The goal of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth required the development of three things: spacecraft, launch vehicles, and protective clothing. Spacesuits: Within the Collections of the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum takes the reader through the development of the last category, the spacesuits used during this venture. Highlighting the pressure suits created during the years leading up to the lunar missions and beyond, this book features dramatic photographs of the Smithsonian's collection, as well as never-before-published historical images of spacesuit development and testing--range-of-motion studies, for example, in which researchers wore spacesuits while playing baseball and football. The book also includes a group of advanced spacesuits, which, though never used on a mission, are in many respects the most exciting suits ever created. One suit glove has steel fingernails and sharkskin pads, in an attempt to harness the abilities of the human hand.
Spacesuits are surprisingly fragile; they are made for a short lifespan in the most extreme of conditions, and long-term survival is not part of their design process. The final chapter touches briefly on the current conditions of historic suits, how they have held up over time, the reasons for their deterioration, and the rewards and difficulties associated with caring for and preserving these very complex and iconic artifacts. From the first spacesuit designs of the 1930s through those worn on the landmark Apollo-Soyuz program of 1975, "Spacesuits "provides a behind-the-scenes look at the history of these remarkable creations, including some that have never before been publicly displayed.

Love Hurts contains four erotically charged novellas about men who love men. From the first blush of love to rekindling the passion in a long term relationship, there's a little something for everyone between the covers of this anthology. The following stories are included: Furtive Liaison, GWM Wanted, Precious Ache, and Screwed. Furtive Liaison begins with a steamy tryst in an adult bookstore and leads to a relationship riddled with complications. Love may not be enough to overcome to intrusion of reality or the secrets one of the men harbors. GWM Wanted finds a couple who are in a long term relationship struggling to rekindle the flames of passion. A threesome with a sexy stranger could be their saving grace or their last hurrah. In Precious Ache, a man believes falling in love with an unattainable guy was his biggest mistake. Not being able to resist his best friend's tempting lips may prove to be much worse. Screwed catches up with a closeted couple on the verge of losing everything after one of them is publicly outed. The remaining man must choose between stepping out into the light and facing the consequences or being left behind when his lover moves on.

Lee Calder's life is right on track. He has a small circle of close friends, a career he loves, and a baby on the way via a surrogate. Mr. Right is nowhere to be found, but Lee isn't about to let that little tidbit rain on his parade. He's more than willing to thrust his other needs aside and focus on fulfilling his lifelong dream of being a father. With his love life in the gutter, Lee turns to fantasies of his hunky neighbor, Finn Alexander. His daydreaming is merely a harmless diversion until Finn comes to Lee's rescue on a dark and stormy night. To Lee's surprise, the chemistry they shared in his imagination is nothing compared to the real thing. Finn is as hot between the sheets as Lee always envisioned. Better still, they get along famously outside the bedroom. The only things standing in the way of Lee having it all are the bundle of joy due any minute and Finn's apparent aversion to children.

Beau Bradbury has it all. He's good looking, owns a lucrative business, and has an endless supply of hunks vying for his attention. His skinny, uptight personal assistant shouldn't rate a bleep on his radar. Nevertheless, there's just something about Adam that Beau can't resist. One night of drunken passion leads to nearly a year of secret trysts during office hours. Adam keeps his private life confidential, while Beau pretends to want nothing more than a good time. It's a good arrangement, until a simple phone call ruins the status quo and makes Beau green with envy. Frustrated that Adam might be seeing someone else, Beau tries to put his attraction to the younger man behind him. However, all that changes with the introduction of Adam's son. Instantly smitten with the sweet little boy, Beau is all the more driven to claim Adam for his own. All he has to do is convince his wary lover to open his heart and trust that there's more to Beau than his playboy persona suggests.

Amanda Young, best-selling author of gay fiction, brings you two sizzling tales of seduction. Previously available only in electronic format, these erotic novellas have now been combined for a paperback edition Included are the stories... Reckless Seduction When nineteen year old Cody Bradbury gets his hands on an invitation to the hottest party of the year at The Casbah, an exclusive gay men's club owned by his uncle, he doesn't plan to let anything stand in his way of attending. With a stolen invitation, fake identification, and a hastily thrown together costume, Cody sneaks into the club during its annual Halloween party with the intention of checking out the action and losing his long-despised cherry. He can't believe his good luck when Dante Santiago comes on to him. Cody knows the older man wants his body, but is there any chance Dante might want more than an orgasm? There's only one way to find out, and Cody plans to make it a night neither of them will ever forget. Reckless Behavior After six months with his lover, Cody yearns for monogamy. The threesomes he and Dante engage in are fun, but he needs more from the man he has grown to care about. Although Cody longs to tell Dante how he feels, he fears love and fidelity are two words missing from his older lover's vocabulary.

