(Semi-?)Fictional novel about the early years of the Space Race
I read that one about 15 years ago when I was hospitalized and they had it at the hospital library.
It followed a few groups of protagonists through the foundation of NASA, their version of Mercury and their version of Gemini. The first group were German scientists surrounding Wernher von Braun but they would lose focus in favor of the astronaut groups. I don't know how much of it was factual, but quite a large chunk of it is definitely fictional as in this novel the first black American astronaut was part of a mission in their version of Gemini and a significant part of the first act takes place in a city called Fremont, which may or may not be the one in California and may or may not be a stand-in for Huntsville, but I think I also remember they moved there at some point.
Thanks in advance
ETA it seems I'm talking about James Michener's Space, and reading a few character names they definitely ring a bell, but the Wikipedia synopsis mentions things I don't remember and apparently it's quite a thick tome which the book I read wasn't.