Blue Gemini

Scott Ourecky wanted to fly; he never dreamed he'd end up in a secret military space program.

The year is 1968. The Cold War is far from over, and nuclear annihilation is always only a heartbeat away. America is racing the Soviet Union to land men on the moon, a war is raging, and a pivotal presidential election looms on the horizon. A child of the early space age, Lieutenant Scott Ourecky joins the Air Force with aspirations of going to flight school. A brilliant engineer, he repeatedly fails the aptitude test to become a pilot but is selected to work on a highly classified military space program—the innocuously named Aerospace Support Project—n which Air Force astronauts are slated to fly missions to intercept and destroy suspect Soviet satellites.

When one of the astronauts in training abruptly falls out of the project, Ourecky is asked to fill in for the two-man simulated missions and survival training only, serving with a headstrong and abrasive test pilot, Major Drew Carson, until another astronaut can be assigned. By far the most proficient pilot assigned to the project, Carson has a dangerous propensity to engage in pickup dogfighting sessions while on cross-country training flights. And although Ourecky was only a temporary placeholder, not destined to fly in space, he soon finds himself much more involved than he ever anticipated—and in deepest peril.

Based on a real secret space program, Blue Gemini combines high-altitude action with edge-of-your-seat storytelling to create a modern classic Cold War thriller.

Mike Jenne is a licensed pilot, lifelong aerospace aficionado, and amateur space historian. As a child, he felt the ground shudder—often—as the Saturn V moon rockets were tested at the nearby Marshall Space Flight Center. Trained as an Army Ranger and Military Freefall ("HALO") Parachutist, he is a former Special Forces officer who has served across the globe, including deployments to Central America, Haiti, the Middle East, and Afghanistan. Mike and his wife, Adele, make their home in Trussville, Alabama.

"...an epic tale of high-stakes action seasoned with the muddy complexities of human relationships."—Publishers Weekly

"Tom Clancy and Dan Brown have got nothing on Mike Jenne!"—Quest: The History of Spaceflight Quarterly

"An excellent tale...[Jenne] tells a story that just about anyone can read and understand, but includes enough detail to keep even an expert entertained."—The Space Review

"It's fiction but you'd hardly know it. The settings and other details are spot on! A great read."—Werner J.A. Dahm, (former) Chief Scientist of the U.S. Air Force

"...realism that almost had me looking for my headset to start working the mission!"—John Muratore, Former Shuttle Flight Director