Air & Space Magazine

The Tsar Bomba explosion.

King of the Bombs

Fifty years ago this weekend, the biggest nuke ever was detonated.

Lights from the USS Kitty Hawk island structure create an eerie cast over two S-3 Viking aircraft on a misty Halloween night. Kitty Hawk operates out of Yokosuka, Japan as America's only permanently forward-deployed aircraft carrier. (U.S. Navy photo by Photographer's Mate Airman Michael D. Winter) (Released)..

Spooked

<p>Airmen go batty for Halloween.</p>

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The Other B-29 Missions

The big bomber's little-known errands of mercy.

Explosion of a Titan rocket at Vandenberg, April 18, 1986.

Scratch One Spysat

An eyewitness recalls one of history’s great rocket explosions.

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Keeping it Wheel

<p>NASA plans a permanent marker at the space shuttle's final chock.</p>

Following the Race to the Moon

In their efforts to "ignite a new era of lunar exploration," the Google Lunar X Prize wants competitors to reach out through social media too

An astronaut aboard Spacelab in 1992 handles a frog for an experiment that studies microgravity's effect on amphibian development.

On the Orbiting of Species

NASA animal research practices have come a long way since the days of Able and Baker.

Haunted Airfields

For Halloween, a collection of weird tales about airports and aircraft

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Replicators Have Arrived

Three-dimensional printing technology can be used in conjunction with the material and energy resources of the Moon to build new space faring capabilities.

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Time to Renew my CFI

Why go to the trouble to renew a certificate I don’t use? The bottom line is that I just worked too hard to get it.

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Orville Soars

<p>100 years ago, Orville Wright created a new sport at Kitty Hawk.</p>

The Blériot XI still flies as of July 2009.

The World’s First Warplane

One hundred years ago this Sunday, on October 23, 1911, Captain Carlo Piazza climbed onto his spindly Blériot XI and made military history

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Loupe the Loop

<p>Watchmaker Breitling gives a jewel of a display.</p>

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Stop Stall-ing

When pilots make a bad landing they don’t blame their bankers. So why do bankers, hacks, and Capitol Hill flaks use a beloved aviation term to malign the national economy?

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Europe to Launch First Soyuz from South America

When a Soyuz lifts off from French Guiana on Thursday, it will be the first one to launch outside of Russia or Kazakhstan in the rocket's 44-year history, and the first step in assembling Europe's new GPS system.

Sir Richard Branson (c) along with son Sam (left in black) and daughter Holly (far right) performing with Project Bandaloop on the side window wall of the Virgin Galactic Gateway to Space Hangar, Monday October 17, 2011 near Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was part of a dedication and christening of the hangar to Virgin Galactic.

High Ceremony

<p>Sir Richard Branson hangs loose on the new Virgin Galactic spaceport.</p>

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Down for the Count

<p>Launch pads don't ease quietly into retirement.</p>

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The Irritations of Airline-Speak

"I find myself cringing."

The Air Force hopes its unmanned X-37 (in taxi tests in 2007) will take on some of the functions of the shuttle.

X-37 Still Aloft, May Look to Carry Astronauts

While the "secret-ish" X-37 space plane continues to perform at 200 days in orbit, Boeing finally talks details, including a possible human-rated version

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Three Minutes = Three Years

Cue the Lawrence of Arabia theme.

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