Red Moon - A Novel

July 13, 1969. Three days before Apollo 11 lifts off from Cape Canaveral, the Soviet Union launches Luna 15, a rocket carrying the lunar lander, Firebird. They later claim it was a failed robotic probe, concealing a final attempt at beating America in the moon race and sealing the fate of its lone occupant, Grigor Belinsky, a cosmonaut blackmailed into flying the one-way mission. July, 2019. A multinational mission lands on the moon's Sea of Crises. American astronaut Janet Luckman leads a team in search of the Mother Lode: lunar ice, laced with Helium-3-a desperately needed energy source. The future of humanity rides on Luckman's success. Luckman discovers the Firebird and recovers its flight log, but the body of its mystery cosmonaut (Belinsky) is missing. Facing a 51 hour deadline, the dangerous lunar environment and a traitorous crew member bent on murder, she struggles to find the Mother Lode and uncover Belinsky's fate. A firestorm erupts on Earth as both American and Russian authorities attempt to hide the truth about Firebird. As renowned scientist, Milo Jefferson, investigates the Firebird mystery in Moscow, he finds himself in a hall of mirrors created by the sinister genius leading Russia's new Tsarist government: Mikhail Rabikoff. Rabikoff knows that the revelation of Belinsky's fate could topple his regime and will risk the fate of humanity in his attempt to elude Jefferson's inquiries and destroy the truth.