About the book: 2018 / In 1986, the Soviet leadership made an unprecedented attempt to conquer Mars. Parts of the interplanetary manned spacecraft Mir Express were launched into geostationary orbit of the Earth, on which the Soviet crew was supposed to reach the orbit of the Red Planet. Unfortunately, an explosion occurred during assembly of the module. The ship was mothballed and the project was closed. Thirty years later, cosmonauts Stanislav Basargin and Mikhail Matyushin, having reactivated the Mir Express, headed for the orbit of the Moon to prove or disprove the presence of traces of the American lunar expedition there. An outdated ship almost crashes into the surface of the satellite; with a monstrous effort, the astronauts manage to save it and send it to Earth. But mortal danger again looms over them: Basargin suddenly becomes the owner of secret information about the criminal corruption of the oligarch and presidential candidate Velesov, the main sponsor of this flight. To prevent the disclosure of incriminating evidence, Velesov is doing everything possible to ensure that the crew never returns to Earth…