Oberg
has been traveling to Baykonur on behalf of commercial consulting
clients since the opening of the former Soviet Union’s
space center in the early 1990s, and has been awarded the
‘Veteran of Baykonur’ certificate by officials
there. He has been from one end of the vast space center
to the other, has accumulated exclusive maps and photographs
of the facilities there, and has delved into the hidden
history of the spaceport’s triumphs and tragedies.
He has shared these insights in his writings and in personal
encounters with his clients. Conversant in French and Russian
and with a smattering of Kazakh, he is a legendary figure
in the Russian space community, a foreigner who recognizes
their achievements, realizes the often bitter price their
workers had to pay for success, and respects their tragic
losses even as he forced open the shrouds of secrecy that
had been wrapped around them for decades.
On a commercial consulting basis, Oberg can prepare special
guidebooks and maps, present pre-trip orientation lectures
to travelers, and as desired, accompany individuals or small
groups as on-site guide. Schedules and prices will be arranged
on a case-by-case basis.
Statement
on Baykonur Tour Philosophy and Practice
My approach to the Russia space tour is to draw ‘rocket
science’ into the circle of human virtues such as
ingenuity, courage, and perseverance, along with human failings
such as wishful thinking, ignoring ‘bad news’,
and the passion for personal power and glorification. I
do this at Baykonur to show the artistry and creativity
and some dead-ended detours expressed not in marble or canvas
or textile but in steel and concrete and ablative heat shields.
As I prepare the travelers for each new visit I describe
the physical objects we will see -- some immense and awe-inspiring,
some much smaller but even more humanly important -- and
how and why people created them, how they succeeded or failed,
and what were the human consequences of either fates. We
will visit scenes of triumph that will be remembered when
the names of the space fliers, their spaceships, even their
countries have been forgotten; we will visit scenes of bitter
disappointment and mind-numbing tragedy, much of whose history
remained covered up by Soviet officials but was doggedly
ferreted out by historians in Russia and overseas, often
many years or even decades later [I was one of them].
I will discuss how in the unearthly and inhuman environment
of outer space, some traditional human virtues have proved
critical, while other modes of thought have needed alteration
or even total revision -- specific examples cast a new light
on ordinary life that broadens each traveler’s perceptions
of his/her own everyday reality forever.
For preparation and real-time reference I have created
detailed presentations of what will be seen and what it
means, and what will not be shown (except at a distance,
perhaps -- in time or in space), and what THAT means --
along with maps published only in the past year or two.
There has been a revolution in accessibility to images of
Russian space-related facilities in recent years, driven
by the Internet [and by Google-Earth’s space views
of their ground facilities], and it has been a challenge
to keep up with this torrent and to integrate it into meaningful
and usable patterns -- and I have specialized in that, both
for visiting groups and for my primary news media client,
NBC News. Even the Russian experts we will be meeting often
don’t have such good maps and such views yet.
My ‘persona’ within the Russian space industry
is as a foreign admirer of their accomplishments, with a
professional appreciation [as a rocket scientist myself]
of how hard they actually were to pull off despite Soviet
propaganda of ‘inevitable triumph’. But I’m
also respected as a critic of falsification and deception
where it can be identified [my collection of cosmonaut group
portrait forgeries, where failed candidates are airbrushed
out of a scene that is later republished -- even after the
original version has been in print already -- is famous].
My books are on display in their top private and public
space museums because of my tributes to their accomplishments
and to the truth behind them -- truth being a commodity
even more valued in Soviet days when it was much more rare
than today.
This feature of ‘Russian space history’ --
that it took enormous human effort to find out what really
had happened and why -- means that most subjects can’t
simply be reported as ‘revealed truths’ whose
facts were obvious from the start. Instead, the very process
of FINDING OUT is often the most amazing aspect of the original
event. This process runs from what was originally claimed,
or covered up, through rumors and distorted or misinterpreted
clues, via comparisons of hypotheses with parallel Western
space experiences (often surprisingly misleading), to the
‘glasnost- era of initial home-grown Russian space
history research (including the mysterious deaths of several
of the leading figures in this movement) and the integration
of these raw materials by Western historians (mostly amateurs),
to access to official records, locations, even leftover
space hardware. Here, too, the human experience of investigation,
in which I was a leading participant for more than thirty
years, outshines the cold narrative of bare events.
