A stunningly imaginative novel about the Cold War, the Russian space program, and the amazing fraud that pulled the wool over the eyes of the world.
It’s 1964 in the USSR, and unbeknownst even to Premier Khrushchev himself, the Soviet space program is a sham. Well, half a sham. While the program has successfully launched five capsules into space, the Chief Designer and his team have never successfully brought one back to earth. To disguise this, they’ve used twins. But in a nation built on secrets and propaganda, the biggest lie of all is about to unravel.
Because there are no more twins left.
Combining history and fiction, the real and the mystical, First Cosmic Velocity is the story of Leonid, the last of the twins. Taken in 1950 from a life of poverty in Ukraine to the training grounds in Russia, the Leonids were given one name and one identity, but divergent fates. Now one Leonid has launched to certain death (or so one might think…), and the other is sent on a press tour under the watchful eye of Ignatius, the government agent who knows too much but gives away little. And while Leonid battles his increasing doubts about their deceitful project, the Chief Designer must scramble to perfect a working spacecraft, especially when Khrushchev nominates his high-strung, squirrel-like dog for the first canine mission.

By turns grim and whimsical, fatalistic and deeply hopeful, First Cosmic Velocity is a sweeping novel of the heights of mankind’s accomplishments, the depths of its folly, and the people—and canines—with whom we create family.

一部关于冷战、俄罗斯太空计划以及蒙蔽世界的惊人骗局的惊人想象力的小说。

现在是1964年的苏联，连赫鲁晓夫总理本人都不知道，苏联的太空计划是一个骗局。好吧，一半是假的。虽然该计划已经成功发射了五个太空舱到太空，但总设计师和他的团队从未成功地将一个太空舱带回地球。为了掩饰这一点，他们使用了双胞胎。但在一个建立在秘密和宣传上的国家，最大的谎言即将揭开。

因为现在已经没有双胞胎了。

第一宇宙速度》结合了历史和虚构，真实和神秘，讲述了最后一个双胞胎兄弟Leonid的故事。1950年，这对双胞胎从乌克兰的贫困生活中被带到了俄罗斯的训练场上，他们被赋予了一个名字和一个身份，但命运却截然不同。现在，一个Leonid被送上了死亡之路（人们可能会这么认为......），而另一个则在Ignatius的监视下被送上了新闻之旅，Ignatius是一个知道的太多却不透露的政府特工。当列奥尼德与他对他们的欺骗性项目越来越多的怀疑作斗争时，总设计师必须争分夺秒地完善一个工作的航天器，特别是当赫鲁晓夫提名他的高亢的、像松鼠一样的狗参加第一个犬类任务时。

第一宇宙速度》是一部关于人类成就的高度、愚蠢的深度以及与我们建立家庭的人和犬类的全面小说，既严峻又异想天开，既宿命又充满希望。