Wings of Their Dreams

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.