Rebecca Maksel

Rebecca Maksel is a senior associate editor at Air & Space.

Air & Space Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of Airline History

The National Air and Space Museum's first Coast Guard helicopter, tail number 1426.

The Smithsonian Gets Its First Coast Guard Helicopter

The Seaguard arrives just in time for the service’s centennial of flight.

Postcard of the Marquis d'Equevilley-Montjustin's 1907/1908 multiplane.

Five Airplanes That Made No Difference

Celebrating the wrong turns in aviation’s early evolution.

Gemini and Apollo astronaut James Lovell.

Jim Lovell, From Carriers to the Moon

The veteran astronaut is honored with the National Air and Space Museum Lifetime Achievement trophy.

"The Cabin," the universal means of transportation within the flying city. (A drawing from Georgii Krutikov's 1928 work, "The City of the Future: The Evolution of Architectural Principles in Town Planning and Residential Organization.")

The Soviet City in the Sky

In 1928, a Russian architect proposed taking urban living to new heights.

In October 1917, eight German zeppelins lost their way above French territory. The L-49 landed in Bourbonne-les-Bains.

Airplane vs. Zeppelin in 1917

With one raid, the Allies demonstrated the airplane’s superiority over the airship.

Otto Lilienthal in flight.

Otto Lilienthal’s In-Flight Movie From the 1890s

With a little help from a 21st-century filmmaker, the visionary aviation pioneer takes to the air.

The Apollo 11 Command Module.

A New Look Inside the Apollo 11 Spacecraft Reveals A Few Surprises

A 3-D imaging project at the National Air and Space Museum lets technicians inspect the historic command module for the first time in decades.

Conservators remove an original flight blanket, revealing a space for storing the supplies astronauts used to explore the lunar surface, such as cameras, geology equipment, and gear for an extended lunar stay.

The Nine Lives of an Apollo Moon Lander

How LM-2 came to impersonate the Apollo 11 lunar module.

Witch trial, ca. 1598.

Johannes Kepler Defended His Mother in a Witchcraft Trial

The famous astronomer conducted his mother’s defense in an ordeal that lasted six years.

Best Children’s Books of the Year

The best aviation- and space-themed books for young readers in 2015.

In 1924, there wasn't a code for this. A U.S. Army Air Corps Curtiss NBS-1 nosed over in a plowed field.

Spacecraft Collision? Hang-glider Fire? There’s a Code for That.

A new medical coding system allows your doctor to be specific about the cause of injury. Very specific.

Gordon Cooper’s watch is one of many that will be conserved.

The Watches That Went to the Moon

Most common question: Do they contain lunar dust?

All X-ray backscatter machines were removed from U.S. airports by June 2013.

Airport Security: “Disappointing and Troubling”

A Congressional hearing highlights problems with TSA screeners. At least the X-ray machines are safe.

One of the Museum's most popular models, this replica of the Johnson Monoplane was built in 1959 by Julius and Harry Johnson—who designed and built the original aircraft in 1910.

You Think Your Model Airplane Collection is Big? The Smithsonian Has More Than 4,000

Tiny treasures at the National Air and Space Museum

In 2007, Suter's Produce in Pandora, Ohio, incorporated a space theme into its corn maze, and with good reason. "We're about 30 to 35 miles from Wapakoneta, Ohio, which is Neil Armstrong's birthplace," says Jerry Suter. "We've always been interested in space."

Airplanes of the Corn

Aerospace-themed corn mazes are a hit with tourists.

The "How Things Work" gallery is full of hands-on demonstrations on the principles of flight.

A Lot of Explaining to Do

A donation from GE Aviation gives the education program at the National Air and Space Museum a boost.

In “Spread Your Wings,” part of the new exhibit Above and Beyond, three Museum visitors learn about flight by moving their bodies to control birds on a screen.

Spread Your Wings at the Museum’s New “Above and Beyond” Exhibit

The fun part of aerospace.

Portraits of Belka and Strelka—adorably dressed in their red and green spacesuits—appeared on postcards (shown here), chocolates, matchboxes, stamps, and toys soon after their orbital flight in 1960.

Belka and Strelka: Space Celebrities

55 years ago today, two “cosmonauts” went into orbit and safely returned.

During Operation Elephant, the men of the Twenty-Third Headquarters Special Troops (or "Ghost Army") replaced real vehicles with inflatable dummies in a Normandy village. Two Frenchmen on bicycles were surprised to see four GI's picking up a 40-ton Sherman tank. "The Americans are very strong," they were told.

The Ghost Army of World War II

In which a special unit used inflatable tanks, sound effects, and phony radio broadcasts to confuse the enemy.

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