A never-before-told story from a NASA insider—experience the highs and lows of the golden era of spaceflight through the eyes of a former Apollo flight directorAs a flight director for all of the Apollo program’s crewed missions, Gerry Griffin was instrumental in the Apollo 11 landing, the rescue of the Apollo 13 crew, and the successes of Apollo missions 12, 15, and 17, for which he served as lead flight director. His storied NASA career took him through the Gemin...

"An enjoyable source of information on a wide variety of real or imagined technological marvels of the space age." —National Space SocietyThis beautifully illustrated pop science book answers the enduring questions raised by science fiction, such as: Do hoverboards really exist, how can you bring a dinosaur back to life and can we really travel in time and space.Packed with stunning images, including seventy-five illustrations created exclusively for this b...

Launch your business to new heights with out-of-this world innovationFor over half a century, NASA has delivered a continuous stream of innovative accomplishments that have inspired the world. Neil Armstrong walking on the moon, the space shuttle pioneering reusable space planes, Mars rovers exploring the red planet--the list goes on. We read the stories and watch the footage, and as impossible as these achievements seem, NASA makes them look easy.The most innovative orga...

In honor of the 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking Apollo 11 mission, this lavishly illustrated book—featuring stunning photographs and many rarely seen images and documents—tells the incredible story of the first men on the Moon.Acclaimed science author Rod Pyle (Missions to the Moon) returns with a beautiful and insightful book commemorating Apollo 11. First on the Moon offers an exciting behind-the-scenes look at America’s journey to the Mo...

No longer the exclusive domain of government entities such as NASA and other national agencies, space exploration is rapidly becoming privatized, with entrepreneurial startups building huge rocket boosters, satellites, rocket engines, asteroid probes, prospecting craft, and even commercial lunar cargo landers to open this new frontier. Research into ever more sophisticated propulsion and life support systems will soon enable the journey to Mars and destinations deeper in our solar system. ...

Award-winning science writer and documentarian Rod Pyle presents an insider's perspective on the most unusual and bizarre space missions ever devised inside and outside of NASA. The incredible projects described here were not merely flights of fancy dreamed up by space enthusiasts, but actual missions planned by leading aeronautical engineers. Some were designed but not built; others were built but not flown; and a few were flown to failure but little reported:A giant rocket that w...

The riveting story of the American scientists, tinkerers, and nerds who solved one of the biggest puzzles of World War II—and developed one of the most powerful weapons of the war12 Seconds of Silence is the remarkable, lost story of how a ragtag group of American scientists overcame one of the toughest problems of World War II: shooting things out of the sky.Working in a secretive organization known as Section T, a team of physicists, engineers, a...

We live in an era of unprecedented data aggregation, and it's never been more difficult to navigate the trade-offs between individual privacy, personal convenience, national security, and corporate profits. Technology is evolving quickly, while laws and policies are changing slowly.You shouldn't have to be a privacy expert to understand what happens to your data. April Falcon Doss, a privacy expert and former NSA and Senate lawyer, has seen this imbalance in action. In Cyber Pr...

An expert on American authoritarianism offers a searing rebuke of the exceptional narrative that dominates our understanding of US history. In 12 lessons, Matthew C. MacWilliams' On Fascism exposes the divisive rhetoric, strongman tactics, violent othering, and authoritarian attitudes that course through American history and compete with our egalitarian, democratic aspirations. Trumpism isn’t new, but rooted in our refusal to come to terms with this histor...

A revelatory look at why we dehumanize each other, with stunning examples from world history as well as today's headlines"Brute." "Cockroach." "Lice." "Vermin." People often regard members of their own kind as less than human, and use terms like these for those whom they wish to harm, enslave, or exterminate. Dehumanization has made atrocities like the Holocaust, the genocide in Rwanda, and the slave trade possible. But it isn't just a relic of the past. We still f...

A Short History of Nearly Everything meets Astrophysics for People in a Hurry in this humorous, accessible exploration of how meteorites have helped not only build our planet but steered the evolution of life and human culture.The Solar System. Dinosaurs. Donkey Kong. What is the missing link? Surprisingly enough, it's meteorites. They explain our past, constructed our present, and could define our future.Impact argues that Earth ...

In early 1942, the Imperial Japanese Army and Navy were advancing on all fronts, humiliating Allied forces throughout the Pacific. In a matter of months, Japan had conquered an area larger than Hitler's empire at its apex. Hawaiians and Australians feared a future under Hirohito. The fate of half of mankind was hanging in the balance.But by the end of 1943, the tables had turned entirely. The American-led military machine had kicked into gear, and the Japanese were fighting a defen...