The end result of this approach, in my intention, is to
literally triple the experience value to each traveler,
and to prepare them for each day’s experiences by
providing a framework and context so they are not overwhelmed
with concrete and steel and gadgets and gizmos. This is
so that they spot things in real time, recognize them, and
feel (correctly) that THEY are in control of the sensory
sequences. This also means that when there are [as there
WILL be] surprises -- unpredicted opportunities to see events,
objects, people, processes -- they can be recognized for
the enormously interesting bonuses they are, and not be
overlooked or underappreciated due to sensory overload or
accidental distraction.
I am conversant in Russian -- but require an interpreter
for serious conversations -- and French (not so useful in
Russia), with a smattering of Kazakh that is disproportionately
advantageous at the Baykonur Cosmodrome where the locals
resent an imperial Russian snobbery toward their now-independent
country and react with enormous glee and gratitude to any
white man even trying to say ‘thank you’ (“rakh-met”)
in their own tongue. What this means for the future of the
Russian space center there, versus the local resentments
and the threat of political instability when the current
‘strong man’ inevitably dies, is another ‘big
picture’ space-strategy-related story that is best
explained while walking on the very ground being contested.
It is the kind of perspective I strive for -- space may
BE a vacuum, but space FLIGHT does not take PLACE in a vacuum,
it is a fundamentally human activity that all humans can
appreciate when presented properly.
Sample
Post-Tour Evaluations by Customers
“You couldn’t have found a better study leader.
He was above and beyond!!! And a joy to be with and a lot
of fun.”
“Wonderful -- he kept the tour connected by preparing
us for each stop.”
“A fountain of knowledge about a pioneer time in
our and Russia’s space program. Jim’s curiosity
and excitement was contagious.”
“Strongest element of the educational experience.
A great tour pardner.”
“He is extremely knowledgeable and he seemed to know
everyone in the space industry. I envy his ability to remember
names.”
“James was extremely patient with us! He shepherded
his flock along in more ways than one to ensure a fantastic
tour. Rather than assume or inject, Jim paced the group
with daily doses of applicable knowledge, always aware of
our breaking point.”
“Very knowledgeable and accessible. I learned so
much from him.”
“Jim is a kindly human encyclopedia on all aspects
of space exploration.”
“Never a person I will ever meet again -- outstanding
at all times.”
Other
offerings
Equivalent tour preparation and escort services are available
for Moscow space sites such as the ‘Star City’
cosmonaut village and training center, the Mission Control
Center (“TsUP”), public museums such as the
Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics (at the VDNKh) and the home
Museum of Sergey Korolev, the space pioneers necropolis
at the Novodevichiy Cemetery, and corporate space technology
museums such as at the Energiya Rocket and Space Company,
the Khrunichev Center, the Lavochkin Bureau, and elsewhere.
Oberg is also developing a guidebook and program for the
Plesetsk Cosmodrome north of Moscow, built as a nuclear
attack base in the cold war and later converted to space
launches (many of which were widely seen and misunderstood
in northwestern Russia, sparking Russia’s most famous
“UFO attacks” in the 1960’s and 1970’s),
now a military and commercial launch center, and future
home to Russia’s planned ‘Angara’ next-generation
space booster family. Visits are to include original launch
pads and nuclear weapons bunkers, memorials to successes
and disasters (such as the 50 men killed in a pad accident
in 1980 whose origin remains hotly debated), and the nearby
1919 battlefield between Bolshevik units and US troops from
Michigan sent to assist democratic forces in the Russian
civil war. |
