An ISU history professor recently delved into Russian space culture in the book, “Into the Cosmos: Space Exploration and Soviet Culture.”

James Andrews recently co-edited the book, showing “how space culture [was] projected onto the public.”

Andrews, a historian of Russian science and technology, became involved in Russian history when he studied literature and language at Leningrad State University.

Andrews spent several years in Moscow doing archival works and witnessed the fall of communism while working on his dissertation. Andrews was made an associate scholar of the Russian Academy of Sciences. He said this honor encouraged his interest in Russian science and culture.

Andrews wrote the introduction and second chapter of the book, as well as edited it. He began the editing process in 2006; it took five years to complete. There were 10 authors and 12 chapters to coordinate and edit. The chapter he wrote dealt with culture, and he said the book allowed him to combine his interests in Russian space culture and science.

This is not the first research project Andrews has been involved with. He has authored two books and edited two more.

“We expect that all tenure track faculty have active research programs,” said Michael Whiteford, dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

“All these projects seem natural to me to take on,” Andrews said of his many research projects.

Andrews wanted to be sure the book had diverse subject matter, such as female cosmonauts, popular culture, propaganda and atheism, as they related to the Russian space culture. Andrews wanted this book to be as “inclusive as possible of the things left out from other books” about the space age and Russian rocketry.

Andrews said there was a fascination among the Russian people with outer space.

“Everyday Russians were engaged in outer space,” Andrews said.

Andrews said there was a saturation of space culture in popular culture, in books, movies and plays.

“There was a deep-seated interest in rocketry,” Andrews said.

Andrews said he felt that the public was ready for the “explosion of technology” which ushered the Russians into the space age.

Andrews was able to do a great deal of research and archival work in Russia because of his status as an associate scholar and had access to many personal papers in the Russian archives.

He spends a lot of time in Russia and will be spending some time there during the summer of 2012 to begin archival work on his next project, a book about the metro in Moscow. His project will focus on how it is “more than just utilitarian” and the way the culture has shaped a location like the metro to “become [an] emblem of a nation’s identity.”