Losing Laika

Set in the Cold War, Losing Laika is the story of Petró Konradtovych Kravets, who arrives on the scene of a downed American U-2 spy plane on May Day 1960 to retrieve its camera. An experienced optics technician, Petró's work for the Ministry of Military Aeronautics carries on his father's legacy of defending the Motherland, his father having been killed in World War II.Covering a half century, Losing Laika lets readers follow--through the eyes of a Soviet Everyman--the lives of Petró, his family, and others across the backdrop of the Cold War with its international space race, Cuban missile crisis, commonplace air raids, and much more.