Blue Gemini


Book Description

Scott Ourecky wanted to fly; he never dreamed he'd end up in a secret military space program. The year is 1968. The Cold War is far from over, and nuclear annihilation is always only a heartbeat away. America is racing the Soviet Union to land men on the moon, a war is raging, and a pivotal presidential election looms on the horizon. A child of the early space age, Lieutenant Scott Ourecky joins the Air Force with aspirations of going to flight school. A brilliant engineer, he repeatedly fails the aptitude test to become a pilot but is selected to work on a highly classified military space program—the innocuously named Aerospace Support Project—n which Air Force astronauts are slated to fly missions to intercept and destroy suspect Soviet satellites. When one of the astronauts in training abruptly falls out of the project, Ourecky is asked to fill in for the two-man simulated missions and survival training only, serving with a headstrong and abrasive test pilot, Major Drew Carson, until another astronaut can be assigned. By far the most proficient pilot assigned to the project, Carson has a dangerous propensity to engage in pickup dogfighting sessions while on cross-country training flights. And although Ourecky was only a temporary placeholder, not destined to fly in space, he soon finds himself much more involved than he ever anticipated—and in deepest peril. Based on a real secret space program, Blue Gemini combines high-altitude action with edge-of-your-seat storytelling to create a modern classic Cold War thriller.




Human Spaceflight


Book Description

Presents an introduction to human space exploration, discussing the evolution of space technology that has allowed the human race to go from merely orbiting the Earth to landing on the Moon and living for months in a space station.




The Day After Roswell


Book Description

Discloses the government's role in the Roswell UFO incident, explaining what actually happened and its implications.




Pale Blue


Book Description

US astronauts race to disarm Soviet satellites armed with nuclear weapons in the concluding volume in a thrilling alt-history Cold War-era space trilogy from Mike Jenne. As the Project enters its final phase, Air Force Majors Carson and Ourecky are dispatched on an urgent mission to intercept and investigate a massive orbiting object suspected of harboring nuclear weapons. Emotionally exhausted, with his marriage teetering on the brink, Ourecky reluctantly accepts the assignment. In return for his sacrifice, he is promised an opportunity to go to MIT to pursue the PhD he has long desired. As they draw close to the mysterious satellite and prepare to destroy it, they are confronted with a dark secret that they must carry forever and are forced to contemplate their own mortality and the dire prospect of dying in space. Upon their return to Earth the majors are offered an opportunity almost too good to pass up—flying into orbit yet again, except under considerably different circumstances. Ourecky wrestles with his decision, knowing that choosing to fly will almost certainly result in the end of his marriage, while Carson is finally granted an opportunity to fly in Vietnam. Although he is finally allowed to fulfill his dream of flying in combat, Carson soon discovers that there are some fates worse than death. As the darkest secrets are revealed to astronauts Carson and Ourecky, can they save themselves? Pale Blue is the epic, high-flying conclusion to the Blue Gemini trilogy that will leave you breathless.




Space Flight


Book Description

This book offers a comprehensive look at the history of space exploration, the technology that makes it possible, and the continued efforts that promise to carry us into the future. It goes through the history of space exploration, from the earliest sub-orbital and orbital missions to today's deep-space probes, to provide a close look at past and present projects, then turns its attention to programs being planned today and to the significance of future exploration. Both the novice and the advanced student of space exploration stand to profit from the author's engaging and insightful discussion.




