Ascent (novel)

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Ascent is a novel published in 2007, written by Jed Mercurio. It follows the career of Yevgeni Yeremin, an orphan of Stalingrad, from his days as a MiG-15 pilot in the Korean War, where he becomes a leading ace. However, at the end of the war he is captured by the UN side after crash-landing in a plane bearing USSR insignia. On cessation of hostilities he is exiled in disgrace to a polar base. He has been befriended by one of his groundcrew, (throughout referred to as 'The Widow'), who follows him north, and he eventually marries her. He becomes a trainee cosmonaut, with little hope of a mission; he eventually volunteers for a risky mission to attempt a lunar landing ahead of Apollo 11, in an untested lunar craft. He knows that if he fails, his death will lead to little comment, and be denied by the USSR. He succeeds in achieving a landing, on the dark side of the Moon, but the lander rocket has malfunctioned, leaving him no hope of return. The novel ends with his descending from the doomed craft to walk on the lunar surface, as the lights in the stranded craft gradually go out.

The novel was serialised in 10 episodes in the BBC's Book at Bedtime in August 2007.