Air & Space Magazine

NASA's next Mars rover, due to launch in 2020, will be charged with collecting samples for return to Earth.

Moving Mars Exploration Forward

What exactly are we looking for as we plan future missions?

A refueling stop at Mongalla, Sudan, in 1930. Oil and gas were supplied to the way stations by the Anglo-Dutch company Shell.

The Flying Darkroom

The photographs of Swissair founder Walter Mittelholzer.

Darryl Greenamyer in his customized Lancair.

The Sultan of Speed

Remembering the irrepressible Darryl Greenamyer (1936-2018).

Stories From the Great War

A hundred years ago, warfare took to the skies.

Curiosity found organics in Gale Crater on Mars. But is there or was there ever life?

Where Did the Organic Matter on Mars Come From?

Biology may not be required to explain the chemicals we see in Martian rocks and meteorites.

Fossil trilobites: We're good on oxygen, thanks.

Rising Oxygen Levels and What They Meant for Early Animal Life

The study of atmospheric gases may tell us which planets are best suited to advanced civilizations.

Ryan Gosling stars as Neil Armstrong in "First Man."

Doing Right by Neil Armstrong

The makers of <em>First Man</em> took many great leaps to create an authentic portrait of the publicity-averse astronaut.

Artist's conception of a neutron star.

Speculations on a Neutron Star

Could life use other types of energy beside electromagnetic radiation?

The main entrance of Moisant International Airport in New Orleans, circa 1960s.

As Late as 1963, Some U.S. Airports Were Still Segregated

For many years, U.S. airspace was integrated, but ground terminals were not.

Surrounded by robotic tools for assembling satellites in space, Megan Smith looks forward to the day when a crewed habitat will orbit the moon.

To Build in Space

I love my job, and here’s how I got it.

Even if your team is not the $20,000 national prize winner, rockets can be fun.

Champions of the World

With 56 test launches, a Georgia high school team had the data to win big.

On June 24, 1981, Ronald Reagan was the presidential passenger on the VC-137 taking off from Kelly Air Force Base, San Antonio. Now on display in the Reagan library, the aircraft flew seven presidents.

When Air Force One Evaded MiG Fighters

One can only imagine what the MiG pilots thought.

Scientists need to get up higher than the 200-foot observation tower—and its view of the Peruvian Amazon—to see the big picture. That’s where NASA’s satellites come in.

Outbreak Forecasting

Using NASA satellites, scientists are learning to predict malaria outbreaks.

Spores of the Anthrax bacillus.

Turn Up the Heat: Bacterial Spores Can Take Temperatures in the Hundreds of Degrees

New research makes panspermia—the spreading of life from one planet to another—more likely.

NASA’s WB-57s once served in the U.S. Air Force. Now they serve science. Here, the fleet flies over Houston in 2015.

A Mission for the Resurrected

To fly through the apex of a storm, NASA needed to raid the boneyard.

Stratolaunch, the world's largest airplane, is targeted to make its debut in 2020.

Stratolaunch Hopes Its Giant Airplane Will Outcompete Rockets

Can Scaled Composites design a practical—and affordable—way to put payloads into orbit?

Abbey rode with the astronauts to the launch pad before every shuttle launch, and was there to greet them when they returned (here with STS-93’s Cady Coleman).

George Abbey Had the Power

How one man ruled NASA for 30 years.

A photo sent to the author from the World War I Overseas Flyers is captioned “Lieutenants Lewis, Harris and Navy Ensign Hudson…before taking off in Turin, Italy.”

My Pen Pals Were WWI Pilots

Through a long-ago correspondence, a young boy met the last living pilots of World War I.

In the film, Gregory Peck dresses down Robert Arthur.

Some of Us Have Got to Die

What the 1949 film Twelve O’Clock High still tells us about air combat and the burden of command.

In 2012, more than 100 years after it was originally built, the restored VanDersarl Blériot flew with Javier Arango at the controls.

Javier Arango's Extraordinary Gifts

Two recent arrivals to the National Air and Space Museum.

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