It started as an anomaly. An outlier in the noise that's so common in astronomical data. But the truth sends the United States-and the world-careening into what will become humanity's LAST SPACE RACE.

Leading the effort for the United States is one man, Sasha Balodis. A fun-loving tech billionaire turned aerospace titan, Sasha's seemingly perfect life has been gripped by recent trage-dy. Building and launching the most expensive, most ambitious and most important project in history-well, it gives him something to live for again.

There's only one thing standing in his way: his arch-rival and chief aerospace competitor, Roger Freeman.