Burt Rutan's Race to Space

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Author :
Publisher : Zenith Press
ISBN 13 : 1610602609
Total Pages : 160 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (16 download)

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Book Synopsis Burt Rutan's Race to Space by : Dan Linehan

Download or read book Burt Rutan's Race to Space written by Dan Linehan and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2011-07-17 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Years ago, Burt Rutan told a reporter for Popular Mechanics, “If we make a courageous decision like the goal and program we kicked off for Apollo in 1961, we will see our children or grandchildren in outposts on other planets.” Legendary science-fiction writer Arthur C. Clark would later recall Rutan’s quote in a piece he wrote about SpaceShipOne and comment, “Fortunately, we need not rely solely on governments for expanding humanity’s presence beyond the Earth.” Burt Rutan’s Race to Space showcases Rutan’s herculean efforts to do just that. Smithsonian’s Air and Space Museum displays his most celebrated achievements, including SpaceShipOne, which won the coveted $10 million Ansari X Prize for private spaceflight; Voyager, which hangs with SpaceShipOne in the Milestones of Flight gallery; the Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer; and the VariEze. His many aerospace innovations preceding his most recently conceived designs, SpaceShipTwo and WhiteKnightTwo, chronicle a progressive, step-by-step attempt to break barriers with engineering know-how and a wondrous imagination, all the while remaining on the forefront of the burgeoning private spaceflight industry. Rutan’s X Prize triumph and subsequent spacecraft designs are not a beginning, nor an end, but are steps in Burt Rutan’s continuing adventure to expand humanity’s presence beyond the Earth and into space.

Burt Rutan's Race to Space

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Author :
Publisher : Zenith Press
ISBN 13 : 0760338159
Total Pages : 162 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (63 download)

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Book Synopsis Burt Rutan's Race to Space by : Dan Linehan

Download or read book Burt Rutan's Race to Space written by Dan Linehan and published by Zenith Press. This book was released on 2011-07-07 with total page 162 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of SpaceShipOne chronicles the significant achievements of the Ansari X Prize-winning aerospace innovator, offering insight into his pioneering vision for enabling space exploration and the processes of his history-making designs, including Voyager and SpaceShipTwo.

How to Make a Spaceship

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Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698405854
Total Pages : 465 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (984 download)

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Book Synopsis How to Make a Spaceship by : Julian Guthrie

Download or read book How to Make a Spaceship written by Julian Guthrie and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2016-09-20 with total page 465 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller! The historic race that reawakened the promise of manned spaceflight A Finalist for the PEN/E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award Alone in a Spartan black cockpit, test pilot Mike Melvill rocketed toward space. He had eighty seconds to exceed the speed of sound and begin the climb to a target no civilian pilot had ever reached. He might not make it back alive. If he did, he would make history as the world’s first commercial astronaut. The spectacle defied reason, the result of a competition dreamed up by entrepreneur Peter Diamandis, whose vision for a new race to space required small teams to do what only the world’s largest governments had done before. Peter Diamandis was the son of hardworking immigrants who wanted their science prodigy to make the family proud and become a doctor. But from the age of eight, when he watched Apollo 11 land on the Moon, his singular goal was to get to space. When he realized NASA was winding down manned space flight, Diamandis set out on one of the great entrepreneurial adventure stories of our time. If the government wouldn’t send him to space, he would create a private space flight industry himself. In the 1990s, this idea was the stuff of science fiction. Undaunted, Diamandis found inspiration in an unlikely place: the golden age of aviation. He discovered that Charles Lindbergh made his transatlantic flight to win a $25,000 prize. The flight made Lindbergh the most famous man on earth and galvanized the airline industry. Why, Diamandis thought, couldn’t the same be done for space flight? The story of the bullet-shaped SpaceShipOne, and the other teams in the hunt, is an extraordinary tale of making the impossible possible. It is driven by outsized characters—Burt Rutan, Richard Branson, John Carmack, Paul Allen—and obsessive pursuits. In the end, as Diamandis dreamed, the result wasn’t just a victory for one team; it was the foundation for a new industry and a new age.

