Beyond

The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space

De: Stephen Walker

Narrado por: David Rintoul

“This remarkable account of the 1961 race into space is a thrilling piece of storytelling.... It is high definition history: tight, thrilling, and beautifully researched.” (The Times, London, front-page lead review)

“Beyond has the exhilaration of a fine thriller, but it is vividly embedded in the historic tensions of the Cold War, and peopled by men and women brought sympathetically, and sometimes tragically, to life.” (Colin Thubron, author of Shadow of the Silk Road)

09.07 am. April 12, 1961. A top secret rocket site in the USSR. A young Russian sits inside a tiny capsule on top of the Soviet Union’s most powerful intercontinental ballistic missile - originally designed to carry a nuclear warhead - and blasts into the skies. His name is Yuri Gagarin. And he is about to make history.

Travelling at almost 18,000 miles per hour - 10 times faster than a rifle bullet - Gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes. From his windows, he sees the Earth as nobody has before, crossing a sunset and a sunrise, crossing oceans and continents, witnessing its beauty and its fragility. While his launch begins in total secrecy, within hours of his landing, he has become a world celebrity - the first human to leave the planet.

Beyond tells the thrilling story behind that epic flight on its 60th anniversary. It happened at the height of the Cold War as the US and USSR confronted each other across an Iron Curtain. Both superpowers took enormous risks to get a man into space first, the Americans in the full glare of the media, the Soviets under deep cover. Both trained their teams of astronauts to the edges of the endurable. In the end, the race between them would come down to the wire.

Drawing on extensive original research and the vivid testimony of eyewitnesses, many of whom have never spoken before, Stephen Walker unpacks secrets that were hidden for decades and takes the listener into the drama of one of humanity’s greatest adventures - to the scientists, engineers, and political leaders on both sides, and, above all, to the American astronauts and their Soviet rivals battling for supremacy in the heavens.

©2021 Stephen Walker (P)2021 HarperCollins Publishers

One of the best non-fiction thrillers

Mr Walker has clearly investigated the topic at great length. Unlike the American space program, the unredacted history of the Soviet space program has not previously been discussed. Mr. Walker brings back to life not only Yuri Gagarin, Gherman Titov and Nikita Khrushchev, but also the elusive Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov. He does so in ways that have most likely not been attempted before. A most remarkable and entertaining book.

Insightful and engaging

A fantastic account of the race for space with a great structural and thematic juxtaposition of the American and Soviet camps. The audio performance adds to the dramatic effect and is highly engaging. For someone who has been interested in the space race for two decades, this was a breath of fresh air. I would also recommend the book to someone with little or no familiarity to the topic, or anyone interested in the Cold War in general.

Space Fan

This is the best account of the space race I have ever heard or read. I really enjoy and find fascinating the parallel telling of the U.S. program and the Russian program. To me there were very interesting similarities yet mammoth differences. The author has covered this peice of history in great detail but it is never boring (to me). I just eat it up. Thanks!

A very human story

Yuri Gagarin had been just a name in history to me before I listened to this book. I’m a huge fan of the space program but really had no understanding of how things started in the Soviet space program and what a big deal it was when they leapfrogged ahead of the United States. Unfortunately, the Soviet system crushed the program and the people in it. Really quite sad. But getting to know Yuri was very uplifting.

Terrific story and performance.

I was curious about the life of Yuri Gagarin, the first human being in space, and knew very little of the Russian cosmonaut program.
This narrative telling of Yuri’s experience juxtaposed with the US Astronauts like Glen and Shepard is truly remarkable.
Great research, insight and story weaving that create a sense of urgency and magnitude. When Yuri is about to blast off you become glued to the narrator and when the rocket finally bursts off the ground I yelled out loud in jubilation. Highly recommend.

The Soviet story was interesting

Great story, formulated and narrated superbly. Except for... and this drives me crazy. NASA Langley Research Center is in Hampton, VA, not in Langley VA where CIA headquarters is. They are 3 hours apart.

Riveting

One of the most entertaining non-fiction books I’ve listened to all year the narration was superb

A true "untold story"

Although many books advertise being "the untold story'", this one really meets that boast and more. I learned more about the Soviet space program from this book then in the many years since Yuri Gagarin's historic flight. The author deftly explores the character of Gagarin and the flaws in the program that nearly killed him. The Soviet system, and the people who made it up its space program are artfully chronicled in this book, as well as the struggle of the US to compete. I highly recommended this book.

What a Ride!!

Well written and researched. Exciting!
A Fantastic reading!
The book covers the American space program of the early 1960’s also.

riskier venture than we ever knew

this story reveals what we didn't know at the time especially the failures and risks. it begs the question would the cosmonauts and astronauts have been so gung ho if they had a clearer understanding of the dangers they faced