Countdown to Launch!: Rockets, Computers, and Coming of Age in the Cold War

In the desperate early years of the Cold War, a young boy and his middle school friends launch a homemade rocket on a farm near Boeing Wichita, a target of Soviet bombers. If the rocket doesn't fly, the boy's science project will fail.

Building and launching rockets through early college, the rocketeer analyzes their performance using primitive digital computers while his classwork suffers. He perseveres, calculating that his latest rocket will reach into the stratosphere. But suddenly, all ...