Amanda Young, best-selling author of gay fiction, brings you three tales of torrid love between men. Previously available only in electronic format, these steamy novellas have now been combined for a paperback edition Included are the stories... Man Candy Aaron Samuels has a secret. He's in love with his boss, Logan Remora. Logan is everything Aarons ever wanted in a man, except he's straight... and married. Candy Man After a night of catering to trick-or-treaters, Aaron's ready to kick back and unwind. But his lover's sweet tooth is about to derail his plans. Eye Candy Humiliated by his first love, Jake Remora has no intention of ever making himself vulnerable to that kind of pain again. Life is good, until Kane Sharp moves home and stirs up old memories Jake would rather forget.

Finding true love is only half the battle. For Mark and Sam, love and commitment came easily. Holding onto it won't be as simple. Mark Peterson is still deeply in love with Sam, his partner of 15 years. He's perfectly happy with their relationship, even if their sex life has grown a little stale. When he begins to notice Sam's gaze wandering toward other men, he fears that his younger lover may be losing interest in him. When Sam suddenly suggests they broaden their sexual horizons by inviting a third man into their bedroom, Mark reluctantly agrees. Together, they answer an online ad for a man who seems to be just what they're looking for - handsome, hung, and only interested in a little no strings attached fun. It isn't until after the excitement begins that they find out they've made a terrible mistake.

Nothing is worse than being homeless and hungry, not even selling his body to strangers. Disowned and cast out of his home, eighteen year old Declan Mayo turns to the only thing he can think of to help him get back on his feet. Working at Chicken Ranch, a rural brothel that caters to women and gay men, seems like the perfect solution. He isn't about to let a lack of sexual experience stop him from taking what he sees as his only way off the streets. Falling in love with one of his clients wasn't in the game plan, but Declan can't seem to help himself. Killian Hamilton is sweet and kind, with a stutter Declan can't help but find adorable. Surely, if anyone could overlook Declan's choice of employment, it would be a kindhearted man like Killian. What Declan doesn't count on is Killian's connection to one of the brothel's regular clients, or the way his love life is about to blow up in his face.

Due to the nonlinear-in-control nature of the dynamical system in aggressive flight maneuvers, well-known dynamic inversion methods cannot be applied to determine the explicit form of the control law. Additionally, the aerodynamic uncertainties, typical for such regimes, are poorly modeled, and therefore there is a great need for adaptive control methods to compensate for dynamic instabilities. In this book, an adaptive control design method for both short-period and lateral/directional control of a fighter aircraft is presented. The approach uses a specialized set of radial basis function approximators and Lyapunov-based adaptive laws to estimate the unknown nonlinearities. The adaptive controller is defined as a solution of fast dynamics, which verifies the assumptions of Tikhonov's theorem from singular perturbations theory. Simulations illustrate the theoretical findings.

Daywalker Legacy includes the stories ... - Secrets and Lies - After the near genocide of his race, Teague Johnson now spends his life hiding in plain sight. In a city populated by humans and Nightfeeders alike, he and his brother are forced to cloak themselves in forged histories in order to blend in among the hierarchy of society. Teague's weekly trysts with Kyle Drake give him a reason to anticipate the future -- until Kyle unexpectedly disappears. Afterward, Teague's life is thrust under a microscope, endangering everything he holds dear. Allegiances are tested, and the lines of friendship blur in a race to stop an inhuman killer. Kyle's fate hinges on Teague's ability to untangle the intricate web of secrets and lies before it's too late. - The Hard Truth - Blackmailed into claiming a birthright he doesn't want, Cadge Johnson is thrust into a world of politics and intrigue. His only ally is old friend and former lover, Red Taylor -- a Nightfeeder he has kept at arm's length for decades. The sordid past they share is nothing compared to the trials ahead. After nearly a century of love, loss, murder, and deception, only the cold, hard truth will finally set them free.