SpaceShipOne

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Author :
Publisher : Quarto Publishing Group USA
ISBN 13 : 161673230X
Total Pages : 161 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (167 download)

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Book Synopsis SpaceShipOne by : Dan Linehan

Download or read book SpaceShipOne written by Dan Linehan and published by Quarto Publishing Group USA. This book was released on 2011-06-13 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “One of the most remarkable accomplishments in our conquest of gravity.” — Sir Arthur C. Clarke In April, 2003, a company called Scaled Composites introduced SpaceShipOne to the world. SpaceShipOne: An Illustrated History chronicles the development of the world’s first commercial manned space program—aprogram that includes an airborne launcher (the White Knight), a space ship (SpaceShipOne), rocket propulsion, avionics, simulator, and full ground support. With ample illustrations, photographs, and behind-the-scenes information, SpaceShipOne provides a full picture of this classified project. The story of SpaceShipOne combines the adventurous spirit of Charles Lindbergh, the entrepreneurial drive of Howard Hughes, and the urgency of the space race at the height of the Cold War.

Rocketeers

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Publisher : Harper Collins
ISBN 13 : 0061877409
Total Pages : 318 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (618 download)

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Book Synopsis Rocketeers by : Michael Belfiore

Download or read book Rocketeers written by Michael Belfiore and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 318 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “That this story is still unfolding makes it especially exciting to read. These men are still in their workshops, tinkering their way into orbit.” —David Gelles, FORBES On June 21, 2004, SpaceShipOne, built by aircraft designer Burt Rutan, entered space and ushered in the commercial space age. Investment capital began to pour into the new commercial spaceflight industry. Richard Branson’s VirginGalactic plans to ferry space tourists out of the atmosphere. Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow is developing the world’s first commercial space station (i.e., space hotel). These space entrepreneurs, including Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, now see space as the next big thing. In Rocketeers, Michael Belfiore goes behind the scenes of this nascent industry, capturing its wild-west, anything-goes flavor. Likening his research to “hanging out in the Wright brothers’ barn,” Belfiore offers an inspiring and entertaining look at the people who are not afraid to make their bold dreams a reality. “The commercial space race is heating up so fast you need a cheat sheet to keep track of all the billionaires and gamblers vying to be the first private entrepreneur to blast paying customers into orbit. [Belfiore] does a stellar job introducing an intriguing cast of characters.” —Mark Horowitz, Wired “The privatization of space travel is an essential step toward realizing our cosmic destiny. In his engaging, highly readable Rocketeers, Michael Belfiore tells the fascinating story of the entrepreneurs who have already made it happen.” —Buzz Aldrin “A riveting, you-are-there account of how this ragtag collection of innovative thinkers, brave pilots, and bold visionaries is—right now—launching one of the most exciting new industries in history. Belfiore’s eloquent writing and exhaustive reporting really bring this mysterious, secretive world to life.” —Eric Adams, Popular Science

The X-15 Rocket Plane

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Author :
Publisher : U of Nebraska Press
ISBN 13 : 0803246846
Total Pages : 488 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (32 download)

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Book Synopsis The X-15 Rocket Plane by : Michelle L. Evans

Download or read book The X-15 Rocket Plane written by Michelle L. Evans and published by U of Nebraska Press. This book was released on 2013-06-01 with total page 488 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the Soviet Union’s launch of the first Sputnik satellite in 1957, the Cold War soared to new heights as Americans feared losing the race into space. The X-15 Rocket Plane tells the enthralling yet little-known story of the hypersonic X-15, the winged rocket ship that met this challenge and opened the way into human-controlled spaceflight. Drawing on interviews with those who were there, Michelle Evans captures the drama and excitement of, yes, rocket science: how to handle the heat generated at speeds up to Mach 7, how to make a rocket propulsion system that could throttle, and how to safely reenter the atmosphere from space and make a precision landing. This book puts a human face on the feats of science and engineering that went into the X-15 program, many of them critical to the development of the Space Shuttle. And, finally, it introduces us to the largely unsung pilots of the X-15. By the time of the Apollo 11 moon landing, thirty-one American astronauts had flown into space—eight of them astronaut-pilots of the X-15. The X-15 Rocket Plane restores these pioneers, and the others who made it happen, to their rightful place in the history of spaceflight.

