Air & Space Magazine

Testing a small-scale prototype of the space paper airplane in the University of Tokyo's hypersonic wind tunnel.

The Ultimate Paper Airplane

Japan's bid to launch an origami aircraft from the space station

Discovery picks up where the last shuttle mission left off.

Back in Orbit

Discovery picks up where the last shuttle mission left off.

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Back Breaker

The first flight of the F-4 was 50 years ago today.

The Phantom's 50th

The first flight of the F-4 was 50 years ago today.

The swirling wing vortex from an agricultural airplane is highlighed during tests at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility.

Is the Boeing 757 a threat to other airliners?

An unusual wake vortex has landed this airliner in a class by itself.

NASA's Phoenix lander arrives safely after a 400-million-mile journey.

On Mars

NASA's Phoenix lander arrives safely after a 400-million-mile journey.

Northern Edge 2008 lets pilots spread their wings.

Alaskan Eagles

Northern Edge 2008 lets pilots spread their wings.

The F/A-22 Raptor performs aerial maneuvers during the Aviation Nation airshow on Nellis Air Force Base in November 2007.

Birth of the Kulbit

Not just maneuverability. Supermaneuverability.

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Fearless Female

The Goodyear Blimp drops in (briefly) on Santa Monica airport.

Touch and Go

The Goodyear Blimp drops in (briefly) on Santa Monica airport.

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Sky-high Service

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Spenser Excerpt

Chaos and control over Washington, while the Pentagon burned.

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9/11: The Saga of the Skies

Chaos and control over Washington, while the Pentagon burned.

Wilbur Wright took Charley Furnas for a ride 100 years ago today.

The First Airplane Passenger

Wilbur Wright took Charley Furnas for a ride 100 years ago today.

Secret patches from the Pentagon's "black" world.

To Serve Man

<p>Secret patches from the Pentagon's &quot;black&quot; world.</p>

The first privately owned space module, still in orbit.

Genesis + 10,000

The first privately owned space module, still in orbit.

2. Blériot XI. Louis Blériot’s unremarkable appearance (that's him in the cockpit) masked a fine technical mind and a boldly adventurous, even courageous, personality. His Model XI is remembered for having made the first flight across the English Channel, on July 25, 1909—a feat of bravery, skill, and technology. And it had profound strategic implications: Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper proclaimed “England is no longer an island,” and indeed it wasn’t: In less than a decade, German Zeppelins and bombers would appear in its skies, marking the first Battle of Britain. But beyond all this, the Model XI established the tractor “engine in front” monoplane tradition, together with the classic tail-dragger landing gear. Larger, more powerful derivatives of the Blériot were the world’s first successful air exports, and among the first military reconnaissance and bombing airplanes to fly in actual combat. The Blériot signaled that European aviation, moribund after the death of German glider pioneer Otto Lilienthal in 1896, was back—and that the early era of unchallenged supremacy by the Wrights and Glenn Curtiss was at an end.

Airplanes that Transformed Aviation

Sixteen historic designs that changed the game.

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Titanic Demolition

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Low Overhead

Alan Shepard's 15-minute suborbital hop, 47 years ago today.

The First American in Space

Alan Shepard's 15-minute suborbital hop, 47 years ago today.

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