This is the story of a man and his young protege who altered the course of history in 1961, even though the world knew almost nothing about them. The younger man's great achievement, celebrated to this day, took him less than two hours to complete, yet required his courage and commitment over a period of years. A happy and triumphant superstar at the age of 27, his toughest challenge was to recover his sanity and self-respect in the glare of the global fame that came afterwards. Meanwhile, his protector and boss, Russia's greatest rocket genius, was forced into the shadows of obscurity by the State authorities.