July, 1969, the crew of Apollo 11 has triumphantly returned to Earth. In this alternate history thriller, President Richard Nixon puts into a motion a scheme to ramp up the space race to pressure the Soviets into making diplomatic and military concessions. Thus begins a story of high adventure on the final frontier and of low intrigue in the corridors of power back on Earth. It will prove to be the fulfillment of a dream for Wendy Pendleton to be the first woman to walk on the moon. It will be a nightmare for Cal Lauren, a political operative determined to stop the space race at all costs to...

President Richard Nixon's space race continues as NASA launches more Apollo missions to the moon while preparing for even greater projects, including a space station, a lunar base, and eventually an expedition to Mars. While Wendy Pendleton trains for her upcoming Apollo 23 mission, political forces are conspiring that might end that dream before it can be fulfilled. The Soviets, with dawning awareness of how the United States is leaving them behind in space, begin to take drastic measures to slow the Americans down.

December, 1975, Apollo 23 lifts off and Wendy Pendleton fulfills her dream of becoming the first woman on the moon. She and her crewmate Ray McPherson explore the lunar south-pole and its rich deposits of ice. But an act of sabotage may mean that the two astronauts who came to the moon in peace for all mankind may rest in peace on the lunar surface. Their only hope is a daring rescue mission using a commercial space shuttle outfitted for an emergency lunar voyage,