THE WEAPON THAT CHANGED THE FUTUREIn the closing years of World War II, Nazi Germany unleashed a weapon unlike anything the world had seen. It fell from the sky faster than sound, struck without warning, and killed from hundreds of miles away.But the V-2 was more than a weapon.Inside its guidance systems, fuel tanks, and engine was the beginning of a technological revolution that would outlive the regime that created it. When Germany collapsed, the ...

'Terrific and enthralling' New ScientistFifty years ago, in July 1969, Apollo 11 became the first manned mission to land on the Moon, and Neil Armstrong the first man to step on to its surface. He and his crewmates, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, were the latest men to risk their lives in this extraordinary scientific, engineering and human venture that would come to define the era.In Apollo 11: The Inside Story, David Whitehouse reveals ...

The incredible story of spaceflight before the establishment of NASA.NASA's history is a familiar story, one that typically peaks with Neil Armstrong taking his small step on the Moon in 1969. But America's space agency wasn't created in a vacuum. It was assembled from pre-existing parts, drawing together some of the best minds the non-Soviet world had to offer.In the 1930s, rockets were all the rage in Germany, the focus both of scientists hoping to fly in...

Find out all about NASA in this out-of-this-world addition to the What Was? series.The National Aeronautics and Space Administration, better known as NASA, began in 1958. With its creation, the United States hoped to ensure it won the space race against the Soviet Union. Author Sarah Fabiny describes the origins of NASA, the launching of the Apollo program that landed the first human on the moon, and the many missions and discoveries that have taken place since the...

Growing up on either side of the Iron Curtain, David Scott and Alexei Leonov experienced very different childhoods but shared the same dream to fly.Excelling in every area of mental and physical agility, Scott and Leonov became elite fighter pilots and were chosen by their countries' burgeoning space programs to take part in the greatest technological race ever-to land a man on the moon.In this unique dual autobiography, astronaut Scott and cosmonaut Leonov recount their exce...

In this thrilling and utterly unique work of narrative non-fiction, Katherine Dunn explores the acute vulnerability of the GPS satellite system – in a book that lifts the lid on the invisible connections of the globe, from the space race to the phone in our pocketsThis is the story of the Global Positioning System, the network of U.S. government satellites that encircle the earth: a vast web that, in a matter of decades, has transformed the way we understand space ...

It was all part of man's greatest adventure--landing men on the Moon and sending a rover to Mars, finally seeing the edge of the universe and the birth of stars, and launching planetary explorers across the solar system to Neptune and beyond.The ancient dream of breaking gravity's hold and taking to space became a reality only because of the intense cold-war rivalry between the superpowers, with towering geniuses like Wernher von Braun and Sergei Korolyov shelving dreams of space t...

Is it possible that the famous American moon landings were nothing but an illusion - a fabrication? Could NASA have fooled the world by broadcasting simulations that had been filmed for training purposes? From the very first manned flight into orbit right up to the present day there have been serious anomalies in the official narrative of the conquest of space. Bestselling author Gerhard Wisnewski dissects the history in minute detail - from the first Russian missions to the final American...

The history of Germany's contributions to state-of-the art aviation engineering since World War II.There are many myths and legends surrounding the advanced German aeronautical technology of the Second World War. There are also facts and proven events. Yet within these stories and behind these facts lie conspiracy theories, mistaken assumptions and denials that seem to contradict the evidence. So what really happened? How far ahead were the German scientists? And, ...

"Skillfully interweaving technical details and fascinating personalities, Johnson tells the history of systems management in the U.S. and Europe." —Howard McCurdy, author of Space and the American ImaginationWinner of the Emme Award for Astronautical Literature from the American Astronautical SocietyHow does one go about organizing something as complicated as a strategic-missile or space-exploration program? Stephen B. Johnson here e...

The growth in size, lethality, and technology of the German Luftwaffe was of concern to some defense planners in the United States before American entry into the war.Learning about the Luftwaffe became a significant effort once the conflict broke out in Europe. From defectors with German aircraft to battlefield trophies and combat crew reports, the race to understand German aero technology took on sometimes heroic proportions.After the war, German technolog...

A comprehensive history with descriptions of the world's most significant aircraft employed as "eyes in the sky."For as long as there has been sustained heavier-than-air human flight, airplanes have been used to gather information about our adversaries. Less than a decade after the Wright Brothers flew at Kitty Hawk, Italian pilots were keeping tabs on Turkish foes in Libya. Today, aircraft with specialized designs and sensory equipment still cruise the skies, spying out secrets in the nev...