From NPR correspondent Keith O' Brien comes this thrilling Young Readers' edition of the untold story about pioneering women, including Amelia Earhart, who fought to compete against men in the high-stakes national air races of the 1920s and 1930s--and won. In the years between World War I and World War II, airplane racing was one of the most popular sports in America. Thousands of fans flocked to multiday events, and the pilots who competed in these...

"The New York Times bestselling author of Viper Pilot chronicles another thrilling chapter in American aviation history: the race to break the sound barrier. In the aftermath of World War II, the United States accelerated the development of technologies that would give it an advantage over the Soviet Union. Airpower, combined with nuclear weapons, offered a formidable check on Soviet aggression. In 1947, the United States Air Force was established....

A behind-the-scenes look at the aeronautical engineers who keep the skies safe. Many are surprised to learn that flying is, statistically, the safest means of transportation. Even less well known is the crucial role that flight test observers and engineers play in ensuring that level of safety. In this book, one of them recounts his experience as an aeronautical engineer working in partnership with test pilots, painting a vivid portrait of his...

Concorde flew for 34 years and is still unmatched. Much has been written about the aeroplane itself, but relatively little about the people who designed it. This book is partly an autobiography and encompasses some of the team, several technicalities and a good measure of the lighter side of the job, especially during the period of actual design. Ted Talbot, who began his career at BAC as an aerodynamicist and became chief design engineer, has combined...

On February 1, 2003, Columbia disintegrated on reentry before the nation's eyes, and all seven astronauts aboard were lost. Author Mike Leinbach, Launch Director of the space shuttle program at NASA&'s John F. Kennedy Space Center was a key leader in the search and recovery effort as NASA, FEMA, the FBI, the US Forest Service, and dozens more federal, state, and local agencies combed rural east Texas for every piece of the shuttle they could find....

Describes the process of building a spacecraft.

The long-awaited memoir of a trailblazer and role model who is telling her story for the first time. Eileen Collins was an aviation pioneer her entire career, from her crowning achievements as the first woman to command an American space mission as well as the first to pilot the space shuttle to her early years as one of the Air Force's first female pilots. She was in the first class of women to earn pilot's wings at Vance Air Force Base and was...

The nail-biting account of the Wright brothers' secret flights at Kitty Hawk and their unexpected rise to fame Despite their great achievements following their first powered flights in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright still enjoyed virtual anonymity until 1908. In seven crucial days in May of that year, however, the eyes of the world were suddenly cast upon them as they sought lucrative government contracts for their flying technology and then had...

Have you ever looked up into the sky, seen an airplane, and wondered where it was going and who was flying it? Aviation is the study of the design, development and production, and operation of aircraft. In Aviation: Cool Women Who Fly, children ages 9 to 12 learn about this fascinating field and meet three successful women working in aviation. Meg Godlewski is a master certified flight instructor, Kristin Wolfe is a pilot in the Air Force, and Taylor...

McCurdy and the Silver Dart recounts the thrilling story of J. A. McCurdy, Canada's aviation pioneer. Born in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, Douglas McCurdy had a unique childhood during which he assisted world-famous scientist and inventor, Alexander Graham Bell in fascinating and frequently dangerous experiments conducted with kites and airplanes. He was the first person to fly an airplane in the British Empire. Later he became a barnstormer and daredevil...