The #1 New York Times bestselling memoir that inspiredthe film October Sky, Rocket Boys is a uniquelyAmerican memoir--a powerful, luminous story of coming of age at thedawn of the 1960s, of a mother's love and a father's fears, of agroup of young men who dreamed of launching rockets into outerspace . . . and who made those dreams come true. With the grace of a natural storyteller, NASA engineer Homer Hickampaints a warm, vivid portrait of the harsh West Virginia miningtown of his youth, evoking a time of innocence and promise, whenanything was possible, even in a company town that swallowed itsmen alive. A story of romance and loss, of growing up and gettingout, Homer Hickam's lush, lyrical memoir is a chronicle oftriumph--at once exquisitely written and marvelouslyentertaining. Now with 8 pages of photographs.

The immediate human toll of the 1994 Flight 427 disaster wasstaggering: all 132 people aboard died on a Pennsylvania hillside.The subsequent investigation was a maze of politics, bizarretheories, and shrouded answers. Bill Adair, an award-winningjournalist, was granted special access to the five-year inquiry bythe National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) while itsinvestigators tried to determine if the world's most widely usedcommercial jet, the Boeing 737, was really safe. Their findingshave had wide-ranging effects on the airline industry, pilots, andeven passangers. Adair takes readers behind the scenes to show whomakes decisions about airline safety—and why.