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The wonder of flight has long captured the human imagination. In this beguiling history ¿ ranging from the first aircraft to astronauts and beyond ¿ David Darling tells the stories of the true life adventurers whose wonder has translated into bizarre contraptions, magnificent achievements and, sometimes, startling folly.
Discover outrageous attempts to fly like a bird and fall from the edge of space. Meet Napoleonic ballooniste Sophie Blanchard and her daredevil husband; the real ¿X-Men¿ who flew the supersonic experimental ¿X-planes¿ for the US Air Force; stuntman Lincoln Beachey, looping-the-loop in a pinstripe suit; and, of course, The Rocket Man himself: Yves Rossy, who in 2006 was the first person to cross the English Channel using a jet-pack.
Eccentric and reckless, Darling¿s daring cast of dreamers is guaranteed to entertain and inspire.