Beyond: A Times Book of the Year 2021

Synopsis

‘thrilling . high-definition history: tight, thrilling and beautifully researched’ sunday times‘this book is a triumph’ dan snow9. 07 a. M., 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 – ten times faster than a rifle bullet – gagarin circles the globe in just 106 minutes.