and Tsibliyev await the imminent arrival of the Progress supply vessel. It has vanished from their radar." Mir doesn't have a radar. It does has transponders for the Kurs 'radio-technical' system on the spacecraft, but, as I understand it, this was deactivated for this TORU docking test. "12.08. The Progress suddenly appears from behind a vast solar panel, much closer than expected and moving too fast." The ferry approached Mir from above (with respect to the Earth) and Mir was 'upside down', with its 'floor' facing the ferry. There are no solar panels projecting in the direction from which the ferry was approaching, so it could not have been 'behind' one. "12.09. The Progress passes by the docking port and crashes into the hull of Mir." It was not approaching Mir on-axis, to dock with Kvant 1. It flew in from above, and nosed the 'floor' of Kvant 1, rotated and rear-ended Spektr. I cite the evidence of the TV from the ferry's docking camera. Burrough is supposed to have spoken to all the principals, and gained access to transcripts. Don't tell me h
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