A Step Beyond

2021. Four years after the first manned mission to Mars ends in tragic failure, a joint U.S.-Russian mission blasts off in two ships, each crew equally determined to set foot-and flag-upon the inhospitable Red Planet.The commander of the Liberty, Colonel Tom Nelson, struggles to hold his crew together as tensions rise during the long voyage . . . tensions made worse when an accident puts the entire mission at risk. Meanwhile, aboard the Druzhba, Commander Dmitri Komarov faces tensions of a different sort as he finds himself powerfully drawn to the beautiful technician Tatiana Pavlova, wife of…