Pale Blue


Book Description

As the Project enters its final phase, Air Force Majors Carson and Ourecky are dispatched on an urgent mission to intercept and investigate a massive orbiting object suspected of harboring nuclear weapons. Emotionally exhausted, with his marriage teetering on the brink, Ourecky reluctantly accepts the assignment; in return for his sacrifice, he is promised an opportunity to go to MIT to pursue the Ph.D he has long desired. As they draw close to the mysterious satellite and prepare to destroy it, they are confronted with a dark secret that they will carry forever, and are forced to contemplate their own mortality and the dire prospect of dying in space. On their return to earth, they are offered an opportunity almost too good to pass up, which entails flying into orbit yet again, except under considerably different circumstances. Ourecky wrestles with his decision, knowing that choosing to fly will almost certainly result in the loss of his marriage while Carson is finally granted an opportunity to fly in Vietnam. Although he is finally allowed to fulfill his dream of flying in combat, Carson soon discovers that there are some fates worse than death. Pale Blue is the epic, high-flying conclusion to the Blue Gemini trilogy that will leave you breathless. Skyhorse Publishing, as well as our Arcade, Yucca, and Good Books imprints, are proud to publish a broad range of books for readers interested in fiction—novels, novellas, political and medical thrillers, comedy, satire, historical fiction, romance, erotic and love stories, mystery, classic literature, folklore and mythology, literary classics including Shakespeare, Dumas, Wilde, Cather, and much more. While not every title we publish becomes a New York Times bestseller or a national bestseller, we are committed to books on subjects that are sometimes overlooked and to authors whose work might not otherwise find a home.




Shades of Gray


Book Description

"In this work, Temple tracks the evolution of space reconnaissance systems from their seeds in the painful lessons of Pearl Harbor through the challenges of today" --book cover.




The Day After Roswell


Book Description

A breathtaking exposé that reads like a thriller, The Day After Roswell is a stunning depiction of just what happened in Roswell, New Mexico all those years ago and how the effects of this mysterious unidentified aircraft crash are still relevant today. Former member of President Eisenhower’s National Security Council and the Foreign Technology Desk in the United States Army, Colonel Philip J. Corso was assigned to work at a strange crash site in Roswell in 1947. He had no idea that his work there would change his life and the course of history forever. Only in his fascinating memoir can you discover how he helped removed alien artifacts from the site and used them to help improve much of the technology the Army uses today, such as circuit chips, fiber optics, and more. Laying bare the United States government’s shocking role in the Roswell incident—what was found, the cover-up, and more—The Day After Roswell is an extraordinary memoir that not only forces us to reconsider the past, but also our role in the universe.




US Hypersonic Research and Development


Book Description

An essential new account of some of the most valuable research and development in international military history. Roy F. Houchin II shows how the roots of US Air Force hypersonic research and development are grounded in Army Air Force General Henry H. 'Hap' Arnold's identification of the need for advanced airpower weapon systems to meet the anticipated postwar enemy threat. The technology for a smooth transition to military spaceflight seemed within reach when Bell Aircraft Corporation executive Walter Dornberger (the former commander of Nazi Germany's V-2 rocket research) made an unsolicited proposal to William E. Lamar (the chief of Wright Aeronautical Development Center's New Development Office of the Bomber Aircraft Division at Wright-Patterson AFB, OH) for a hypersonic boost-glide weapon system. Visionaries like Arnold, Dornberger, and Lamar believed a hypersonic boost-glider would represent the ultimate expression of the US Air Force's doctrine by performing strategic bombardment and reconnaissance more successfully any other type of vehicle. As this aspiration reached maturity in Dyna-Soar, the service's leadership never gave up their beliefs. This book shows how the struggle to persuade the secretary of defence and his advisors, who did not share the Air Force's vision for a military spaceplane, illustrates the ebb and flow of an advanced technology program and its powerful legacy within American society.




Space Force Pioneers


Book Description

Featuring biographical chapters on the leaders who served in space roles in the U.S. Air Force, Army, or Marine Corps, including officers who experienced the celestial skies firsthand as astronauts, Space Force Pioneers aims to enhance the reader’s understanding of character and leadership in military space from the experiences of these elite, ground-breaking leaders. The opening chapter explains in detail how the United States Space Force evolved from the Air Force. It is followed by ten biographical chapters that examine the stellar careers of space pioneers and illuminate their varied leadership styles. The chapter authors, all experts on the subject matter, engagingly capture the essence of these impressive individuals by incorporating information derived from the personal papers of their subjects and—in some cases—oral histories and interviews, along with other historical sources. They make clear the lasting contributions each of these leaders made to military space while serving in or out of uniform. Space Force Pioneers offers insight and analysis into how these unique leaders have operated in the performance of their duties, as well as chronicling changes in military space over the past four decades. The volume concludes with a broad and probing interpretation of contemporary space leadership, which offers a vehicle for comparing the accomplishments of these distinctive military space leaders.