New Race for Space: The U.S. and Russia Leap to the Challenge for Unlimited Rewards

Harrisburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 1984. Presumed first edition/first printing. Trade paperback. Good. Cover has some wear and soiling.. Glued binding. xiv, 210. Illustrations. Index. Foreword by Ben Bova. James Edward Oberg (born November 7, 1944), often known as Jim Oberg, is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian space program. After service in the United States Air Force, he joined NASA in 1975, where he worked until 1997 at Johnson Space Center on the Space Shuttle program. He worked in the Mission Control Center for several Space Shuttle missions from STS-1 on, specializing in orbital rendezvous techniques. This culminated in planning the orbit for the STS-88 mission, the first International Space Station (ISS) assembly flight. During the 1990s, he was involved in NASA studies of the Soviet space program, with emphasis on safety aspects; these had often been downplayed, and with the advent of the ISS and the Shuttle Mir programs, NASA was keen to study them. He privately published several books on the Soviet (and later Russian) programs, and became one of the few Western specialists on Russian space history.