Truth, Lies, and O-Rings

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Publisher : University Press of Florida
ISBN 13 : 0813047013
Total Pages : 1075 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis Truth, Lies, and O-Rings by : Allan J. McDonald

Download or read book Truth, Lies, and O-Rings written by Allan J. McDonald and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2012-03-11 with total page 1075 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On a cold January morning in 1986, NASA launched the Space Shuttle Challenger, despite warnings against doing so by many individuals, including Allan McDonald. The fiery destruction of Challenger on live television moments after launch remains an indelible image in the nation’s collective memory. In Truth, Lies, and O-Rings, McDonald, a skilled engineer and executive, relives the tragedy from where he stood at Launch Control Center. As he fought to draw attention to the real reasons behind the disaster, he was the only one targeted for retribution by both NASA and his employer, Morton Thiokol, Inc., makers of the shuttle's solid rocket boosters. In this whistle-blowing yet rigorous and fair-minded book, McDonald, with the assistance of internationally distinguished aerospace historian James R. Hansen, addresses all of the factors that led to the accident, some of which were never included in NASA's Failure Team report submitted to the Presidential Commission. Truth, Lies, and O-Rings is the first look at the Challenger tragedy and its aftermath from someone who was on the inside, recognized the potential disaster, and tried to prevent it. It also addresses the early warnings of very severe debris issues from the first two post-Challenger flights, which ultimately resulted in the loss of Columbia some fifteen years later.

Kennedy Space Center

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781554076437
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (764 download)

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Book Synopsis Kennedy Space Center by : David West Reynolds

Download or read book Kennedy Space Center written by David West Reynolds and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Praise for the hardcover edition: Extremely practical and enjoyable. -- Publishers Weekly (starred review) [Will be] devoured by history or space enthusiasts from eight to eighty. -- VOYA The foreword grabbed me, and by the prologue I was hooked. -- The Science Teacher

The Space Barons

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Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 1610398300
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (13 download)

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Book Synopsis The Space Barons by : Christian Davenport

Download or read book The Space Barons written by Christian Davenport and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-03-20 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historic quest to rekindle the human exploration and colonization of space led by two rivals and their vast fortunes, egos, and visions of space as the next entrepreneurial frontier The Space Barons is the story of a group of billionaire entrepreneurs who are pouring their fortunes into the epic resurrection of the American space program. Nearly a half-century after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, these Space Barons-most notably Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, along with Richard Branson and Paul Allen-are using Silicon Valley-style innovation to dramatically lower the cost of space travel, and send humans even further than NASA has gone. These entrepreneurs have founded some of the biggest brands in the world-Amazon, Microsoft, Virgin, Tesla, PayPal-and upended industry after industry. Now they are pursuing the biggest disruption of all: space. Based on years of reporting and exclusive interviews with all four billionaires, this authoritative account is a dramatic tale of risk and high adventure, the birth of a new Space Age, fueled by some of the world's richest men as they struggle to end governments' monopoly on the cosmos. The Space Barons is also a story of rivalry-hard-charging startups warring with established contractors, and the personal clashes of the leaders of this new space movement, particularly Musk and Bezos, as they aim for the moon and Mars and beyond.

Defining NASA

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Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 0791483630
Total Pages : 261 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (914 download)

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Book Synopsis Defining NASA by : W. D. Kay

Download or read book Defining NASA written by W. D. Kay and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2012-02-01 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Most observers would point to the 1969 Apollo moon landing as the single greatest accomplishment of NASA, yet prominent scientists, engineers, and public officials were questioning the purpose of the U.S. space program, even at the height of its national popularity. Defining NASA looks at the turbulent history of the space agency and the political controversies behind its funding. W. D. Kay examines the agency's activities and behavior by taking into account not only the political climate, but also the changes in how public officials conceptualize space policy. He explores what policymakers envisioned when they created the agency in 1958, why support for the Apollo program was so strong in the 1960s only to fade away in such a relatively short period of time, what caused NASA and the space program to languish throughout most of the 1970s only to reemerge in the 1980s, and, finally, what role the agency plays today.

Beyond: Our Future in Space

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Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
ISBN 13 : 0393246647
Total Pages : 399 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (932 download)

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Book Synopsis Beyond: Our Future in Space by : Chris Impey

