Engaging and Nearly Believable

Zach Powers has written a very engaging alternative history of the Soviet (pre-Russia) space program playing on that government’s penchant for secrecy. This latter fact, combined with the inclusion of actual locations, among them Star City and Baikonur, real equipment, including the R-7 and Proton rockets and Vostok spacecraft, and prominent space program scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (a founding father of rocketry and aeronautics who died in 1935), the Chief Designer (Sergey Korolev, developer of the R-7 and regarded as a founder of practical astronautics, who died in 1966; and, yes, he was caught up in the Great Purge and sent to a Siberian gulag), and Zynoviy Bohdan Khmelnytsky (legendary 17th century national Ukrainian hero whose exploits Powers takes great liberties with to good effect)—all this and more lends an authenticity to the novel that contributes to its pleasure. The theme here is how lies and deceit wear on the psyches of those perpetrating them and those living with them and their consequences.

The novel alternates between 1964 Star City and Baikonur and 1950 Bohdan, Ukraine. In 1964, the Soviet space program has been launching cosmonauts, as well as dogs, into orbit at a steady clip. However, unbeknownst to anybody but the Chief Designer, two of the staff, and the cosmonauts, while the launches are successful, the cosmonauts perish in space, because they cannot be brought home safely. The Chief Designer and his staff have not been able to develop a heat shield that will withstand the heat of reentry. To hide this, the program has used twins collected from different areas of the Soviet Union. One twin trains for the space mission, while the other learns about space flight but more importantly learns how to be a people’s hero. Leonid and Nadya are two of the cosmonauts who go through the motions of hero hood. They differ in that Leonid was always intended to remain on the ground; Nadya should have flown, but suffered an accident that prevented it.

We readers follow the story for the most part through the eyes of Leonid and the Chief Designer. Through Leonid, we learn what harsh lives he, his bother, grandmother, and everybody lived in Bohdan. Leonid’s grandmother used the story of Khmelnytsky to encourage and inspire the two Leonids, as the Chief Designer uses the space program to inspire the Soviet citizens. Leonid discovers truths about both the legend of Khmelnytsky and the Chief Designer, disturbing realities that he reconciles with, but not without much self-questioning. Too, the Chief Designer works around the deception he started, always seeking a solution, always hoping to bring the newer cosmonauts home safely. For not only must he worry for himself, but also for all who work on the space program under him, innocents who would suffer a deadly fate for destroying the national honor, not even mentioning the overfall deflation of the national spirit.

First Cosmic Velocity offers an interesting and nearly plausible take on the Soviet space program and the kind of secrecy that makes doubting it easy, a contemplation on why humans reach for the stars, and more confirmation for those who believe deception and lying are the straight road to ruin. ( )

Engaging and Nearly Believable

Zach Powers has written a very engaging alternative history of the Soviet (pre-Russia) space program playing on that government’s penchant for secrecy. This latter fact, combined with the inclusion of actual locations, among them Star City and Baikonur, real equipment, including the R-7 and Proton rockets and Vostok spacecraft, and prominent space program scientists such as Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (a founding father of rocketry and aeronautics who died in 1935), the Chief Designer (Sergey Korolev, developer of the R-7 and regarded as a founder of practical astronautics, who died in 1966; and, yes, he was caught up in the Great Purge and sent to a Siberian gulag), and Zynoviy Bohdan Khmelnytsky (legendary 17th century national Ukrainian hero whose exploits Powers takes great liberties with to good effect)—all this and more lends an authenticity to the novel that contributes to its pleasure. The theme here is how lies and deceit wear on the psyches of those perpetrating them and those living with them and their consequences.

The novel alternates between 1964 Star City and Baikonur and 1950 Bohdan, Ukraine. In 1964, the Soviet space program has been launching cosmonauts, as well as dogs, into orbit at a steady clip. However, unbeknownst to anybody but the Chief Designer, two of the staff, and the cosmonauts, while the launches are successful, the cosmonauts perish in space, because they cannot be brought home safely. The Chief Designer and his staff have not been able to develop a heat shield that will withstand the heat of reentry. To hide this, the program has used twins collected from different areas of the Soviet Union. One twin trains for the space mission, while the other learns about space flight but more importantly learns how to be a people’s hero. Leonid and Nadya are two of the cosmonauts who go through the motions of hero hood. They differ in that Leonid was always intended to remain on the ground; Nadya should have flown, but suffered an accident that prevented it.

