The US Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, appears intended to overwhelm. The enormous, almost incredible machines on display there were designed, built, and flown by inspired, creative people who were also imperfect, fragile, and sometimes uncertain.

This book is a photographic monograph, gleaned from images captured during a single day’s walk through this iconic museum, and focused on the human scale and the subtle beauty of the machinery designed to carry us away from the Earth.