Final Orbit

By: Chris Hadfield

Narrated by: Ray Porter

A #1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER.

From the #1 bestselling author and astronaut Chris Hadfield, an edge-of-your-seat thriller set about China's secret role in the 1970s Space Race between the US and the USSR.

Houston, 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 as NASA Flight Controller Kaz Zemeckis listens in from Earth, a deadly accident changes everything.

Meanwhile, from a remote location in East Asia, the first Chinese spacecraft secretly launches. On board is China’s first astronaut, Fang Guojun, whose mission puts him on a collision course with the Apollo crew. As Kaz races against an enemy on the ground and for answers beyond the sky, the safety of the remaining crew hangs in the balance…

Full of intrigue and real history—including the fascinating story of Professor Tsien Hsue-shen, the “Father of Chinese Rocketry” and founder of China’s space program—Final Orbit accelerates to a thrilling conclusion that captures the beauty and terror of survival 270 miles above Earth, as could only be written by one of the most experienced astronauts alive.

Critic reviews

"Phenomenally combines thriller and historical fiction. . . . Action-filled, believable drama that flows. Readers of sci-fi thrillers by Isaac Asimov, Andy Weir and James Michener will enjoy the realism of Hadfield’s latest." —Library Journal (starred review)

"[A] terrific end to Hadfield’s trilogy of space thrillers. . . . As always, with Hadfield, there’s much technical talk as well as insider peeks at what life as an astronaut and time in space are really like. Hadfield explains in simple terms just how space travel works and he doesn’t let the technical jargon overpower the story." —The Globe and Mail

"Another high-flying adventure. . . . Hadfield is a terrific storyteller, and his blending of the real and the made-up is seamless. Another terrific thriller from a writer who is uniquely qualified to write it." —Booklist

"Hadfield delivers a pulse-pounding adventure about a 1975 U.S.-Soviet space mission that devolves into a battle hundreds of miles above Earth. . . . The crackling finale is well worth the wait." —Publishers Weekly

"Hadfield has developed a signature style that fluidly blends real historical personages and events with explosive action. . . . Hadfield has established himself as a reliable brand in grounded, retro-flavoured SF." —Toronto Star

"Engrossing. . . . Deftly chronicles how China's clandestine launch of its first astronaut in east Asia leads to an international espionage incident and an accident that puts the entire joint mission in jeopardy." —Space.com

"Possibly the most realistic depiction of a 'battle' between two spacecraft ever written. As in his previous books, Hadfield expertly weaves fact, fiction and his own experiences in orbit to produce a novel that is both technical and entertaining. . . . A master of the genre." —New Scientist