Download or read book Beyond: Our Future in Space written by Chris Impey and published by W. W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2015-04-13 with total page 399 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Expansive and enlightening. . . . Impey packs his prose with wonderful anecdotes and weird factoids.”—New York Times Book Review Human exploration has been an unceasing engine of technological progress, from the first homo sapiens to leave our African cradle to a future in which mankind promises to settle another world. Beyond tells the epic story of humanity leaving home—and how humans will soon thrive in the vast universe beyond the earth. A dazzling and propulsive voyage through space and time, Beyond reveals how centuries of space explorers—from the earliest stargazers to today’s cutting-edge researchers—all draw inspiration from an innate human emotion: wanderlust. This urge to explore led us to multiply around the globe, and it can be traced in our DNA. Today, the urge to discover manifests itself in jaw-dropping ways: plans for space elevators poised to replace rockets at a fraction of the cost; experiments in suspending and reanimating life for ultra-long-distance travel; prototypes for solar sails that coast through space on the momentum of microwaves released from the Earth. With these ventures, private companies and entrepreneurs have the potential to outpace NASA as the leaders in a new space race. Combining expert knowledge of astronomy and avant-garde technology, Chris Impey guides us through the heady possibilities for the next century of exploration. In twenty years, a vibrant commercial space industry will be operating. In thirty years, there will be small but viable colonies on the Moon and Mars. In fifty years, mining technology will have advanced enough to harvest resources from asteroids. In a hundred years, a cohort of humans born off-Earth will come of age without ever visiting humanity’s home planet. This is not the stuff of science fiction but rather the logical extension of already available technologies. Beyond shows that space exploration is not just the domain of technocrats, but the birthright of everyone and the destiny of generations to come. To continue exploration is to ensure our survival. Outer space, a limitless unknown, awaits us.

Lost in Space

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Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0375727736
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (757 download)

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Book Synopsis Lost in Space by : Greg Klerkx

Download or read book Lost in Space written by Greg Klerkx and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2005-01-11 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The daring, revolutionary NASA that sent Neil Armstrong to the moon has lost its meteoric vision, says journalist and space enthusiast Greg Klerkx. NASA, he contends, has devolved from a pioneer of space exploration into a factionalized bureaucracy focused primarily on its own survival. And as a result, humans haven’t ventured beyond Earth orbit for three decades. Klerkx argues that after its wildly successful Apollo program, NASA clung fiercely to the spotlight by creating a government-sheltered monopoly with a few Big Aerospace companies. Although committed in theory to supporting commercial spaceflight, in practice it smothered vital private-sector innovation. In striking descriptions of space milestones spanning the golden 1960s Space Age and the 2003 Columbia tragedy, Klerkx exposes the “real” NASA and envisions exciting public-private cooperation that could send humans back to the moon and beyond.

Wingless Flight

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Publisher : University Press of Kentucky
ISBN 13 : 9780813132228
Total Pages : 260 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (322 download)

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Book Synopsis Wingless Flight by : R. Dale Reed, Darlene Lister

Download or read book Wingless Flight written by R. Dale Reed, Darlene Lister and published by University Press of Kentucky. This book was released on with total page 260 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Much has been written about the famous conflicts and battlegrounds of the East during the American Revolution. Perhaps less familiar, but equally important and exciting, was the war on the western frontier, where Ohio Valley settlers fought for the land they had claimed -- and for their very lives. George Rogers Clark stepped forward to organize the local militias into a united front that would defend the western frontier from Indian attacks. Clark was one of the few people who saw the importance of the West in the war effort as a whole, and he persuaded Virginia's government to lend support to his efforts. As a result Clark was able to cross the Ohio, saving that part of the frontier from further raids. Lowell Harrison captures the excitement of this vital part of American history while giving a complete view of George Rogers Clark's significant achievements. Lowell H. Harrison, is a professor emeritus of history at Western Kentucky University and is the author or co-author of numerous books, including Lincoln of Kentucky, A New History of Kentucky, and Kentucky's Governors."

New Moon Rising

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Publisher : Collector's Guide Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 298 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis New Moon Rising by : Frank Sietzen

Download or read book New Moon Rising written by Frank Sietzen and published by Collector's Guide Publishing. This book was released on 2004 with total page 298 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book looks at the inside deliberations that led to President George W Bush's space exploration initiative. The author team has been granted unprecedented access to senior policy makers as the plan was assembled during 2003 and 2004. Sietzen and Cowing will give exclusive details on the meetings between President George Bush, Vice President Richard Cheney, and senior members of the White House staff as the planning process began. In addition Sietzen and Cowing will examine how policy was translated from paper into hardware designs including the first outline of the plan's new space vehicle and how the inspiration behind the architecture once used in the Apollo program was summoned back to guide 21st century space planners. Sietzen and Cowing will describe how the Columbia accident and the political outcry for a new central goal for the US space program gave rise to what would become the most far reaching change in US space policy in a generation. Readers will have the most comprehensive look available on what this new space vision will do for human exploration of the Solar System -- and how nearly everything NASA does will change as a result. New Moon Rising: The Making of America's Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA, by Frank Sietzen, Jr. and Keith L. Cowing, to be published July 2004. The team broke the story on the space plan in the pages of the Washington Times and in the United Press International wire service. Portions of the book were serialised in the Times in a multi-part background article called "Why Some Said the Moon: The Exclusive Inside Story of the Bush Space Vision" published in January 2004.

