A humorous memoir describing my childhood interest in airplanes and rockets that led to an aerospace career starting with Space Shuttle wind tunnel and rocket testing and the pinnacle, launching satellites.
Get the inside scoop on the U.S. space program from an aerospace engineer with more than three decades of experience.
Bill Dye’s boyhood passion for airplanes and rockets, fueled by hisparents’ encouragement, launched him into an exciting, fulfilling career in aerospace.
In his often humorous, always entertaining memoir, you’ll discoverhow a kid who wins science fairs and fires off homemade rockets ends up directing the design and development of several spacecraft—including IKONOS, an earth observation satellite that changed the world.
Excerpt
Our wind tunnel testing also included dynamics testing. There was a concern that these tiles, reported to be quite fragile, would crack or get shaken off the Orbiter from the vibration and from the aerodynamic forces. So they devised a wind tunnel test that would use the actual tiles.
Some guy from Lockheed brought down a sample tile, a real one, for us to examine and to be sure we were making the wind tunnel model to correctly match the dimensions of the tiles.
The guy carried a bright silver, very sturdy-looking metal briefcase. He carefully opened the latches and lifted the lid. Black foam lay beneath. There on the bottom half of the brief case was a very white square. It looked like a flat, white bathroom tile. He donned some white gloves and lifted it from the case by the corners. It was then we could see that it was only a few inches thick. He lifted it like it was nitroglycerin and gently set it on the desk. The Lockheed guy turned to answer a question from someone. While he was turned away, one of the guys couldn’t resist and he lightly tapped the center of the tile. It shattered into a thousand pieces! Someone yelled, “Uh-oh!”
“What did you do!?” the Lockheed guy yelled as he spun around.
“Nothing; I just touched it!” he said.
“You broke it. Why did you do that?”
I said, “Hey, I watched him, he touched it like it was tissue paper.”
He got the foam-lined suit case and scraped the body fragments and dust back into the case, snapped it closed, and left mumbling something about bumbling North American Rockwell engineers.
Six weeks later an article in Aviation Week said that Lockheed missed their tile delivery schedule since they had a “brittleness” issue.
Professional Reviews
Carl G (Amazon)
Climbing into My Dream was an enjoyable read that gives insight into the inner workings of the engineering field. The author shows the human side of what it is to be a "rocket scientist". We travel along with the author as he works toward his dream, and witness the successes and frustrations along the way. The book is written with humor and candor, making it an easy book to read, and hard to put down.
Rosetta was born in 1909 as the youngest of ten children. The family had more laughter than money and neighbors would knock on their door to ask, "Can we come in and laugh, too?"
Sherlyn Powell opens up about her love and devotion to her family and the overwhelming repercussion when communication breaks down. Heartbroken and distraught she learns to release her prayer and realize with faith God would reunite her family.
A passionate and poignant memoir written by a woman whose life has been guided by the words: "I am here to learn how to love well." The book is a deep examination of relationships, family, motivation, and honoring of the Self.
