BEYOND THE BLUE
The Space Race and America's Conquest of the Moon, 1957–1972By Victoria Dunmore Forsythe
Length5h 53m
About this audiobook
On October 4, 1957, a single beeping signal from orbit changed the world forever — and terrified a nation.
For the first time, America wasn't first. The Soviets had beaten the United States into space, and overnight the sky itself looked like enemy territory. What followed was the Space Race — the greatest adventure in human history: a fifteen-year sprint of genius, courage, catastrophe, and triumph that ended with two Americans walking on the Moon.
If you know the famous moments — "one small step," Apollo 13 — but never understood how they all fit together, Beyond the Blue hands you the entire breathtaking story of the Space Race, from the shock of Sputnik to America's conquest of the Moon, told as the white-knuckle drama it truly was.
Inside, you'll discover:
* **How the Space Race was actually won** — the strategy, the rockets, and the political nerve that took America from humiliation to the Moon.
* **The people behind the missions** — the daring astronauts, the hidden figures who did the math, and the controversial genius who built the rockets.
* **The disasters that nearly ended everything** — the Apollo 1 fire, the near-loss of Apollo 13, and how NASA refused to quit.
* **Why the Space Race still shapes your life** — the technology in your pocket, the Cold War stakes, and the legacy America left on the Moon.
This isn't a dry timeline. It's a front-row seat to the moment humanity reached beyond the blue and touched another world.
If you love sweeping, character-driven history that reads like a thriller, Beyond the Blue belongs on your shelf.
Scroll up, click "Buy Now," and blast off into the greatest race ever run.
Audiobook details
GenreOther, Historical Fiction, Literary Classics
Length5 hrs 53 mins
Narrated byListen with 1,000+ voices
FormateBook with Audio
LanguageEnglish
Table of contents
1Introduction
2Author’s Note
3Prologue: The Beep in the Dark
4PART ONE: SPUTNIK AND THE SHOCK (1957–1961)
5Chapter 1: Sputnik — The Beep That Changed Everything
Show all chaptersShow less
6Chapter 2: America's Response — NASA and the Race Begins
7Chapter 3: The Mercury Astronauts — The Right Stuff
8Chapter 4: Yuri Gagarin — First Human in Space
9PART TWO: THE KENNEDY CHALLENGE (1961–1963)
10Chapter 5: Kennedy's Commitment — We Choose to Go to the Moon
11Chapter 6: Friendship 7 — John Glenn Orbits the Earth
12Chapter 7: The Apollo Program — Building the Moon Machine
13Chapter 8: Gemini — Learning to Walk in Space
14PART THREE: THE ROAD TO THE MOON (1964–1969)
15Chapter 9: Building the Saturn V — The Largest Machine Ever Made
16Chapter 10: The Apollo 1 Fire — Tragedy and Rebuilding
17Chapter 11: Apollo 8 — Earthrise and Christmas in Lunar Orbit
18Chapter 12: Apollo 11 — One Giant Leap for Mankind
19PART FOUR: BEYOND APOLLO 11
20Chapter 13: Apollo 13 — Failure Is Not an Option
21Chapter 14: The Later Apollos — Science on the Lunar Surface
22Chapter 15: Skylab — America's First Space Station
23Chapter 16: Apollo-Soyuz — Cold War Détente in Orbit
24PART FIVE: THE PEOPLE OF THE SPACE RACE
25Chapter 17: The Astronauts — Pilots, Scientists, and Public Icons
