EXCERPT The greatest escape of them all is about to blow the future apart. Space travel produced some of the defining images of the twentieth century. Sputnik, the nasa logo, the shuttle’s friendly snub-nosed profile; the ratcheting tension of the liftoff countdown, a flag on the Moon that is never to flutter, the earth like a mica fleck against coal black. These were images capable of captivating a global audience, an effect enhanced by the setup of the so-called Space Race as a kind of decades-long international sports day. Then, just as things were getting going, the engines cut out…