Milestones of Flight
From Hot-Air Balloons to SpaceShipOne
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- $10.99
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Milestones of Flight takes readers soaring through the high points of American aviation: from the Wright brothers and their competitors to the military pilots who first circumnavigated the globe, from the initial space rocket to the moon walk, from the earliest manmade satellite to today’s spy drones. The book also describes what inventions—such as rocket propulsion, the wind tunnel, and the silicon chip—helped move flight upward and beyond. Profusely illustrated with objects from the Smithsonian’s collection, Milestones of Flight provides an inspiring look at America’s contributions to aviation. The book includes a bibliography, author’s note, and index.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Grove, chief of museum learning at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum, follows First Flight Around the World with a tour of aeronautical history that cites 27 milestones. Grove begins with the launch of the first "manned" flight of a hot-air balloon at Versailles in 1783 (the balloon's occupants were a sheep, duck, and rooster), continuing on to the Wright brothers' Flyer, Robert Goddard's rocket, the 1947 breaking of the sound barrier, and numerous space missions. (Grove even gives a spot to Star Trek's starship Enterprise, noting that " Roddenberry's vision of men and women of difference races, nationalities, and even species working together... influenced real spaceflight." Period photographs, illustrations, and documents complement a crisply written and informative look at the past and present of flight, with glimpses of its future. Ages 10 14.
