In good times and in bad, daring individuals, scientific dreamers and groups of aerial explorers challenged Earth’s last frontiers by attempting flights that were higher, faster and further—where no one had gone before. Progress and discovery in high altitude flight, engine technology, navigation, photography, physiology and cultural communication would be dramatically enhanced by their successes. These flights were near things — expeditions on the edge. The Wright Brothers, Amelia Earhart, Billy Mitchell, Charles Lindbergh, Amy Johnson, Chuck Yeager, Yuri Gagarin, Neil Armstrong, Sally Ride, Robert Goddard and Elon Musk are just a famous few. They are case studies for further expeditions to the moon, Mars and beyond. Re-live the past glories of aviation and aerospace exploration and chart the future conquest of space flight as symbols of global leadership, technological prowess and scientific greatness.