This research reveals the means and methods by which US and Soviet space physicists -- specifically the US team headed by James A. Van Allen and the Soviet team headed by Leonid Sedov -- were able to communicate and share theories, information and data during 1957-59, the earliest days of the “space race”. This research shows that, despite US-Soviet political polarisation, suspicion and mistrust, these scientists established and sustained formal and informal communication strategies that allowed them to work cooperatively as an international space science community while exploring a “common frontier of ignorance” . It is the author’s conclusion that such communication was possible only as a direct result of personal and professional commitments by these scientists to ensure that science took precedence over politics, despite a Cold War and a heated arms race. Research methods included multiple personal interviews with Van Allen and extensive correspondence with Soviet space physicist Yuri L. Galperin. This research also involved extensive documentary review of primary source materials archived within the James A. Van Allen Papers and Related Collections of the University of Iowa Archives in Iowa City, Iowa, in the United States. This research reveals how these American and Soviet scientists established and maintained ongoing, direct and indirect channels of communication.