A surreal and poignant coming of age on a secretive missile facility, and "an incredible view of...life in a town built for war."--Booklist The China Lake missile range is located in a huge stretch of the Mojave Desert, about the size of the state of Delaware. It was created during the Second World War, and has always been shrouded in secrecy. But people who make missiles and other weapons are regular working people, with domestic routines and everyday dilemmas, and four of them were Karen Piper's parents, her sister, and--when she needed summer jobs--herself. Her dad designed the Sidewinder, which was ultimately used catastrophically in Vietnam. When her mom got tired of being a stay-at-home mom, she went to work on the Tomahawk. Once, when a missile nose needed to be taken offsite for final testing, her mother loaded it into the trunk of the family car, and set off down a Los Angeles freeway. Traffic was heavy, and so she stopped off at the mall, leaving the missile in the parking lot. Piper sketches in the belief systems--from Amway's get-rich schemes to propaganda in The Rocketeer to evangelism, along with fears of a Lemurian takeover and Charles Manson--that governed their lives. Her memoir is also a search for the truth of the past and what really brought her parents to China Lake with two young daughters, a story that reaches back to her father's World War II flights with contraband across Europe. Finally, it recounts the crossroads moment in a young woman's life when she finally found a way out of a culture of secrets and fear, and out of the desert.
After all, telescopes had been trained on the lunar surface for more than three hundred years. The planets, on the other hand, ... As our next-door neighbors in the solar system, the two planets had the best chance of supporting life.
There are a lot of unknowns and it can be weird and messy for girls. Worry not! This book covers EVERYTHING girls need to know, and it's all been reviewed and fact-checked by medical consultant Dr. Radha Modgil.
This book will be an essential resource for students of aeronautical/aerospace engineering, as well as practicing engineers involved in the design, development, and analysis of modern aerospace guidance and control systems.
" Donald MacKenzie follows one line of technology—strategic ballistic missile guidance through a succession of weapons systems to reveal the workings of a world that is neither awesome nor unstoppable.
Pigeon Guided Missiles reveals this and other fascinating tales of daring plans from history destined to change the world we live in, yet which ended in failure, or even disaster.
The text studies trajectories, zones of interception, the required manoeuvre effort, time of flight, launch envelopes, and stability of the guidance process. Mathematics at first-year university level is the only prerequisite.
Cuban Missile Crisis: The Essential Reference Guide captures the historical context, the minute-by-minute drama, and the profound repercussions of the "Missiles of October" confrontation that brought the very real threat of nuclear attack ...
Provides an overview of different types of artillery and missiles, including self-propelled guns, standoff missiles, and nuclear bombs.
This volume covers all of the major radar and infrared guided air to air missiles in current and projected near-term service.
God's Missiles Over Cuba