The launch of the space shuttle Atlantis will make history. Another
triumph for the space program and a political coup: a Russian cosmonaut
is scheduled to perform the first spacewalk from an American unit.
The checkout fail-safes are all go. The mission is proceeding like
clockwork. The team of American and Russian astronauts are strapped in,
the mission specialists in Houston see no hitches. No one knows the real
danger....
For as millions of viewers tune in to watch the countdown, there's
nothing to indicate that what they're seeing is a prerecorded show.
Terrorists have taken over Launch Control at Cape Canaveral and are
threatening to blow up the Atlantis in less than three hours unless
their demands are met. Only Colonel "Iceberg" Friese, the mission's
former commander, out with a broken foot, knows about the danger to his
crew. Unknown to anyone, he's sneaked into the restricted zone. And now
it's up to him to stop the clock before the countdown
reaches...Ignition.