Soviet space mythology arose under the pressure of conflicting forces—the demands of secrecy on one hand, and the demands of propaganda on the other. Any mistakes and failures related to space were erased from cultural memory, and history was reduced to a set of clichés: flawless cosmonauts performed error-free flights using faultless technology. But the image of a heroic pilot did not mesh well with the image of a passenger aboard a fully automated spacecraft. Both the engineers who created space technology in complete obscurity and the cosmonauts, forced to engage in propaganda work instead of preparing for new flights, attempted to counter the myths of official history with oral stories that developed into a kind of countermyth. Based on extensive archival research and interviews with cosmonauts and engineers, this book traces the mechanisms of the formation of Soviet space myths and countermyths and their connection to the changing image of space in Soviet and post-Soviet culture. Vyacheslav Gerovich is a historian of science and technology, the author of books and articles on the history of Soviet cybernetics, cosmonautics, mathematics, and computer technology, and the director of a research project on the oral history of Soviet mathematics. He is a lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.