Air & Space Magazine | Smithsonian Magazine

Vision statements for non-Visionaries

A seemingly trivial event has revealed some schadenfreude about NASA, along with a lot of irritation.

February 23, 2011

Busy days in Earth orbit.Space Shuttle Discovery is set to make its last voyage tomorrow, with liftoff planned for 4:50 p.m. Florida time. If all goes according to plan, Europe's Johannes Kepler unmanned cargo vehicle will have docked with the space station earlier in the day (at 10:45 U.S. Eastern...

February 23, 2011

Herc!

Takes a ski vacation. Not.

February 22, 2011

Armstrong with copilot Peter Reynolds in their record-setting Learjet Longhorn 28, February 1979.

Neil Armstrong’s Other World Records

February 22, 2011

When Airmail Hazards Included Buffalo

India is an air-minded nation. Philatelist Pradip Jain notes in his 2002 book Indian Airmails that the Ramayama, the ancient Sanskrit epic, includes references to King Nala and Princess Damayanti sending "amorous messages to each other through the medium of a flying, talking swan." During the Maury...

February 18, 2011

Who's First?

The things he carried: A sack of coffee. Fifty copies of the local newspaper, the Press Democrat. Three letters.Those letters are what put Fred Wiseman into the history books. On February 17, 1911, Wiseman—authorized by the Santa Rosa, California, postmaster—carried the first mail by airplane.To ce...

February 17, 2011

Getting Up

Ever wonder what kind of takeoff a Viking Twin Otter can achieve with a stiff headwind and no sumo wrestlers on board? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PG6eJP7SBQI&feature=related

February 15, 2011

The Holloman centrifuge has been shut down after more than 20 years of training Air Force pilots.

Spin Down

Thousands of Air Force pilots trained on the Holloman centrifuge. Now a better ride is coming.

February 11, 2011

SuperDuperNova

But where are the gamma rays?

February 10, 2011

"The Martian Lord of Creation"

"Those who have never seen a living Martian can scarcely imagine the strange horror of its appearance.... Even at this first encounter, this first glimpse, I was overcome with disgust and dread." —H.G. Wells, War of the Worlds, 1898.Wells wasn't alone in thinking Red Planet Dwellers would be a comp...

February 10, 2011

La Liberté

Americans and Europeans get together on a rocket.

February 8, 2011

Sea Launch

Floating capital, heavy anchor.

February 7, 2011

X-47B completes its first unmanned, carrier-based landing.

Carrier-bound, and Unmanned

The Navy's X-47B combat vehicle makes its first, unmanned flight .

February 7, 2011

Journey to the Center of the Moon

February 4, 2011

Working the Ramp

A new book chronicles the ins-and-outs of being a baggage handler

February 3, 2011

Kepler's Catch

When a veteran planet hunter like Debra Fischer calls it the most momentous discovery since 51 Peg, you know it must be big.In 1995, scientists found the first planet circling a normal star outside our solar system—an unassuming yellow dwarf called 51 Pegasi. In the 16 years since, they've identifi...

February 2, 2011

Planet-palooza

Kepler-11's got lots goin' on in the hab zone.