I had never heard of this book when I came upon this, Book Club, edition.
"Satellite E One" is a British novel of first space flight and the early days of the space station refered to in the title. It's low-key and believable, reflecting the slow growth of a near-earth space program preparatory to a first Moon flight.
The story is told by three different characters. The fact that the first man into space, whose narrative forms the first quarter of the novel, is the uncle of the young man whose story carries most of the remainder, makes it feel a bit like a coming-of-age story. The problem is that it all seems a bit dull and despite realistic detail, it never gets very interesting.