The book tells about the Soviet space program of manned spacecraft and orbital stations. It summarizes the largest achievements of the Soviet Union in this area, starting with the legendary flight of Yu. A. Gagarin on the first manned spacecraft Vostok. The design and equipment of the Vostok, Voskhod, Soyuz spacecraft, and the Salyut orbital stations are described, the main results of scientific and technical research and experiments performed on them are considered.