Throughout 100-plus years of flight, Purdue University has propelled unique contributions from pioneer educators, aviators, and engineers who flew balloons into the stratosphere, barnstormed the countryside, helped break the sound barrier, and left footprints in lunar soil. Wings of Their Dreams follows the flight plans and footsteps of aviation's pioneers and trailblazers across the twentieth century, a path from Kitty Hawk to the Sea of Tranquility and beyond. The book reminds readers that the first and last men to land on the moon first trekked across the West Lafayette, Indiana, campus on their journeys into the heavens and history. This is the story of an aeronautic odyssey of imagination, science, engineering, technology, adventure, courage, danger, and promise. It is the story of the human spirit taking flight, entwined with Purdue's legacy in aviation's history.
John Norberg is a writer, author, humorist, and chronicler of the human condition. Retired as director of communications for development at Purdue University, he began his humor column in 1971 while working at Indiana's Brazil Daily Times. The column appeared in the Lafayette Journal and Courier from March 1973 to October 2014. He has received more than fifty state and national reporting awards. A nationally respected, award-winning speechwriter and public speaker, he also is the author of seven books, including Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer, which details the story of astronaut Jerry Ross. Additionally, Norberg has written articles for various national publications, including the Saturday Evening Post, USA Today, the Christian Science Monitor, and Time magazine. He was most recently honored with the prestigious Purdue University Special Boilermaker Award and was inducted into the Indiana Journalism Hall of Fame for a lifetime of work.
Contents Foreword Acknowledgments Introduction Chapter One: Charles Walker Chapter Two: Loren Shriver Chapter Three: Gary Payton Chapter Four: Donald Williams Chapter Five: Richard Covey Chapter Six: Roy Bridges Jr. Chapter Seven: Jerry Ross Chapter Eight: Guy Gardner Chapter Nine: Janice Voss Chapter Ten: John Blaha Chapter Eleven: John Casper Chapter Twelve: Mark Brown Chapter Thirteen: Michael McCulley Chapter Fourteen: Gregory J. Harbaugh Chapter Fifteen: David Wolf Chapter Sixteen: Mary Ellen Weber Chapter Seventeen: Mark Polansky Chapter Eighteen: Andrew Feustel, Scott Tingle, Loral O'Hara, and Beth Moses Notes Index
