Air & Space Magazine

The North American X-15 in flight.

X-15 Walkaround

A short guide to the fastest airplane ever.

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Make Your Own X-15

Download and build your own paper model.

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In the Shadow of the Moon

David Sington's newest documentary is all about the Apollo astronauts.

From the door and emergency exits of a China Eastern Airlines Airbus A330-300, evacuation slides are deployed. The fully inflated slide is 31 feet long.

How Things Work: Evacuation Slides

De-plane in the fast lane

Throughout his life, Soviet space designer Mikhail Tikhonravov (left) never got the credit or acclaim accorded to Sergei Korolev, his friend. Ten years before they launched the world's first satellite, the two paused in front of a bust of Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, considered the father of cosmonautics.

The Man Behind the Curtain

Space czar Sergei Korolev won fame for the launch of Sputnik, but a more modest genius deserves the credit.

A computational fluid dynamics image shows how air would behave when Rocketplane XP flies at 2.74 times the speed of sound; red is high pressure, blue is low.

The O Prize

Will Rocketplane launch spacecraft from Oklahoma?

North American B-25 Mitchell, 1944.

The Soplata Airplane Sanctuary

Of the 20 stray aircraft his father rescued, the author remembers that first bomber best

X-15 pilots in 1966. From left: Joe Engle, Bob Rushworth, Jack McKay, Pete Knight, Milt Thompson and Bill Dana.

The Real X-Men

Life came at you fast when you flew the X-15.

The 1935 Explorer II mission was a daring ascent into the stratosphere by Captain Albert Stevens (second from left). Edward Dawson Cochley of Wabash, Indiana, sent this photo of his grandfather, great-grandmother, grandmother, and uncle, who was involved with the flight.

Photos from the Attic

From the collections of Air & Space readers, personal moments in the history of flight.

Bell XS-1

The Need for Speed

How six X-planes took aviation to 7,000 mph.

From A UH-1N Huey helicopter, Corporal Andy Vistrand, a "Gunrunner" in Light Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, scans the countryside of Anbar province from behind a .50-caliber machine gun.

Air War Iraq

From Al Asad Air Base, portraits of U.S. aircraft and crews in the fourth year of fighting.

Aviators of Marine Attack Squadron 23—the "Ace of Spades"—based out of Cherry Point, North Carolina maneuver their AV-8B Harriers for an aerial refueling mission high above Iraq's Al Anbar Province.

VIDEO: Refueling Over Iraq

Photojournalist Ed Darack watches the action from the open cargo door of a C-130J

The world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, makes its first commercial flight.

The A380 Arrives

The world's largest airliner, the Airbus A380, makes its first commercial flight.

China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft heads for lunar orbit.

Chinese Moon

China's Chang'e 1 spacecraft heads for lunar orbit.

Maunder Crater, as seen by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft.

Martian Highlands

Maunder Crater, as seen by Europe's Mars Express spacecraft.

A scene from this year's airshow at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.

Shock Effect

A scene from this year's airshow at Pope Air Force Base in North Carolina.

NASA tests a parachute for its new moon rocket.

First Steps

NASA tests a parachute for its new moon rocket.

The airplane that ushered in the jet age.

The Dash 80

The airplane that ushered in the jet age.

The first radio observatory built for SETI turns on and tunes in.

Listen Up

The first radio observatory built for SETI turns on and tunes in.

Cassini views Enceladus in July 2005.

Thar She Blows

Saturn's ice-covered moon Enceladus spouts off.

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