Page 146 - Demo

144ing college educations, the brothers made detailed studies of all aspects of flight. They closely watched how birds flew, experimented with wing configurations, and built their own wind tunnel to test airfoil designs. In 1903%u2014only two years after H.G. Wells%u2019 The First Men on the Moon was published%u2014the Wrights made the world%u2019s first controlled, powered, and sustained heavier-than-air flight. It lasted only twelve seconds, but it changed everything. It would be another 5 years before Henry Ford unveiled his Model T.In 1926, only 14 years after Wilbur%u2019s death, Gus Grissom was born in Mitchell, Indiana. In that same year Robert Goddard launched the world%u2019s first liquid-fueled rocket. Gus grew up in an era when interurbans were still running in parts of Indiana%u2014but automobiles were much more common. After graduating from Purdue University, he joined the military, and became a pilot at age 25. He witnessed the evolution of air travel from propeller-driven planes to supersonic jets.As one of NASA%u2019s original seven Mercury astronauts, Gus Grissom helped usher in the Space Age. In 1961, he became the second American to enter space and, three years later, he commanded the first manned Gemini flight. Tragically, he was killed in a fire during a 1967 training exercise, for what was to be the first manned Apollo mission. Shortly thereafter, the Apollo program succeeded in putting a man on the moon%u2014an accomplishment that, previously, had been the subject of Wells%u2019 and Verne%u2019s science-fiction. In the short 100 years between Wright%u2019s birth and Grissom%u2019s death, transportation had changed radically.Brian Byrn has been Curator at the Midwest Museum of 3 American Art in Elkhart for almost three decades. When I first spoke to him about writing a Foreword for this book, he said he%u2019d had transportation on his mind lately because he was planning an exhibit of %u201cTrains, Planes, and Automobiles%u201d from the Museum%u2019s permanent collection. Wow, I thought, that%u2019s serendipitous. Then, when Lynn started laying out these pages, she said she had a photograph in mind for page 1, but couldn%u2019t recall where it was taken. When she described it to me, I said I knew exactly where it was taken%u2014in Elkhart, where Brian is located. Serendipity, indeed. His Foreword is a perfect overture for Journey%u2019s End, and I%u2019d like to thank him for his thoughtful contribution.Lynn and I plan to continue seeking out, and sharing, our state%u2019s hidden heritage through our photography books. We feel very fortunate to be able to do what we do together. It continues to be a most enjoyable journey%u2026Gus Grissom%u2019s (unsinkable) Molly Brown Gemini capsule%u2014Spring Mill State Park, near Mitchell, Lawrence Co. (881.13)Ursula K. Le Guin, 1929%u2013%u201cIt is good to have an end to journey toward, but it is the journey that matters in the end.%u201d