26Chapter 18: Wernher von Braun — The Rocket Scientist from Nazi Germany
27Chapter 19: The Hidden Figures — Black Women Mathematicians at NASA
28Chapter 20: Mission Control — Engineers, Flight Controllers, and the Ground Crews
29PART SIX: LEGACIES
30Chapter 21: What the Space Race Gave Us — Technology and Spinoffs
31Chapter 22: The Soviet Side — What America Was Competing Against
32Chapter 23: The Space Shuttle and What Came After Apollo
33Chapter 24: The Moon and the American Imagination — Science, Culture, and National Pride
34Epilogue: What We Left on the Moon
35Acknowledgments
36Selected Bibliography
37About the Author
More from Victoria Dunmore Forsythe
The Holy Bible - 1 SamuelKing James2h 13m4.8 (1.6K)$3 · $0.00
The American Standard Bible — The Gospel of MatthewMatthew3h 56m4.7 (3K)$2 · $0.00
Bad Fat Black GirlSesali Bowen6h 32m4.7 (2.8K)$24 · $0.00
The King James Audio Bible New Testament CompleteChristopher Glyn20h 2m4.7 (2.6K)$12 · $0.00
Faiths CheckbookCharles Spurgeon12h 44m4.7 (3.2K)$11 · $0.00
Ten Things I Wish You Knew About Your Child's Mental HealthDr. Billy Garvey4h 53m4.7 (2.4K)$20 · $0.00
The Book of PsalmsUnknown Author5h 9m4.6 (18K)$10
Designing Terry Pratchett’s DiscworldPaul Kidby3h 52m4.7 (343)$20 · $0.00
The Chosen Book OneAmanda Jenkins, Kristen Hendricks, Dallas Jenkins3h 8m4.6 (4.9K)$10 · $0.00
The Lives of BrianBrian Johnson9h 45m4.6 (3.5K)$29 · $0.00
Expository Thoughts on the Gospel of LukeJ.C. Ryle27h 13m4.7 (536)$18 · $0.00
CrossroadsKaleb Dahlgren7h 56m4.6 (4.9K)$26 · $0.00
Across the RiverKent Babb11h 40m4.6 (927)$29 · $0.00
Brain Training for RidersAndrea Monsarrat Waldo5h 56m4.7 (550)$19 · $0.00
My Effin' LifeGeddy Lee17h 11m4.6 (13.1K)$40 · $0.00
Kings and PawnsHoward Bryant10h 9m4.6 (678)$29 · $0.00
The Elementia Chronicles #2: The New OrderSean Fay Wolfe11h 17m4.6 (841)$29 · $0.00
The ActsLuke2h 55m4.6 (19.7K)$12 · $0.00
Woodcraft and Camping (Annotated)George Washington Sears3h 30m4.6 (1.2K)$0.99 · $0.00
The Hate U GiveAngie Thomas11h 50m4.5 (1.1M)$8 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
Scaramouche (Annotated)Rafael Sabatini15h 24m4.6 (1.8K)$2 · $0.00
Northern ShadowsDaniel Greene12h 52m4.7 (281)$23
The Ghost by the Billabong (The Matilda Saga, #5)Jackie French14h 58m4.6 (773)$33 · $0.00
The Labyrinth of the SpiritsCarlos Ruiz Zafon27h 55m4.5 (77.2K)$53 · $0.00
The Things We Cannot SayKelly Rimmer13h 48m4.5 (359.1K)$33 · $0.00
Their Castilian OrphanAnna Belfrage14h 45m4.7 (122)$27
Lieutenant Hornblower (Annotated)C. S. Forester11h 41m4.5 (2.9K)$2 · $0.00
Eagles over BritainLee Jackson12h 26m4.5 (18.6K)$23
Rilla of InglesideLucy Maud Montgomery11h 44m4.5 (48.2K)$2 · $0.00
The Viennese DressmakerKathryn Gauci11h 46m4.5 (2.1K)$23 · $0.00
The Man in the Brown Suit & They Came to BaghdadAgatha Christie15h 43m4.6 (495)$33 · $0.00
Under the Light of the Italian MoonJennifer Anton12h 28m4.5 (5.3K)$23 · $0.00
Jubilee, 50th Anniversary EditionMargaret Walker15h 43m4.5 (9.5K)$25 · $0.00
Arch of TriumphErich Maria Remarque15h 51m4.4 (36.6K)$28
Serenade for NadiaZülfü Livaneli9h 9m4.4 (20.1K)$20
Pride and PrejudiceJane Austen14h 44m4.4 (4.7M)$2 · $0.00
Flying Colours (Annotated)Cecil Louis Troughton Smith9h 26m4.4 (10.1K)$2 · $0.00
