“Always thrilling … brings a huge amount that is fresh and new to our understanding of the Space Race.”
DAILY TELEGRAPH
EXPLORE HUMANITY’S GREATEST ADVENTURE
Twenty-seven-years old, a loyal communist and father of two, Yuri Gagarin blasts into the skies inside a tiny cannonball-shaped capsule at the top of a modified Soviet R-7 missile – replacing the nuclear warhead it was originally designed for.
Eleven minutes later he is in orbit, travelling at ten times the speed of a rifle bullet. The first human ever to leave the planet.
“The most gripping, exciting and intense book I have read in the year that I have been interviewing writers on this show. Just a wonderful book, I can't recommend it enough."
Giles Coren, Times Radio
April 1961
The darkest days of the Cold War.
The USA and USSR confront each other across an Iron Curtain.
Their new battleground is space.
TWO TEAMS ARE TRAINING TOWARDS THAT GOAL
In THE US THERE ARE SEVEN AStRONAUTS
In the USSR there are twenty cosmonauts
TWO TEAMS ARE TRAINING TOWARDS THAT GOAL
In THE USA THERE ARE SEVEN AStRONAUTS
In the USSR there are twenty cosmonauts
The AMERICANS are national celebrities. The SOVIETS are a state secret. Both teams are racing To REACH SPACE FIRST.
