The race to space-- and to the moon-- was masterminded in the shadows by two engineers on opposite sides of the Cold War: Wernher von Braun, a former Nazi officer living in the US, and Sergei Korolev, a Russian rocket designer once jailed for crimes against his country. Von Braun became an American hero, while Korolev toiled in obscurity. These two brilliant rocketeers never met, but together they shaped the science of spaceflight and redefined modern warfare. Cherrix shows how their simultaneous quests pushed science-- and human ingenuity-- to the breaking point while launching humankind to the moon. -- adapted from jacket