Beyond: The Astonishing Story of the First Human to Leave Our Planet and Journey into Space cover art

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

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

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

By: Stephen Walker
Narrated by: David Rintoul
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About this listen

‘Thrilling … High-definition history: tight, thrilling and beautifully researched’ SUNDAY TIMES

‘This book is a triumph’ DAN SNOW

9.07 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. 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 sixtieth 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 testimonies of eyewitnesses, many of whom have never spoken before, Stephen Walker unpacks secrets that were hidden for decades and takes the reader into the drama – featuring the scientists, engineers and political leaders on both sides, and above all the American astronauts and their Soviet rivals battling for supremacy in the heavens.

 Aeronautics & Astronautics Astronomy & Space Science Expeditions & Discoveries Freedom & Security Politics & Government Professionals & Academics Russia Science Science & Technology World Soviet Union Funny Espionage US Air Force Cold War Air Force

Critic Reviews

‘This book is a triumph’
Dan Snow

‘Just a wonderful book, I can’t recommend it enough’
Giles Coren

‘The thrilling story … is not the first study of Gagarin and the Vostok missions, still less of Nasa’s “Mercury Seven” astronauts — but bringing the two stories together is a masterstroke … It is high-definition history: tight, thrilling and beautifully researched’
Sunday Times

‘Many intriguing revelations [and an] extensive, blow-by-blow account of the race to put a human in space … Tells the full story of the finest two hours of [Gagarin's] tragically short life’
Literary Review

‘Thrilling … brings a huge amount that is fresh and new to our understanding of the Space Race’
Daily Telegraph

‘Cinematic … Walker develops a colourful sense of the political theatre of space exploration’
Spectator

‘Scintillating …The thrilling ride to be the first man in space is vividly captured in this retelling of Russia’s favourite son’
Financial Times

‘A gripping story, rich in novelistic detail … Highly recommended’
BBC Sky at Night, five stars

‘Brings to life the space race and the extraordinary story of Yuri Gagarin … A history that reads like a thriller’
Anne Applebaum

‘The very best account of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space mission – vivid, thoughtful, and respectful … A wonderfully rendered story of an epochal event’
Asif Siddiqi

‘The exhilaration of a fine thriller’
Colin Thubron

‘Suddenly, every previous biography of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin and his epic Earth-orbiting flight has been superseded … A spellbinding and completely authoritative account … The finest, best researched book ever written on the subject’
Colin Burgess

‘Dramatic and dynamic. Stephen Walker’s passion for his subject along with his exceptional research and attention to detail have brought my father’s extraordinary journey vividly to life’
Elena Gagarina, daughter of Yuri Gagarin

All stars
Most relevant
A beautiful retelling of the events leading up to the first man in space, his flight and the after math. it captures the range of characters in the stories, cosmonauts, astronauts, scientists, politicians, and theor families. Simply astounding.

A Wonderful Trip Through Time and Space

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A combination of drama, humour, pathos and impressive research makes this book close to, if not at the top of any non fiction I’ve read. Possibly because “you couldn’t make this stuff up!” Gives another dimension to understanding the Russian psyche and profound differences, then now and always between two worlds.

You couldn’t make this stuff up

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I think this Audible book now rates as one of my top recommendations. Such a gripping comparison of early space race history interwoven with the timeline of Cold War events.

Brilliantly written and a fantastic narration!

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I've heard the story of Gagarin before, but this is a well told tale about the events across the world building up to his historic flight.

Great story about the race to space

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