‘Final Orbit’ by Chris Hadfield

Published by Quercus,
7 October 2025.
ISBN: 978-1-52943595-5 9HB)

It is 1975 and Kaz Zemeckis has been appointed Flight Controller of a joint American and Soviet space mission.  The plan is for two modules, Apollo and Soyuz, to dock in orbit before attempting to board the USA’s first and now abandoned space station, Skylab.  The mission is considered relatively straightforward in space exploration terms, but there are some potential problems.  For one thing the Cold War is ongoing, and an underlying mistrust exists between the two nations despite the venture.  Another possible stumbling block involves unreliable communications between the two orbiting spacecraft and their control rooms on planet Earth.  Similarly, working in two quite different languages may lead to misunderstandings which on a spaceship could be disastrous. 

Confident that all glitches have been resolved, the ground teams at the Space Centre Houston and Baikonur Cosmodrome watch their respective spaceships launch into orbit.  The hope is that the expedition will herald a new era of collaboration between their two countries.

 

Meanwhile, in China, Chairman Mao and his top space scientist, Professor Tsien Hsue-shen,  are anxious not only to join the space race, but also to exceed the successes that are celebrated in Russia and America.  As the launch day approaches their political and economic rivals are unaware that a single-manned Chinese space craft, Shuguang, is already orbiting the Earth.  Professor Tsien assures his leader that the Peoples’ Republic can disrupt the joint mission, and Shuguang’s pilot, Fang Kuo-chun, intends to do just that – whatever the cost!

 

Hadfield skilfully weaves a story of criminal sabotage through the jeopardy that accompanies every manned space flight as the different narrative strands unfold and collide, in some cases literally!  It will take all Kaz’s experience, expertise and endurance to sort out what is a rapidly unravelling mission. 

 

The author uses his remarkable knowledge and personal experience, as a test and fighter pilot and subsequently as an astronaut, to describe scientific concepts in a way that is both fascinating and comprehensible.  Most of those who appear in the book are real historical characters, helpfully listed in his Author’s Note, and the imagined events that take place feel relatable as well as plausible.

 

This is the third in Hadfield’s Apollo Murders series.  It marks the welcome return of Kaz Zemeckis as its chief protagonist and works perfectly as a stand-alone novel. Scientific endeavour and political posturing at all levels are central themes but at the heart of the story is the desire of the human spirit to survive even in the most desolate places and situations. 

 

Final Orbit is a crime thriller set in orbit 270 miles above the Earth on spacecraft moving at around 4,570 miles per hour.  That is 22 times the speed of sound at sea level!  What’s not to love?

Exciting and entertaining from start to finish, and highly recommended.
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Reviewer: Dot Marshall-Gent  

Chris Hadfield is one of the most seasoned and accomplished astronauts in the world. The top graduate of the U.S. Air Force test pilot school in 1988 and U.S. Navy test pilot of the year in 1991, Colonel Hadfield was CAPCOM for twenty-five Shuttle missions and NASA’s Director of Operations in Russia. Hadfield served as Commander of the International Space Station where, while conducting a record-setting number of scientific experiments and overseeing an emergency spacewalk, he gained worldwide acclaim for his breath-taking photographs and educational videos about life in space. His music video, a zero-gravity version of David Bowie's "Space Oddity," has nearly 50 million views, and his TED talk on fear has been viewed over 10 million times. He helped create and host the National Geographic miniseries One Strange Rock, with Will Smith, and has a MasterClass on exploration. Chris Hadfield's books An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth, You Are Here and The Darkest Dark have been bestsellers all around the world.

Dot Marshall-Gent worked in the emergency services for twenty years first as a police officer, then as a paramedic and finally as a fire control officer before graduating from King’s College, London as a teacher of English in her mid-forties.  She completed a M.A. in Special and Inclusive Education at the Institute of Education, London and now teaches part-time and writes mainly about educational issues.  Dot sings jazz and country music and plays guitar, banjo and piano as well as being addicted to reading mystery and crime