E X C E R P T YEAGER BREAKS SOUND BARRIER, Oct. 14, 1947
"Walled off from the world by the desert and the strictest military secrecy, Muroc Air Force Base is a strange sort of community. In all it does, it is dedicated to military aircraft performance, with special emphasis on speed. In the realm of speed it also has its king. He is Captain Charles ('Chuck') Yeager, 26, a modest, blue-eyed test pilot with an infectious grin and an easy West Virginia drawl. What makes Chuck Yeager outstanding is the fact that his name is certain to go down prominently in aviation history books. Chuck Yeager was the first man to break through the dreaded 'sonic wall' and fly faster than sound." — TIME, April 18, 1949
E X C E R P T RUSSIANS LAUNCH SPUTNIK I, Oct. 4, 1957
"Launching of the Russian satellite is man's first successful attempt to navigate the ocean of space around the earth. Despite the chagrin of U.S. rocketmen, few disparaged the Russian achievement. In at least three important ways — weight, orbit and altitude — the Sputnik outclasses the U.S. satellite, which is still on the ground." — TIME, Oct. 14, 1957
E X C E R P T MAN WALKS ON THE MOON, July 20, 1969
"Although the Apollo 11 astronauts planted an American flag on the moon, their feat was far more than a national triumph. It was a stunning scientific and intellectual accomplishment for a creature who, in the space of a few million years — an instant in evolutionary chronology — emerged from primeval forests to hurl himself at the stars. Its eventual effect on civilization is a matter of conjecture. But it was in any event a shining reaffirmation of the optimistic premise that whatever man imagines he can bring to pass." — TIME, July 25, 1969
E X C E R P T COLUMBIA SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCHES, April 12, 1981
"The shuttle will honor round-trip reservations, going up and coming down intact, not once, but time and time again, if all goes well, reducing the cost of working in space and vastly increasing its possibilities. Columbia is designed to ascend like a rocket, orbit as an all-purpose freight truck and passenger bus, ward off melting re-entry temperatures with an armor of glazed silica tiles, then land like an airplane — or like an 80-ton glider." — TIME, Jan. 12, 1981
E X C E R P T CHALLENGER SPACE SHUTTLE EXPLODES, January 28, 1986
"The eye accepted what the mind could not: a sudden burst of white and yellow fire, then white trails streaming up and out from the fireball to form a twisted Y against a pure heaven, and the metal turning to rags, dragging white ribbons into the ocean. A terrible beauty exploded like a primal event of physics — the birth of a universe; the death of a star; a fierce, enigmatic violence out of the blue. The mind recoiled in sheer surprise. Then it filled with horror." — TIME, Feb. 10, 1986
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