Air & Space Magazine

How the landscape across the Potomac River from Edwards Ferry, Maryland, would have looked to a Civil War "aeronaut." See below for interactive 360-degree view.

How Far Could Civil War Balloonists See?

At Aerogel Technologies, a new process enables techs to make “airloy” structures at ambient temperatures.

Super Stuff

More than 99 percent air and able to withstand forces thousands of times its weight.

The deep blue egg is an ancient impact crater; court markings are overlaid on the photo to show dimensions.

After the Game, Roll Out a Planet

A heavy-duty vinyl map the size of a basketball court.

In 2007 the author and crew relied on his 15 years in the DC-8, and their checklists, to survive a night of mishaps. Many DC-8s still remain in service as freighters.

Chaos at 34,000 Feet

On a routine night fight from San Juan, everything suddenly went haywire.

Eighth Air Force Commander James Doolittle surrounded by a group of American flyers.

Yanks to the Rescue

As American airmen helped win World War II, they also influenced British culture.

The Earth-orbiting Solar Dynamics Observatory takes spectacular portraits of the sun, like this ultraviolet view of active regions captured in 2015.

Eugene Parker’s Journey to the Sun

He coined the term “solar wind.” Now a spacecraft will brave its source.

The Fairchild Republic A-10 is the seventh in our list of MacGyvered airplanes: It went to war, it didn’t quite fit the need, and techs tinkered with it until it did. Some of the most ingenious improvements in combat aircraft came not from the factory but from the frontlines.

Combat Is the Mother of Invention

Seven airplanes that got better in the field.

For three years, Lauren Cooper has been an ISS operations engineer. In the Johnson Space Center mission control room, she remains alert (note coffee cup) through eight-hour shifts.

We Control the Space Station

Lauren Cooper, International Space Station Operations Engineer, Johnson Space Center, NASA.

Shaesta Waiz flew this single-engine Beechcraft Bonanza on her round-the-world flight.

Around the World in 145 Days

An Afghan-American pilot hopes that other young women will follow her flight path.

From this silo in Ukraine, an SS-24 ICBM would have leapt to its target. After the cold war ended, the silo was partially filled with concrete and propped open.

Inside a Soviet ICBM Silo

A rare visit to a doomsday bunker.

Around 17,000 attended the festivities at the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center.

RAF 100

Happy birthday to the chaps who gave us the scramble, the “few,” and the world’s first independent air force.

In a 2015 photograph taken from the International Space Station, Kansai International Airport’s artificial islands and 1.86-mile bridge stand out in Japan’s Osaka Bay.

The Airport Is Sinking

An engineering miracle is still no match for Mother Nature.

Arthur C. Clarke in his study, circa 1936.

Letters from a Science Fiction Giant

Exploring the riches of the Arthur C. Clarke Collection at the National Air and Space Museum.

Former missileer Tory Bruno now oversees his company’s line of Delta and Atlas rockets.

Tory Bruno, the Other Rocket Man

ULA’s boss doesn’t want SpaceX to have all the fun.

Located outside Baghdad, the Royal Air Force station at Hinaidi was a major hub of the desert route for Vickers Vernon biplanes transporting mail, cargo, and passengers.

Cairo to Baghdad in 1921

The Royal Air Force pioneered a route over 540 miles of empty desert—to deliver the mail.

This de Havilland DH-4B, hanging at the National Postal Museum, was an airmail workhorse.

Marking Airmail’s Centennial

See a new exhibit, collect the special edition stamp.

The B-17G at the National Museum of the Mighty Eighth Air Force is the only one in the world with fully operational turrets.

A Road Trip to the Mighty Eighth Museum

Commemorating the sacrifices of U.S. airmen from World War II to today.

The Memphis Belle being loaded with practice bombs, at MacDill AAF.

Return of the <i>Memphis Belle</i>

75 years after its crew finished their last mission, the iconic aircraft is unveiled to the public.

Whole-airplane parachutes can be lifesavers in situations ranging from engine failure to unrecovered spins to simply running out of fuel.

Those Parachutes for Small Airplanes Really Do Save Lives

A recent study confirms what advocates have been saying all along.

Astrobotic's Peregrine lander is one of the commercial contenders for carrying NASA payloads to the Moon.

Back to the Moon, Again: Will the Third Time Be the Charm?

“This will not be Lucy and the football,” vows NASA Administrator.

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