1. The Metamorphosis.: The Venerable Order of the NACA.; Glennan: Welcome to NASA.; Air versus Space; The Public Eye.

2. The First NASA Inspection.: Following the NACA Way.; Project Mercury.; Big Joe, Little Joe.

3. Carrying Out the Task.: A Home at Langley.; The Tracking Range.; Shouldering the Burden.; The End of the Glamour Days.

4. Change and Continuity.: The Organization.; Thompson's Obscurantism.; The Sinking of Hydrodynamics-and Aeronautics?.; Growth Within Personnel Ceilings.; The Shift Toward the Periphery.; Contracting Out.; The Brave New World of Projects.; Uncharted Territory.

5. The "Mad Scientists" of MPD.: The ABCs of MPD.; The Solar Wind Hits Home; The MPD Branch.; Out of the Tunnel.; Into the Cyanogen Fire.; The Barium Cloud Experiment.; The Search for Boundless Energy.; A Hot Field Cools Off.

6. The Odyssey of Project Echo.: The international Geophysical Year and the V-2 Panel.; O'Sullivan's Design.; Extraterrestrial Relays.; Finessing the Proposal.; The "Sub-Satellite".; Something the Whole World Could See.; Big ideas Before Congress.; Assigning Responsibilities.; Shotput.; A Burst Balloon.; "Anything's Possible!".; Reflections .; The Hegemony of Active Voice .

7. Learning Through Failure: The Early Rush of the Scout Rocket Program.: "Itchy" for Orbit.; Little Big Man.; Little Foul-Ups.; "3-2-1 Splash".; Recertification.; An Unsung Hero.; Postscript.

8. Enchanted Rendezvous: The Lunar-Orbit Rendezvous Concept .: Brown's Lunar Exploration Working Group; Michael's Paper on a "Parking Orbit".; The Rendezvous Committees.; Houbolt Launches His First Crusade .; The Feelings Against LOR.; The Early Skepticism of the STG.; Mounting Frustration.; President Kennedy's Commitment.; Houbolt's First Letter to Seamans.; A Voice in the Wilderness.; The LOR Decision; Postscript

9. Skipping "The Next Logical Step": "As Inevitable as the Rising Sun".; The First Space Station Task Force .; From the inflatable Torus to the Rotating Hexagon.; Betwixt and Between.; Manned Orbital Research Laboratory.; Keeping the "R" Alive.; Understanding Why and Why Not.; Lost in Space?.

10. To Behold the Moon: The Lunar Orbiter Project.: The "Moonball" Experiment.; Initiating Lunar Orbiter.; Project Management.; The Source Evaluation Board.; Nelson's Team.; The Boeing Team.; The "Concentrated" versus the "Distributed" Mission.; "The Picture of the Century".; Mission More Than Accomplished.; Secrets of Success.

11. In the Service of Apollo.: Langley's "Undercover Operation" in Houston.; The Dynamics of Having an Impact.; Inside the Numbers.; The Simulators.; Rogallo's Flexible Wing.; The Apollo Fire investigation Board.

12. The Cortright Synthesis.: The Stranger.; The Reorganization.; New Directions.; Critique from the Old Guard.