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Today there are more then 850 files and more then 36000 cross references in total
for each language.

A few introductory words...

First, let me introduce myself,- Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Anikeev . I live in Kursk, Russia. I am glad to greet you in my reference book! I hope you'll find it interesting for you and you won't regret of your visit. In any case I've done everything I can to make my home page interesting not only for me but for you too!

And I'm glad to find new hobby-friend! As far as you happened to be (may be occasionally, or may be not) at my home page devoted to manned astronautics, most probably you are not indifferent to this progressive branch of science and technology serving to study of Universe. And I'm happy to find a new friend with the same passion and interests!

Today you are offered more then 750 files (about 750 in Russian version and about 750 in English version) with developed system of references and plus about dozen of interesting tables.

I think this introductory article will be found the biggest. But...

Anyone has some debts which one should pay some day, that is why I beg you to read this introductory article from the beginning till the end, even though you will find it too long at first entrance into the reference book.

Dedication.

I'd like to dedicate this page first at all

• to my parents, brought me in this world, -
  • to my mother Eugenia Aleksandrovna Anikeeva (Smirnova) , early and long ago died because of hard illness;
  • to my father Aleksandr Vasil'yevich Anikeev, who couldn't get a deserved education because of financial difficulties after World War 2 (1939-1945), but exactly he inoculated me desire to getting knowledge and he taught how to love and respect native Russian Language;
• and besides to my continuation in this world, to my children - Ol'ga and Il'ya, who unfortunately haven't been living with me for a long time.

• my teacher on literature and Russian language Liliya Vladimirovna Lashkova
• my teacher on chemistry Sima L'vovna Sheinkman.

I dedicated this page to all of them.

Sources of information and thanks.

Creating of this page wouldn't be possible, if there weren't such a magazine "Astronautics, astronomy" ("Kosmonavtika, astronomia") some years ago. A new magazine "Novosti kosmonavtiki" (News of cosmonautics) also helped me. In my first variant of reduction of the introductory article I missed the magazine "The Earth and the Universe" ("Zemlya i vselennaya"), and now I'd like to apologise. Different reference books and encyclopaedias may be also called the sources of information. And without Internet any doubt I would have never collected all the material on foreign manned astronautics. There are:

• Site of Kennedy Space centre, USA
• Encyclopaedia by Mark Wade,
• site by Ales Holub.

• encyclopaedia by Aleksandr Zheleznyakov (my special grateful to him, because this page appeared mostly thanks to him although he himself doesn't know of it), and the page
• "History of Russian/Soviet astronautics" by Aleksandr Krasnikov.

I also thank my colleagues Sergey Petrilin (especially for creating of representing picture) and Andy Tverdokhleb. Without their participation I wouldn't have managed to make this reference book.

Many thanks to Maya Plastinina for help with translation of great part of my page from Russian into English!

Conception and realisation.

I won't claim to call my work fulfilled and encyclopaedic, but I'll try to fill the gap named "Manned astronautics. Figures and facts. Reference book" © . In any case these facts which I put in my reference book have never been brought together before. Maybe nobody found it important to look at this well-known facts from this point of view. I should say that such information is getting older very quickly, that's why all paper-publications quickly loose their sense. So thanks to World Wide Web - the facts put in it become approachable immediately after their renewal!

For the time being I've got material on all piloted launches of spacecrafts and their crews. Today I propose this material to my guests. This page (at least at the beginning) will be developing intensively. So don't forget from time to time to look through my page! Perhaps you'll find here what you have been looking for for a long time!

Approximately a year of hard work on collecting the information and about two days of intensive programming made it possible to form such a page. Although about 750 files (in each language) are formed by computer program, so mistakes and errors may be found in spite of the fact that I checked everything thoroughly. Besides many facts from different sources differs greatly and it may surprise you. That is why if you have some corrections, I'll take them with enthusiasm and will correct the necessary places in my databases and in my reference book!

As for using the information from my reference book. It's allowed to use freely all the facts in noncommercial and educational purposes if there is a reference where you have taken them. It is profitable for both of us to say so!

I'd like to apologise to everybody who will have a desire to write me back that I won't be able to answer all the letters personally. However I can guarantee to read all of them very carefully and to take them into account in my work on the reference book.

Constructive critics and help in getting information will be received with gratitude.

Finishing this part I'd like to note that automate of forming and renewal of data is written (maybe it will seem a little strange) in old FoxPro v2.6 and little part for Russian version (program for recoding from one code table to another) on C v2.0. That is why renewal of files when new information is appeared is easy to manage. And I promise to do it when necessary.

Inviting to collaboration.

It happened so that our (soviet) manned astronautics has become a part of military machine and it has been top secret. We learned of our flies only if they had been successful and only postfactum.

Our professionals on astronautics are keeping silence, nobody knows why. I have seen nothing interesting for me in Russian Internet (except for two authors, see above). Books on astronautics are hardly found in Kursk, although the advertisements of them appear in different magazines from time to time.

What am I interested in ? What would I like to add ? First, I'd like to specify the moments (till the second accuracy) of launches and landing for Russian spacecrafts. Second, fill the gaps in different tables concerned to our (Russian) flies. I've taken the information about American flies from foreign sources. I have an idea: I want to collect information on extravehicular activity (EVA) (moments of going out of spacecraft (or orbital station) and in, duration of work in the open space) for each EVA-mission and each astronaut. And besides the information on moments of docking/undocking of spacecrafts and cargo-ships with orbital stations or between each other (I have some information already).

I ask to answer those who has something to say - professionals from astronautics centres (Baikonur etc.) and of course journalists.

The only thing which I ask about is a following - I need laconic information written in short (tables) form! But I wouldn't decline any text information if there is something interesting for me in it.