Air & Space Magazine

Apollo 15 astronaut Jim Irwin and the Lunar Roving Vehicle at the Hadley-Apennine landing site, July 31, 1971. “The first thing we noted…was that the front steering didn’t work,” said Dave Scott in the mission report. Rear steering was available, though.

Test-Driving the Lunar Rover

Before it went to the moon, this spacecraft on wheels had to be put through its paces on Earth.

For forensic ornithologist Carla Dove, examining the National Museum of Natural History’s vast collection of bird specimens—including laughing gulls (above)—is part of a day’s work.

When Birds Hit Aircraft

A forensic ornithologist helps investigate bird strikes.

Elliot Seguin makes a late-night visit to his hangar at the Mojave Air and Space Port, where he worked on the Twin Engine Research Project, an experimental jet he and Justin Gillen built from an old Rutan Quickie Q1.

Elliot and Justin’s DIY Jet

It seemed like a good idea at the time.

The author’s 1947 Ercoupe 415‑CD at home in its New Mexico hangar, decorated with framed Ercoupe images taken from advertisements and magazine covers.

Wanted: One Ercoupe, Lightly Used

Learning to fly was the easy part. Try buying an airplane.

From Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport, Tyler Stargardt flies an Endeavor Air Bombardier CRJ‑900 to several of the 135 cities the airline serves in the United States and Canada.

First Officer, Endeavor Air

“Don’t be in a rush to fly a jet. Sometimes I think: To be in a little four-seat plane going low and slow would be awesome right now.”

At the end of a busy day, the roadies walk away from the last B-24J left flying. From left: Pilots Mac McCauley and Robert Pinksten, and mechanics Gary Dunn, Chris Hurford, and Robert Wyatt.

The Warbirds Road Show

Ride along as the Collings Foundation brings World War II flying legends to 120 cities.

Flight of the Airsick Lobsters

Crustaceans don’t do well in turbulence.

A Republic Seabee, the ideal sportplane, climbs over a Wisconsin lake.

The Seabee Keepers

With a devoted international following, an exceptional amphibian still creates buzz.

Combat photographers shot everything from napalm drops to this deceptively bucolic 1966 image of an airman and his sentry dog guarding an HH-43 at Pleiku.

Cameramen in Vietnam

How Air Force photographers created a visual record of the war in Southeast Asia.

Walt Disney (left) and Wernher von Braun were among those popularizing space exploration in the 1950s.

Amazing Stories of the Space Age

Some of the space history stories you’ve never heard are the most interesting.

That Neptune-size phantom would appear as a tiny dot in data from an orbiting NASA infrared telescope, but log onto backyardworlds.org and you may be the one to spot the dot—and rewrite the observational history of the solar system.

Is the Phantom Planet Real?

The race is on to detect a giant on the other side of Neptune, and you could be the one to find it.

The in-progress but likely to be canceled Asteroid Redirect Vehicle has several technologies that can be re-purposed, like its high-powered solar arrays.

ARM Could Live On Without its Arm

The Administration's proposed budget nixes asteroid grabs, but the mission could be repurposed

Will this help or hurt? We'll find out...

Court Strikes Down Drone Registration Requirement

The government won't track your toys after all.

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Herc Over Alaska

Last March, the Alaska Air National Guard's 144th Airlift Squadron transferred all eight of its C-130s to other units or into retirement. This C-130 Hercules flies over Denali National Park in Alaska the day before the last aircraft departed from Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

Expect to see a lot of these

A Brief History of Quadrotors

The hot new thing actually dates way back.

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Goshawk Push

Sailors push a T-45C Goshawk on the deck of the USS <em>Theodore Roosevelt</em>.

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Light Trails

Astronauts took this long-exposure image from the International Space Station last October.

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Prop Inspection

The propeller of a C-130J Super Hercules gets a pre-flight inspection at Kadena Air Base in Japan.

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Amphibious Operations

The 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit conducts training for amphibious operations at crisis response at sea.

Saturn’s ice moon Enceladus could become a habitable place, if only for a short period, were it to change its location.

Wandering Moons Could Make Good Abodes for Life

The bigger the exo-moon, the longer it’s likely to be habitable.

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