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 rendevous 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. (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.

Publications

• New Earths (1981) ISBN 0452006236 ISBN 0811710076
• Red Star In Orbit (1981) ISBN 0394514297
• Mission to Mars (1982) ISBN 0811704327 ISBN 0452006554
• UFO's and Outer Space Mysteries (1982) ISBN 0898651026
• The New Race for Space (1984) ISBN 0811721779
• Pioneering Space (1986) ISBN 0070480346
• Uncovering Soviet Disasters (1988) ISBN 0394560957
• 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 0071374256

See Also

• Profile at jamesoberg.com