Final Orbit

From the author of the international bestseller The Apollo Murders: an edge-of-the seat Cold War thriller, set against the backdrop of the real 1970s “Space race” between the US, USSR, and China . . .

1975. A new Apollo mission launches into orbit, on course to dock with a Russian Soyuz craft: three NASA astronauts and three cosmonauts, joining to celebrate a new dawn of Soviet-American cooperation.

But a third power is rising, in the race to dominate Space. As NASA Flight Controller Kaz Zemeckis listens in from Earth, three of the six astronauts are killed in a depressurization accident. And from a remote location in east Asia, a capsule secretly launches with China’s very first astronaut aboard, purpose unknown . . .

Full of Cold War intrigue and real historical characters, Final Orbit accelerates to a thrilling conclusion – and brings to life the loneliness, majesty and pure rush of Space flight, with all of the hard-won experience of a writer who is himself one of the most decorated astronauts alive.

• Praise for Chris Hadfield's thrillers:
• "Commander Hadfield takes us on an exciting journey into an alternate past. And who better to write about astronauts than an astronaut himself!"
  Andy Weir, author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary
• "A Cold War thriller packed with cosmic action… Featuring undercover spies, scheming Russians and psychopathic murderers, sometimes all at once, it teems with authoritative details about what it might be like, for instance, to throw up in space or to grapple with a deadly Soviet astronaut who assaults you during a spacewalk."
  The New York Times
• “A Cold War thriller unlike anything you have ever read! The Defector is a full throttle, adrenaline-laced espionage page-turner spiked with history and intrigue that will leave you wondering if what you just read could have really happened."
  Jack Carr, author of the James Reece Terminal List series
• “The Defector is an extraordinary novel that is sure to keep readers enthralled. Brimming with detail and realism and full of pulse-pounding action, it's a well-crafted thriller that I just couldn’t put down!”
  Mark Greaney, author of the Gray Man series