Wings of Their Dreams: Purdue in Flight, Third Edition

By John Norberg

Book Overview

Throughout more than 100 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 and twenty-first centuries, a path from Kitty Hawk to the Sea of Tranquility and beyond.

This third edition celebrating the 150th anniversary of Purdue engineering features exciting developments in the college and its school of aeronautics and astronautics, including the announcement of a prestigious, international Neil Armstrong Prize. The book includes a timely foreword from the world's most-launched astronaut Jerry L. Ross, new profiles on commercial astronauts Sirisha Bandla, Audrey Powers, and private specialist astronaut Marc Hagle, and updated information about Drew Feustel, Beth Moses, Scott Tingle, Loral O'Hara, and others among the twenty-eight Purdue astronaut alumni. The volume concludes with a fresh perspective on the future of space, including manufacturing, assembly, and exploration by the private sector as well as governments.

Wings of Their Dreams reminds readers that the first and last men to land on the moon once 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.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1626713138
• ISBN13: 9781626713130
• Release Date: January 2026
• Publisher: Purdue University Press
• Length: 586 Pages
• Weight: 2.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 6.2" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Journey to the stars

In the early 1950's as an undergraduate at Purdue, I was in one class with Neil Armstrong. There was a "Rocket Society" club at Purdue and I attended some of their meetings not realizing that only one other university had anything like that. Purdue's President, Hovde, had been in charge of U.S. rocket research and so knew what was going to happen. Von Braun sometimes came to campus to give talks. And the mechanical engineering department had focused on developing powerful liquid fuel rocket motors which they tested frequently. The test stands were south west of the Purdue airport which itself was south west of the main campus. Two or three times a year, walking across campus you would hear a loud "boooom" as one of the rocket engines blew up. So I wasn't surprised that so many of the first astronauts were Purdue grads.But until I read this book, I didn't appreciate how early Purdue had been to join the pioneers of aviation. Only five years after their first flight, the Wright brothers hired a Purdue grad to work with them on engineering and to fly demonstrations.The book is especially valuable for any young person who is considering going into the space business. And the series of stories are so compelling that you have trouble putting it down.A special story about a special place. Quotes from the various Purdue astronauts exhibit the special values and family atmosphere - all too rare in these days - of perhaps the leading university in exploring all aspects of flight.