Bookvica

[SOVIET COSMONAUT’S AMMUNITION] Snariazhenie kosmonavta [i.e. Cosmonaut’s Equipment]

Umanskii, S.P.

Moscow: Mashinostroenie, 1982. Item #1019

128 pp.: ill. 21,5x14 cm. One of 2700 copies printed. Original illustrated wrappers. Very good.
A rare professional publication, giving in detail the system of ammunition of a Soviet cosmonaut. It was written by Semyon Umanskii (1909-2005), one of the leading Soviet equipment engineers from the 1960s to the 80s, who developed several space suits and fighter pilot outfits.
Umanskii has designed the experimental suit S-9 in 1959, in which a person could survive in the water at temperatures around 0 degrees for 12 hours and catapult with the speed of 1200 km/hour if needed. This suit became the prototype for SK-1 suit, that was developed in 1960 and was used by Gagarin, making it the first spacesuit.
Umanskii also lead the team on the spacesuit ‘Oryol’ [i.e. The Eagle] that would have been used in the Soviet moon program.
The book itself is written for cosmonauts and covers the wider range of equipment - from the food to the oxygen tanks.
But the main focus is on the spacesuits, there are several suits described in the publication, including the suit of the moon explorer, vacuum suit, the suit to wear in the event of weightlessness, hydro-overalls, etc. The book is thoroughly illustrated.

Copies are located only at LoC, University of Toronto and University of Oregon according to Worldcat.

Sold