Although set in the near future, it now seems somewhat dated as events that happened shortly after its release, such as the Columbia disaster and recent space tourism advances such as SpaceShipOne and Virgin Galactic, are not included.

The third such flight is preparing to launch, carrying retired basketball player MJ (a character closely resembling Michael Jordan) into space.

However, during the flight something goes wrong and MJ and a mission specialist die, while the rest of the crew is forced to make an emergency landing.

The purpose of this bomb was to wipe out the current network of satellites, apparently in an attempt to cash in with their new presence in space exploration.

The rest of the book chronicles a daring rescue attempt to save those still on board the ISS, using mostly theoretical prototype vehicles.