James Oberg
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James Edward Oberg (b. 1944) (often known as Jim Oberg) is an American space journalist and historian, regarded as an expert on the Russian space program.
After service in the US Air Force, he joined NASA in 1975, where he worked until 1997 at Johnson Space Center on the Space Shuttle program. He worked in the Mission Control Center for several Space Shuttle missions from STS-1 on, specialising in orbital rendezvous techniques. This culminated in planning the orbit for the STS-88 mission, the first International Space Station assembly flight.
During the 1990s, he was involved in NASA studies of the Soviet space program, with particular emphasis on safety aspects; these had often been covered up or downplayed, and with the advent of the ISS and the Shuttle-Mir programs, NASA was keen to study them as much as possible. He privately published several books on the Soviet (and later Russian) programs, and became one of the few Western specialists on Russian space history. He speaks English, French, and Russian and has used his language skills and a friendly demeanor to gain access to the heart of the Russian and European space establishments. (As a result, he has often been called to testify before the US Congress on the Russian space program.)
As a journalist, he writes for several regular publications, mostly online; he was previously space correspondent for UPI, ABC and currently MSNBC, often in an on-air role. He is a Fellow of the skeptical organization CSICOP and a consultant to its magazine Skeptical Inquirer.
In 1991, PBS transformed his book Red Star In Orbit into a documentary series. HBO has optioned Red Star in Orbit for some future made-for-TV miniseries.
He was approached by NASA to write a rebuttal of claims that the Apollo moon landings were faked, but it is not clear that the manuscript was ever started, and NASA promptly announced their intention not to publish the book soon after their announcement that they had commissioned it. However, Oberg has said that he intends to pursue the project.
[edit] Publications
- New Earths (1981) ISBN 0-452-00623-6 ISBN 0-8117-1007-6
- Red Star In Orbit (1981) ISBN 0-394-51429-7
- Mission to Mars (1982) ISBN 0-8117-0432-7 ISBN 0-452-00655-4
- UFO's and Outer Space Mysteries (1982) ISBN 0-89865-102-6
- The New Race for Space (1984) ISBN 0-8117-2177-9
- Pioneering Space (1986) ISBN 0-07-048034-6
- Uncovering Soviet Disasters (1988) ISBN 0-394-56095-7
- Space Power Theory (1999) (written for the U.S. Air Force Space Command; published online)
- Star-Crossed Orbits: Inside the US/Russian Space Alliance (2002) ISBN 0-07-137425-6
