Mike Mars in Orbit

This is the fourth book in the series and the story so far is summarized for a reporter who discovers the top secret program.
Perhaps this was discussed in the first two books which I haven't read.
And it's kind of disturbing.
This group of 7 is being rushed through the space program (in this book it's the first orbital flight)
to get ahead of the Soviets.
They are expressly considered expendable and the launches are rushed and probably more dangerous
than the official program.
This seems kind of dark for the target audience of (what are now called) tweens.
Since it seems these books mostly parallel the actual space program, I doubt I'm going to read any more of them.
Can anybody tell me something different happens, like First Contact or the development of warp drive or something?