With Love from HarlemReShonda Tate13h 48m4.5 (2K)$6 · $0.00
Under the Java MoonHeather B. Moore12h 23m4.4 (3.2K)$23
The Gulag Archipelago Volume 3Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn21h 56m4.7 (8.9K)$46 · $0.00
The Bark Canoes and Skin Boats of North America (Annotated)Howard Irving Chapelle, Tappan Adney13h 9m4.8 (150)$0.99 · $0.00
This Side of Paradise - The Original 1920 Edition (Annotated)F. Scott Fitzgerald11h 30m4.6 (1.6K)$2 · $0.00
The Great Gatsby: Original 1925 Edition (An F. Scott Fitzgerald Classic NovelFrancis Scott Fitzgerald4h 45m4.6 (9.3K)$18 · $0.00
Ivanhoe (Annotated)Walter Scott22h 52m4.8 (88)$2 · $0.00
The Fire Next TimeJames Baldwin2h 25m4.6 (159.1K)$15
The Complete Histories / History Plays of William Shakespeare (Annotated)William Shakespeare29h 42m4.6 (2.3K)$0.99 · $0.00
Braving the TruthRachel Held Evans11h 31m4.7 (359)$29 · $0.00
Richard Wagamese SelectedRichard Wagamese3h 14m4.6 (594)$15
The Old Man and the Sea (Annotated)Ernest Hemingway4h 27m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Twelfth Night (The Unabridged Play) + The Classic Biography (Annotated)William Shakespeare, Sidney Lee16h 38m4.6 (1.4K)$2 · $0.00
Henry V (The Play, Historical Background and Analysis of the Character in the Play)William Shakespeare, William Hazlitt8h 40m4.6 (1.3K)$1 · $0.00
Pathways to LightPrakash Amte7h 6m4.6 (1.3K)$8
These Vital SignsSayed Tabatabai3h 20m4.7 (215)$18 · $0.00
H. P. LOVECRAFT Ultimate Collection: Novellas, Short Stories, Poetry & Essays (Annotated)H. P. Lovecraft12h 28m4.6 (2.3K)$2 · $0.00
Time RegainedMarcel Proust15h 54m4.5 (10.6K)$2 · $0.00
Lessons in TruthH. Emilie3h 50m4.6 (1.4K)$4.70 · $0.00
TORAH - Bilingual Edition: English/Hebrew (Annotated)Max Margolis, JPS28h 26m4.6 (1K)$2 · $0.00
The Poetic EddaJackson Crawford6h 24m4.5 (19.8K)$17
Betty Crocker picture cooky bookBetty Crocker, Inc. General Mills2h 13m4.5 (6.5K)$1 · $0.00
You may also like
VoyageStephen Baxter24h 46m4.0 (3.2K)$30
SpacefarersChristopher Wanjek12h 1m4.1 (471)$23
ApolloCharles Murray, Catherine Bly Cox18h 15m4.6 (3.9K)$30
Across the Airless WildsEarl Swift10h 8m4.3 (1.3K)$29 · $0.00
Mission to MarsBuzz Aldrin4h 47m3.9 (1.7K)$17
American MoonshotDouglas Brinkley17h 13m4.3 (5K)$40 · $0.00
Eccentric OrbitsJohn Bloom18h 47m4.3 (2.1K)$25
The Green Hills of EarthRobert A. Heinlein6h 32m4.1 (11.4K)$14
ViniumS. H. Jucha14h 7m4.6 (2.5K)$23
BeyondStephen Walker15h 39m4.6 (3.2K)$33 · $0.00
Celus-5S. H. Jucha13h 17m4.5 (2.4K)$20
AllianceS. H. Jucha13h 36m4.5 (1.5K)$23
The MissionDavid W. Brown15h 17m4.1 (1.2K)$33 · $0.00
100 years of history of aeronautics and air mail in Costa RicaJosé Antonio Giralt Amador6h 51m$22 · $0.00
Mars: Our New Home?National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress5h 38m$2 · $0.00
Mars: Our New Home? - National Plan to Conquer the Red Planet (Official Strategies of NASA & U.S. Congress) (Annotated)National Aeronautics and Space Administration, U.S. Congress6h 12m$0.99 · $0.00
Apollo 11 Goodwill MessagesNASA1h 4m$1 · $0.00
The History of the TelephoneHerbert Newton Casson6h 37m$2 · $0.00
Matthew Calbraith Perry: A Typical American Naval OfficerWilliam Elliot Griffis13h 12m$1 · $0.00
Star SurgeonAlan Edward Nourse6h 31m3.9 (806)$1 · $0.00