spine cloth wrinkled and marked, cover spots and edge dents. page edge discoloring and a few small dents. no marks on text.

By the mid twentieth century, the science of aeronautics had grown to substantial maturity. The National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics had a trio of test facilities and a cadre of bright, able, and dedicated scientists who had performed with remarkable success over the years surrounding the second World War. For the testing of very-high-speed aircraft, however, they needed a new laboratory: a laboratory in the sky. And so it was that the researchers came to Antelope Valley in California, a valley blessed with clear and uncrowded skies, a sparse population, and Muroc Dry Lake, a natural aerodrome where runway length and direction were, for most practical purposes, unlimiting. At the dawn of the Space Age, the researchers on the shore of the dry lake were already actively engaged in its planning. After NACA became NASA, their considerable contributions were of substantial significance in the evolution of America’s manned spaceflight program. This book is the story of those researchers and their efforts. Richard Hallion has recorded the history of their flights and captured the spirit of a remarkable and unique institution in the evolution of aerospace progress. He tells of the place, the projects, and, most important, the people. It is a story of men and machines, of success and failure, of time and circumstance.