We readers follow the story for the most part through the eyes of Leonid and the Chief Designer. Through Leonid, we learn what harsh lives he, his bother, grandmother, and everybody lived in Bohdan. Leonid’s grandmother used the story of Khmelnytsky to encourage and inspire the two Leonids, as the Chief Designer uses the space program to inspire the Soviet citizens. Leonid discovers truths about both the legend of Khmelnytsky and the Chief Designer, disturbing realities that he reconciles with, but not without much self-questioning. Too, the Chief Designer works around the deception he started, always seeking a solution, always hoping to bring the newer cosmonauts home safely. For not only must he worry for himself, but also for all who work on the space program under him, innocents who would suffer a deadly fate for destroying the national honor, not even mentioning the overfall deflation of the national spirit.

First Cosmic Velocity offers an interesting and nearly plausible take on the Soviet space program and the kind of secrecy that makes doubting it easy, a contemplation on why humans reach for the stars, and more confirmation for those who believe deception and lying are the straight road to ruin. ( )

First Cosmic Velocity is a bizarre and wonderful book that tells us the story of the Russian cosmonauts, but not really. Imagine that the scientists could not quite get that reentry thing to work. Knowing what happens to people who fail in Stalin’s Soviet Union, the leaders of the project conceived of an audacious fraud, recruiting identical twins who would grow up to be cosmonauts, one to die in space, the other to tour and talk about what it was like in space after the flight.

The story focuses on Leonid whose brother has just been sent into space. Interstitial chapters tell the story of his childhood and how he and his brother came to be part of the project. He is closest to Nadya, the first to “go into space” and the only one who was trained to do so, but her sister was sent in her place.

During the tour after Leonid’s successful “flight”, Khruschev suggests that his dog go on the next trip along with the beloved Kasha, a dog descended from the dog the Leonids brought from their village. While on tour, Nadya and Leonid set themselves the task of finding “twins” for the dogs.

I loved First Cosmic Velocity even though I sometimes wondered where it was going. It is just such an original story. What is odd, though, is I can see this as a funny camp movie, but reading it, the tragic sense of life seems uppermost. How I visualize the story and how I feel it while reading it is so disparate, something I cannot explain. I think this is on me, though, not on Zach Powers.

This book defies classification. There is the satiric takedown of the bureaucratic brutality of Stalinism, such as the man who resents not getting a much-deserved promotion but realizing that the promotion would get him sent to the gulag. There is the complicated relationships of the Chief Designer, the General Designer, and Ignatius, the KGB handler. There is a bit of romance. In a way, it makes me think of the magical realism in how Powers presents truths through the absurd. It carries a lot in its 300 pages.

First Cosmic Velocity will be released August 6th. I received an ARC from the publisher through Shelf Awareness.

First Cosmic Velocity at Penguin Random House
Zach Powers author site

https://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpress.com/2019/08/01/first-cosmic-velocity-by-... ( )

I received a free copy of this e-book from the publisher (via NetGalley) in exchange for an honest review.

The idea of the "Phantom Cosmonauts" and the secret flight of Vladimir Ilyushin has always intrigued me. The author puts his own spin on these rumors in First Cosmic Velocity. In this novel, the Soviet Union starts launching cosmonauts before they have the capability to bring them home safely (just like they did with Laika). To keep the rest of the world from knowing that they are deliberately killing cosmonauts, they use twins: one stays on earth for the publicity, while one flies the fatal mission. Each of the characters you meet here seems to be working under their own special type of delusion. I really enjoyed getting into the heads of the various players, both big and small.

In the novel you get a good feel for just how haphazard the Soviet space program was, at times. The Soviets were believed to be way ahead of the US in the early days of the space race, but that was essentially an illusion. Most of the "firsts" the Soviets achieved were essentially pure dumb luck. The author does a good job of giving you a sense of that in this novel.

The author also gives you fictionalized accounts of the Nedelin disaster and the Bondarenko fire. I was quite pleased the author included the in this story. These true but long covered up events only gives more credence to the idea that the Soviet Union would have taken great lengths to cover up failures.

I did have several questions about how exactly this whole grand conspiracy worked, but I'm okay with not all of them being answered.

Space nerds should not miss this title, and general readers will definitely find it enjoyable. ( )