Synopsis: The time is the late 1980s. Once again the Russians have shaken the Americans with a space spectacular - one that far outstrips the launching of Sputnik in 1958. This time they have secretly lofted a full-scale space station hat dwarfs the one the U.S. hopes to build in the '90s. The American response - as it was in the late 1950s - is a crash program to overtake and surpass the Soviet effort. And by 2010 their efforts have succeeded. Burgeoning space industry has resulted in an economic boom unprecedented in U.S. history - and man will never again be confined to Earth. But it is the people behind the U.S. space program that make it succeed. (from the front flap of the first edition dust jacket)