Air & Space Magazine

Pulitzer Prize winner and former Poet Laureate of the United States Rita Dove catches up on the news in 2013.

Rita Dove: Waiting to Board

Stephen King has published 62 novels, including Carrie and The Shining.

Stephen King: Horror Story

W.E.B. Du Bois at his desk at Atlanta University.

W.E.B. Du Bois: First Flight Across the Ocean

Faulkner in 1954

William Faulkner: Advice to a Young Pilot

To help ease their pre-flight jitters a friend gave Stein (front) and Toklas Zuni fetishes as good luck charms.

Gertrude Stein: Unafraid

The crew of Inspiration4: From left, Jared Isaacman, Hayley Arceneaux, Sian Proctor, and Chris Sembroski.

Branson and Bezos May Reach Space First, But Billionaire Jared Isaacman (Who?) Has Booked a Better Trip

The all-rookie Inspiration4 crew will spend days in orbit, instead of a few minutes above the atmosphere.

An artist's rendering of gaseous plumes emanating from the southern pole of Enceladus.

Methane Detected at Enceladus May Be of Biological Origin

Here we go again: biology or unknown abiotic process?

The Chelyabinsk meteor comes screaming in at Mach 60 over Russia in 2013. This 20-meter-or-so object broke up in the atmosphere, but the shock wave caused 1,600 injuries and damaged more than 7,000 buildings. Think what an impactor seven times bigger could do.

NASA’s Most Important Mission, Long Delayed, Is Finally on Track

And no, it’s not a moon landing.

Radio towers like these, clustered on a hillside in Arlington, Virginia in the 1920s, have been leaking signals into space for decades. Our neighbors could be listening.

Aliens May Already Have Discovered Us

Our planet’s shadow against the Sun could have been seen from thousands of nearby solar systems.

Life could have originated on Mars in an environment like this salt flat in South America's Altiplano region.

Life May Have Been More Likely to Originate on Mars Than on Earth

The environmental setting makes all the difference.

Shepard safely back on the deck of USS Lake Champlain after his 15-minute flight.

Why Alan Shepard Carried a Dollar Bill on His Mercury Flight

A new meaning for the old expression, “No bucks, no Buck Rogers.”

Lions do it. Humans do it. What about extraterrestrials?

The Science of Aliens, Part 3: Have They Overcome Their Savage Past, or Might They Want to Eat Us?

Reviewing our own species’ behavior suggests a cautious approach to contact with extraterrestrials.

The Danakil Depression in northwest Ethiopia has the sulfuric acid-richest environments on Earth.

Living Creatures Need Water. But Could They Make Do With Sulfuric Acid?

New results cast doubt on the presence of life in the Venusian atmosphere.

Intruder NE 510, with speed brakes deployed, lands on the USS Ranger.

This A-6 Was So Haunted, They Named It For a Stephen King Character

How my Navy squadron learned that gremlins are real.

Pan American Airlines bought Excalibur III from Charles F. Blair in 1953 and donated it to the National Air Museum. It underwent a soup-to-nuts restoration in 1977.

Undistinguished in Combat, This Mustang Became More Famous as a Racer

Stunt pilot Paul Mantz’s speedy P-51, <i>Excalibur III</i>.

Mechanics Fritz Will and Heinz Zelewski and pilot Hans-Helmut Gerstenhauer enjoy a moment’s rest in England circa 1945.

Across the Channel in a Nazi Helicopter

Hans-Helmut Gerstenhauer earned a place in history. He would have settled for a job.

Members of the STS-51L Challenger crew practice emergency escape from the launch pad in preparation for their January 1986 launch. From left: Ron McNair, Greg Jarvis and Christa McAuliffe. In the background are Judy Resnik and Ellison Onizuka.

The Astronauts on <i>Challenger</i> Made Up the Perfect Crew

Who were the men and women aboard the space shuttle on that disastrous day?

Examining the Mission Control set before a shoot on “For All Mankind,” Drexler is now a designer for the sci-fi series “The Orville.”

A <i>Star Trek</i> Fan’s Dream Job

How one man makes science fiction look real.

For now, we can only imagine what the seven exoplanets in the TRAPPIST-1 system, 39 light years away, look like. Found in 2015 and 2017, they orbit a red dwarf star and are about the same size as Earth.

Will We Recognize Extraterrestrial Life When We See It?

A leading expert on planetary astronomy reflects on what the next generation of space telescopes might reveal.

The LIFT Hexa has a total of 18 propellers, which allows it to be controlled simply by varying individual motor speed.

How to Ship a Flying Car

It’s no big deal for the HC-130J.

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