Presenting the full story of the CORONA spy satellites' origins, Eye in the Sky explores the Cold War technology and far-reaching effects of the satellites on foreign policy and national security. Arguing that satellite reconnaissance was key to shaping the course of the Cold War, the book documents breakthroughs in intelligence gathering and achievements in space technology that rival the landing on the moon.

This bestseller from a Pulitzer Prize finalist gives readers the complete untold story of the top-secret military base for the first time.**"Compellingly hard-hitting." —**New York TimesIt is the most famous military installation in the world. And it doesn't exist. Located a mere seventy-five miles outside of Las Vegas in Nevada's desert, the base has never been acknowledged by the U.S. government—but Area 51 has captivated imagina...

NOT THEORY—FACT!A MISSLE SHOT DOWN FLIGHT 800!On July 17, 1996, minutes after take-off, TWA Flight 800 was blown out of the sky, killing all 230 people on board.What happened?It took federal investigators nearly a year and millions of tax dollars to point to a fuel tank explosion. But the investigation was riddled with questionable procedures. Was the government hiding a huge military embarrassment? Was the plane shot down by a missile?

This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies.**"a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" —**New York Times Book ReviewFrom the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legen...

Packed with startling revelations, this inside look at the secret side of the Cold War exposes just how close America came to total annihilation."With access to newly declassified documents, Keeney delivers a jolting year-by-year history of SAC's transformation into a massive worldwide force primed to launch bombers within 15 minutes of the order." — Publishers WeeklyOne of the most detailed pictures yet of the com...

This Pulitzer Prize finalist provides the definitive history of DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency, from the author of the New York Times bestseller Area 51**.**No one has ever written the history of the Defense Department's most secret, most powerful, and most controversial military science R&D agency. In the first-ever history about the organization, New York Times best...

Clarence L. “Kelly” Johnson led the design of such crucial aircraft as the P-38 and Constellation, but he will be more remembered for the U-2 and SR-71 spy planes. His extraordinary leadership of the Lockheed “Skunk Works” cemented his reputation as a legendary figure in American aerospace management.From the Trade Paperback edition.

A New York Times Bestseller"Celebrates a bold era when voyaging beyond the Earth was deemed crucial to national security and pride."-The Wall Street JournalRestoring the drama, majesty, and sheer improbability of an American triumph, this is award-winning historian Craig Nelson's definitive and thrilling story of man's first trip to the moon. At 9:32 a.m. on July 16, 1969, the Apollo 11 rocket launched in the presen...

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...

"A fascinating insight into one of the Cold War's most interesting concept aircraft . . . [with] new information, photographs and first-hand accounts." —FlypastDuring the 1950s, plans were being drawn at North American Aviation in Southern California for an incredible Mach-3 strategic bomber. The concept was born as a result of General Curtis LeMay's desire for a heavy bomber with the weapon load and range of the subsonic B-52 and a top speed in excess of the supers...

The definitive history of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Pentagon agency that has quietly shaped war and technology for nearly sixty years.Founded in 1958 in response to the launch of Sputnik, the agency’s original mission was to create “the unimagined weapons of the future.” Over the decades, DARPA has been responsible for countless inventions and technologies that extend well beyond military technology. Sharon Weinberger gives us a riveting ac...

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...