
The Wrong Stuff
How the Soviet Space Program Crashed and Burned
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Narrated by:
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LJ Ganser
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By:
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John Strausbaugh
About this listen
A witty, deeply researched history of the surprisingly ramshackle Soviet space program, and how its success was more spin than science.
In the wake of World War II, with America ascendant and the Soviet Union devastated by the conflict, the Space Race should have been over before it started. But the underdog Soviets scored a series of victories—starting with the 1957 launch of Sputnik and continuing in the years following--that seemed to achieve the impossible. It was proof, it seemed, that the USSR had manpower and collective will that went beyond America's material advantages. They had asserted themselves as a world power.
But in The Wrong Stuff, John Strausbaugh tells a different story. These achievements were amazing, yes, but they were also PR victories as much as scientific ones. The world saw a Potemkin spaceport; the internal facts were much sloppier, less impressive, more dysfunctional. The Soviet supply chain was a disaster, and many of its machines barely worked. The cosmonauts aboard its iconic launch of the Vostok 1 rocket had to go on a special diet, and take off their space suits, just to fit inside without causing a failure. Soviet scientists, under intense government pressure, had essentially made their rocket out of spit and band aids, and hurried to hide their work as soon as their worldwide demonstration was complete.
With a witty eye for detail and a gift for storytelling, John Strausbaugh takes us behind the Iron Curtain, and shows just how little there was to find there.
©2024 John Strausbaugh (P)2024 PublicAffairsListeners also enjoyed...
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“Strausbaugh’s droll sense of humor fits well with this examination of the Soviet space program… [He] clearly enjoyed writing this entertaining book, an accessible, engaging story about an era that, for better or worse, is nearly forgotten.”—Kirkus
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- Narrated by: Marty Cagan
- Length: 7 hrs and 45 mins
- Unabridged
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How do today's most successful tech companies - Amazon, Google, Facebook, Netflix, Tesla - design, develop, and deploy the products that have earned the love of literally billions of people around the world? Perhaps surprisingly, they do it very differently from the vast majority of tech companies. In Inspired, technology product management thought leader Marty Cagan provides listeners with a master class in how to structure and staff a vibrant and successful product organization and how to discover and deliver technology products that your customers will love.
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Great book, terrible audio wanted to ask a refund
- By Srikanth Ramanujam on 11-15-18
By: Marty Cagan
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Ranger Confidential
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- By: Andrea Lankford
- Narrated by: Julia Motyka
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
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The real stories behind the scenery of America’s national parks. For 12 years, Andrea Lankford lived in the biggest, most impressive national parks in the world, working a job she loved. She chaperoned baby sea turtles on their journey to sea. She pursued bad guys on her galloping patrol horse. She jumped into rescue helicopters bound for the heart of the Grand Canyon. She won arguments with bears. She slept with a few too many rattlesnakes. Hell yeah, it was the best job in the world! Fortunately, Andrea survived it.
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Depressing from Cover to Cover
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By: Andrea Lankford
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The Quantum Universe
- (And Why Anything That Can Happen, Does)
- By: Brian Cox, Jeff Forshaw
- Narrated by: Samuel West
- Length: 8 hrs and 28 mins
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In The Quantum Universe, Brian Cox and Jeff Forshaw approach the world of quantum mechanics in the same way they did in Why Does E=mc2? and make fundamental scientific principles accessible - and fascinating - to everyone.The subatomic realm has a reputation for weirdness, spawning any number of profound misunderstandings, journeys into Eastern mysticism, and woolly pronouncements on the interconnectedness of all things. Cox and Forshaw's contention? There is no need for quantum mechanics to be viewed this way.
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Not suitable as an audio book
- By SPN on 03-29-22
By: Brian Cox, and others
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Welcome to the Universe
- An Astrophysical Tour
- By: Michael A. Strauss, J. Richard Gott, Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Narrated by: Michael Butler Murray
- Length: 17 hrs and 53 mins
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Welcome to the Universe is a personal guided tour of the cosmos by three of today's leading astrophysicists. Inspired by the enormously popular introductory astronomy course that Neil deGrasse Tyson, Michael A. Strauss, and J. Richard Gott taught together at Princeton, this book covers it all - from planets, stars, and galaxies to black holes, wormholes, and time travel.
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All About What We Know About the Universe - ALL
- By J.B. on 02-17-17
By: Michael A. Strauss, and others
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There's No Such Thing as Bad Weather
- A Scandinavian Mom's Secrets for Raising Healthy, Resilient, and Confident Kids (from Friluftsliv to Hygge)
- By: Linda Åkeson McGurk
- Narrated by: Ann Richardson
- Length: 8 hrs and 39 mins
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Bringing Up Bébé meets Last Child in the Woods in this lively, insightful memoir about a mother who sets out to discover if the nature-centric parenting philosophy of her native Scandinavia holds the key to healthier, happier lives for her American children.
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Great concept, interesting writing.
- By Kate on 11-03-17
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Beginning with the death of Stalin in 1953, the "sixties" era in the Soviet Union was just as vibrant and transformative as in the West. The ideological romanticism of the revolutionary years was revived, with renewed emphasis on egalitarianism, equality, and the building of a communist utopia. Mass terror was reined in, great victories were won in the space race, Stalinist cultural dogmas were challenged, and young people danced to jazz and rock and roll. Robert Hornsby examines this remarkable and surprising period.
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What listeners say about The Wrong Stuff
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Federico Medina Jr.
- 07-06-24
The Wrong Stuff - it’s a hoot!
The narrator performed amazingly and made my audible experience very joyful which in turn made my daily commute to & from work very joyful.
The book is well written and chock full of wonderful anecdotes and historic facts of the Russian space program. I’ve always followed the USA space program and this book marches through the space race comparing the two. I completely enjoyed it. Author John Straupsbaugh nailed it! Narrator LJ Ganser brought it to life!
I will look for more audiobooks from either one of these talented individuals.
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- Chip Work
- 08-17-24
Excellent Historical Account
As a child I experience the entire United States space program with great interest, mostly because my father was involved in both the Mercury and Apollo programs. So, listen to such a thorough and concise history of the Soviet Union's space program was quite enlightening.
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- Mathias farnsworth
- 06-18-24
Scary how they made it too space
The true story of how the Russians space program worked and mostly not worked. The book made me sorry of the people who just wanted to go too space.
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- Michael Hudson
- 08-13-24
Great book and narration
Highly recommend. Behind the iron curtain look at the Russian side of the space race.
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- M. Louras
- 09-06-24
Vodka, leisure suits & lack of compassion for all living things!
Scary, but not a surprise of the façade the USSR presented. Lives & families were destroyed for the space race…..
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- Lady Pamela
- 03-29-25
Enter Text here
A humorous look at the Soviet space program in all its tragedies and cover ups. An enjoyable read--I learned a lot. The Soviet space program was an under-funded, ad-hoc operation that put international competition over crew safety. An entertaining, and informative read.
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