Rocket Billionaires

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Publisher : Mariner Books
ISBN 13 : 9781328592811
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (928 download)

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Book Synopsis Rocket Billionaires by : Tim Fernholz

Download or read book Rocket Billionaires written by Tim Fernholz and published by Mariner Books. This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Featured on NPR and PBS's SciTech Now, and in Fast Company, Forbes, and the Wall Street Journal The inside story of the new race to conquer space For the outsize personalities staking their fortunes on spaceships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity--or the key to humanity's survival. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy and feed their own egos. We meet a supporting cast of equally fascinating entrepreneurs, from the irrepressible British mogul Richard Branson to the satellite internet visionary Greg Wyler. Tim Fernholz's fly-on-the-wall reporting captures an industry in the midst of disruption. NASA seeks to preserve its ambitious space program, traditional aerospace firms like Boeing and Lockheed Martin scramble to adapt to new competitors, lobbyists tussle over public funds, and lawmakers try to prevent this new space race from sparking global conflict. Fernholz spins this high-stakes marathon into a riveting tale of rivalry and survival.

The Lunatic Express

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Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0767929810
Total Pages : 306 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (679 download)

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Book Synopsis The Lunatic Express by : Carl Hoffman

Download or read book The Lunatic Express written by Carl Hoffman and published by Crown. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Indonesian Ferry Sinks. Peruvian Bus Plunges Off Cliff. African Train Attacked by Mobs. Whenever he picked up the newspaper, Carl Hoffman noticed those short news bulletins, which seemed about as far from the idea of tourism, travel as the pursuit of pleasure, as it was possible to get. So off he went, spending six months circumnavigating the globe on the world's worst conveyances: the statistically most dangerous airlines, the most crowded and dangerous ferries, the slowest buses, and the most rickety trains. The Lunatic Express takes us into the heart of the world, to some its most teeming cities and remotest places: from Havana to Bogotá on the perilous Cuban Airways. Lima to the Amazon on crowded night buses where the road is a washed-out track. Across Indonesia and Bangladesh by overcrowded ferries that kill 1,000 passengers a year. On commuter trains in Mumbai so crowded that dozens perish daily, across Afghanistan as the Taliban closes in, and, scariest of all, Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., by Greyhound. The Lunatic Express is the story of traveling with seatmates and deckmates who have left home without American Express cards on conveyances that don't take Visa, and seldom take you anywhere you'd want to go. But it's also the story of traveling as it used to be—a sometimes harrowing trial, of finding adventure in a modern, rapidly urbanizing world and the generosity of poor strangers, from ear cleaners to urban bus drivers to itinerant roughnecks, who make up most of the world's population. More than just an adventure story, The Lunatic Express is a funny, harrowing and insightful look at the world as it is, a planet full of hundreds of millions of people, mostly poor, on the move and seeking their fortunes.

Wally Funk's Race for Space

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Author :
Publisher : Chicago Review Press
ISBN 13 : 1641601337
Total Pages : 238 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (416 download)

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Book Synopsis Wally Funk's Race for Space by : Sue Nelson

Download or read book Wally Funk's Race for Space written by Sue Nelson and published by Chicago Review Press. This book was released on 2019-03-05 with total page 238 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Wally Funk was among the Mercury 13, the first group of American pilots to complete NASA's 1961 Women in Space program. Funk breezed through the rigorous physical and mental tests, her scores beating those of many of the male candidates—even John Glenn. Just one week before Funk was to enter the final phase of training, the entire program was abruptly cancelled. Politics and prejudice meant that none of the more-than-qualified women ever went to space. Undeterred, Funk went on to become one of America's first female aviation inspectors and civilian flight instructors, though her dream of being an astronaut never dimmed. In this offbeat odyssey, journalist and fellow space buff Sue Nelson travels with Wally Funk, now approaching her eightieth birthday, as she races to make her giant leap. Covering their travels across the United States and Europe—taking in NASA's mission control in Houston and Spaceport America in New Mexico, where Funk's ride to space awaits—this is a uniquely intimate and entertaining portrait of a true aviation trailblazer.